I am grateful to be invited to be
a witness at this colloquium.
I am especially grateful for the opportunity
to give evidence that a man and a woman united in marriage
have a transcendent power to create happiness
for themselves, for their family,
and for the people around them.
The evidence I offer begins when I was a single man.
I thought I was happy.
An assignment in my church took me to a meeting
in New Hampshire.
As the meeting ended, I saw in the crowd a young woman.
I had never seen her before.
But the feeling came over me-- if I could only be with her,
I could become every good thing I ever wanted to be.
We were married a year after I first saw her.
The words spoken in the ceremony included a promise
that we might be husband and wife in this life
and for eternity.
I have become a better person as I have loved and lived
with her.
We have been complementary beyond anything
I could have imagined.
Our unique abilities allowed us to become partners with God
in creating human life.
Spouses and family members can lift each other and ascend
together if they care about the interests of the other more
than they care of their own.
Those are things people must do for us
to have a renaissance of happy marriages
and productive families, even when that happy result is
slow to come and when the loud voices mock the effort.
We can and must stand up and defend
the institution of marriage between a man and a woman.
The Lord will multiply our efforts
as we join together in this work.
I promise progress toward that happy result.
And I do it in the name of Jesus Christ, whom I serve
and whose witness I am.
Amen.