The Archdiocese of Agana is weighing in on the debate over same-sex marriage on Guam. Over the weekend in the local Catholic newspaper Umatuna Si Yu'os the archdiocese called on the governor, the Guam Legislature and the people of goodwill, "To end this assault on the very foundation of our traditional, cultural and religious patrimony".

Today the archdiocese referred us to Father Francis Walsh from the Redemportis Mater Seminary in Yona for the church's position on same-sex unions. "Same-sex unions are unions which cannot share life - people of the same-sex cannot have children and to have sex without the possibility of a committed relationship. 'Til death do us part is to twist sexuality into a form other than the one intended by God," said the priest.

While the 9th Circuit Court has determined that state bans on same-sex couples from getting married is unconstitutional, the Archdiocese of Agana argues that it is not a matter of equality. According to Father Walsh, marriage cannot be redefined. He stresses that "the government did not invent marriage", and therefore "the government cannot redefine marriage." He added, "Now, marriage doesn't come in flavors - it has only one form. That is a shared life a shared commitment until death do us part, to put our common love together in the service of passing on life to others."

According to Father Walsh, the church is "not against persons who may have homosexual tendencies" but are opposed to same-sex unions because "it is a threat to the very definition of marriage."

"When we take the gift of sexuality and use it for other purposes we are turning it inside upside down and therefore it becomes intrinsically disordered when it is no longer ordered to express love in the service of life," he stated.