A close friend tells me of his sister Ruth’s wedding. She is 85 years of age and, last weekend, she married Joan, her 56-year-old longtime woman friend. They live in New Haven, part of a state in which such matches are legal.

 My friend took part in the event, as did some twenty other extended family members.  The weekend celebration went off beautifully with everyone united in wishing the couple happiness in their marriage.  Though Ruth and Joan will live together, it will be on separate floors of their house.

 This strikes me as the new America, one in which legally recognized love has standing.  Of course, Connecticut is one of only a few states that honor such matches. Almost surely, as I see it, same gender marriages will one day become legal all across the nation.  People my age will not live to see that happen but it will mark the era after we are gone.

 Unlike the bishops of my church (Catholic), I favor recognizing forms of love like that of Ruth and Joan.  It seems to me unwise for church authorities to brand such unions as immoral and unacceptable.

 Why don’t they instead accept people of the same sex wanting to share lives in love? To do so need not damage their focus on marriage between male and female people.