The headline at CBS News reads, Will the Supreme Court Weigh In on Same-Sex Marriage? It should read that the Supreme Court may rule that Catholicism is illegal. If the Supreme Court does weigh in on the issue, and if it rules that same-sex “marriage” is a “right,” then it would, by attrition, be ruling that Catholicism is illegal. These are “ifs” but they are not very big “ifs” at all. It could happen within a year.

The justices meet today in a private conference to discuss 10 cases they could take up relating to same-sex marriage, including eight that challenge the how a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), applies to legally married same-sex couples. The justices could also decide to review a 2009 Arizona law impacting state employees, or the circuit court ruling that struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8.

If the court chose to rule on the Proposition 8 case or DOMA, it could end up changing rules throughout the country pertaining to same-sex marriage — an issue that remains as tumultuous as ever, changing at the state level through ballot initiatives, state-based legislation and through the courts.

Like the HHS mandate, same-sex “marriage” is an attack on the conscience rights of Catholics. Because the HHS mandate, which is also an attack on conscience, and the agenda for same-sex “marriage” are both coming from the Democratic Party at the exact same time, we cannot help but think this is an intentional attack on the Church on two fronts.

As St. Louis Review points out, what we are dealing with here is the Church being called to martrydom in America:

For the first time—certainly in my lifetime—we have bishops talking of martyrdom from the pulpit. What is more, these bishops are not talking of martyrs as something historical, something that the Church used to have. These bishops are talking of martyrdom as something that may come. They are talking of their own martyrdom. They are talking of the spilling of blood in defense of the faith—in defense of the Catholic faith. The reaction of these bishops has brought to mind the statement by Francis Cardinal George when he said, “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”

Every time a court legitimizes homosexual relationships in civil law, it is an attack on the Church because no Christian can accept these relationships as legitimate. The attack on the Catholic Church itself is more clear because it is the Catholic Church which is a (I would say “the) visible church. Our precepts are set in stone for all time, they are clearly stated, and known to all. They transcend anything any particular priest may say from the pulpit to the contrary. To be Catholic is to say that homosexuality is sin to be avoided, not sanctity to be upheld. We have God to answer to, ultimately, not any temporal, civil government. To die, in defense of the Faith, is gain. To say that homosexuality is okay, even “normal”, on the other hand, is to pass out free tickets to hell.

See “Religious Persecution and Martyrdom” at Father Z’s blog.