Catholic Review of: One Man One Woman

I’ve never had the privilege of meeting Dale O’Leary, author of One Man, One Woman: A Catholic’s Guide to Defending Marriage, but I’ve been a member of her fan club for over a decade now.

It all started in 1995, at a meeting with representatives of the Pontifical Council for the Family in Rome. During the course of that meeting, I asked Msgr. Peter Elliott if he could recommend any English-speaking experts on the issues surrounding the United Nations conferences on population and development in Cairo and Beijing. The first name out of Monsignor’s mouth was Dale O’Leary, who indeed was one of the most articulate and heroic pro-life, pro-family voices at these international meetings. I resolved to contact her upon my return to the States.

The result was an insightful and somewhat prophetic article entitled "Misdirection at the United Nations," which we published in the July/August ’95 issue of Lay Witness. I then lost track of O’Leary, though I’d occasionally come across other outstanding articles she had written.

What I didn’t know is that O’Leary has spent roughly the last 10 years researching every facet of the "gay marriage" debate, motivated by the conviction that this is the defining cultural issue of our time. Her labors have led to the publication this year of One Man, One Woman, which not only is a rich synthesis of her extensive research, but also a reflection of her considerable gifts as an award-winning journalist and pro-family advocate in the public square.

O’Leary provides a helpful overview of the development in recent decades of what she calls the "sexual left," which has been the engine driving the movement to redefine marriage. She then patiently walks the reader through the deleterious personal and societal nature was female . . . ?" In contrast, Genesis 1:27 is clear: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." For all the aforementioned reasons, Catholic parents do well to avoid Pullman’s work and steer their children to do the same. Vere recently coauthored Pied Piper of Atheism: Philip Pullman and Children’s Fantasy (Ignatius). effects of homosexual relationships. She does all this fairly and without rancor, often quoting directly from "gay friendly" sources to credibly establish her point. She has done her homework, and it shows.

Catholics today are bombarded with misinformation concerning homosexuality which, if taken at face value, undermine traditional Church teaching and ultimately her teaching authority. Tragically, some Catholics, especially those who are not well-grounded in authentic Christian morality, have been taken in by the deceptive tactics of the gay rights movement.

Others, meanwhile, might have a strong, perhaps even visceral, sense of the sinfulness of homosexual activity, but are ill-equipped to answer objections posed by gay activists, and so they lose the rhetorical battle. Those who uphold traditional Christian moral principles are thus frequently portrayed as bigoted, hate-mongering homophobes. O’Leary’s book, then, serves as a valuable formative tool for Catholics, so that we may articulately and compassionately engage the issue.

Much of this formation is "apologetic" in nature. Usually when we think of apologetics, we picture a Scott Hahn or Patrick Madrid answering Protestant objections to the Catholic faith. But O’Leary realizes that an analogous apologetics effort is needed to counter the sexual left. Therefore she painstakingly explodes many popular myths, such as the claim that those with same-sex attractions were "born that way," or that children raised by same-sex couples "are just like other children." And while she surgically destroys the myths, at every turn O’Leary manifests a respectful attitude toward the mythmakers.

I personally would have liked to have seen the issue addressed more thoroughly on a biblical level, in response to contemporary interpretations of Scripture that deny the strong biblical condemnation of homosexual acts. I also would have appreciated some discussion as to how some dissident elements within the Church have actually abetted the gay rights agenda. But those intramural concerns, while significant, were not O’Leary’s focus. As it is, she covers considerable ground, and does so very thoroughly and well.

The final section, entitled "What Must Be Done," provides a dozen practical things all of us can do to defend traditional marriage and protect children. Then, this decorated veteran of the culture wars concludes by emphasizing some of the key spiritual weapons for our ongoing battle: repentance, prayer, and love and forgiveness. All this is a most fitting conclusion to arguably the best resource available when it comes to defending traditional marriage.

- Leon Suprenant  (from Lay Witness magazine. www.cuf.org)

You can purchase this title here.