In an unusual move, the bishops of an entire state have launched a campaign against same-sex marriage:

Catholic bishops in New Jersey have begun a campaign against same-sex marriage in anticipation of a possible vote on the issue by state legislators sometime after the November election.

The bishops directed Catholic priests throughout the state to distribute in parish bulletins last Sunday a 2,300-word letter opposing same-sex marriage. The priests are also expected to speak about the issue from the altar after Labor Day.

“The Catholic Church teaches today and has always and everywhere taught for 2,000 years that marriage is the union of one man and one woman,” the letter reads. “This great truth about marriage is not some obscure doctrinal fine point but a fact of human nature, recognized from time immemorial by people of virtually every faith and culture.”

Official Catholic teachings against same-sex marriage are widely known, although polls indicate U.S. Catholics don’t collectively heed church teachings. In a Washington Post/ABC poll this spring, 46 percent of white Catholics favored legalizing same-sex marriage, compared to 49 percent of the general population.

The official Catholic teaching “needs to be reinforced often,” said the Rev. Marc Vicari, vicar for family life in the Newark Archdiocese, explaining why the state’s bishops are pressing the issue for at least the third time in the last two years. “I don’t think people understand what marriage is from a Catholic perspective — even some Catholics who are getting married.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has supported past efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

There is more on the subject at the Star-Ledger link.