"Redefining marriage never upholds the equal dignity of individuals because it contradicts basic human rights," said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.
He issued a statement Oct. 19 about a 2-1 ruling handed down a day earlier by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, which said the federal marriage law was unconstitutional because it failed to give equal protection to New York spouses in same-sex marriages.
It was the second appeals court ruling to find a key provision of the 1996 federal law unconstitutional.
In May, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of same-sex couples in Massachusetts, challenging what they argued was the discriminatory nature of the legislation.
The Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It defines marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife."
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected this term to take up an appeal to rulings on the Defense of Marriage Act.
There also is an appeal pending on California's Proposition 8, a 2008 voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. In February of this year, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit affirmed a U.S. District Court judge's ruling that Prop 8 was unconstitutional.
The panel and later the full court stayed the ruling pending appeal. On July 31, it was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In his statement, Archbishop Cordileone reiterated the church's teaching that marriage "is and can only be the union of one man and one woman," and said this recognition "is grounded in our nature" and "obliges our consciences and laws."