Local Catholics rally for marriage in Washington

Catholics from Baltimore-area parishes joined traditional-marriage supporters March 26 in Washington, D.C., for a rally and accompanying march to the U.S. Supreme Court building. The event coincided with the court’s two-day hearing of oral arguments on the constitutionality of same-sex-marriage-related legislation. 

Sandy Korzick, 73, led a bus group from Timonium for the march and rally. A parishioner of the Catholic Community of St. Francis in Hunt Valley, Korzick hoped traditional marriage supporters’ presence on the National Mall offered direction for people who “don’t know which way to turn” on the issue.

She told herself “you can’t sit on the sidelines or go along with the rest of the crowd,” when considering a leadership role for travel to the event, she said. She fears complacency has relegated others to silence or indifference.

During the rally, Korzick was struck by one speaker’s call for young people to be countercultural by supporting marriage between one man and one woman.

“It used to be that people who stood up for things like gay marriage were countercultural,” she said. “Our world has gone upside down.”

She went to Washington because she believes God ordained marriage as an institution between one man and one woman, with the possibility of procreation, she said. With same-sex marriage, “We’ve taken it to nothing but human pleasure,” she said.

Still, she disagrees with people who treat the issue with hostility.

“I stand apart from those who damn or condemn somebody, but I want them to know there are people who adhere to what God teaches,” she said. “If you want good to come about in his world, then you’ve got to live good. You’ve got to live what he (God) teaches,” she said.

Ruby Wilson, 71, led a group that took a bus from her parish, Sacred Heart in Glyndon. She said traditional marriage supporters met confrontation in front of the Supreme Court building, but that they focused on prayer.

“We felt good praying there,” she said of their time before the court building.

The Timonium and Glyndon groups were among six organized for the event by the Maryland Marriage Alliance, which advocated for traditional marriage as the state prepared to vote on last year’s same-sex-marriage referendum. The referendum passed, and same-sex couples began to wed legally in the state Jan. 1.