About 100 Hispanics gathered Feb. 27 in the chapel of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines to pray for the preservation of traditional marriage.

The Mass took place less than two weeks after the Illinois Senate approved a bill that would redefine marriage in Illinois to include same-sex couples. The Illinois House has not yet voted on the bill; if they approve it, Gov. Pat Quinn (D-Chicago) has said he will sign it.

Auxiliary Bishop Alberto Rojas, who was the main celebrant, said the Mass, was intended “to pray on behalf of Marriage as we know it according to our faith and tradition.”

While the event was sponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Hispanic Catholics, the Mass was celebrated in both Spanish and English so that it would be accessible to everyone, Bishop Rojas said.

Bishop Rojas, who serves as Cardinal George’s liaison to Hispanic Catholics, said that many in the Hispanic community are not as aware of the push to redefine marriage as English- speaking Catholics are.

“This issue in the Hispanic community is talked about, but it is not as po-litical as it is in the Anglo community,” he said. “However, Hispanics live here among everybody else in the same culture and they are affected one way or another, and they should be aware of the political happenings of our government, and the position of the church; so these praying moments are good for all to gather and pray together, and continue to evangelize ourselves.”

Roberto and Juanita Martinez, members of Mision San Juan Diego Parish in Arlington Heights, are quite aware of what they see as a real threat to marriage.

The couple, married for 43 years, spent many years leading the parish’s pre-Cana program and still work with its organizers.

Roberto Martinez said the church must do a better job spreading the Gospel so that young people will understand the church’s teaching about marriage.

“These people do that (advocate to change the definition of marriage) because they do not know God,” he said. “They need to be evangelized. They are living in a big lie.”

It’s not a new lie, Roberto said, recalling the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, but it persists because people do not understand what God wants for them.

“He shows us the right way to live,” Martinez said. “We try to protect the family and marriage between a man and a woman. With the help of Jesus, we can succeed.”

The Catholic Conference of Illinois has been active in opposing the bill to redefine marriage. In a letter to the editor published in the Chicago Tribune the same day as Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Bob Gilligan, the conference’s executive director, wrote: “Marriage was created before the state or church existed. Long before Christ walked Earth, a man and a woman joined together to form a union of body, mind and spirit, with the intent and hope of creating children with whom to share their love.

“Today, marriage still exists in the majority of cultures around the globe in that form. It also stands as the only institution that ties children to their biological mother and father. …

“Changing the construction of marriage goes beyond the love of children, however. It blurs our identity as formed by natural order per God’s creation — a creation that acknowledges yet soars beyond modern science. Redefining marriage will also enshrine in state law a profound change in societal norms that depreciates marriage, with the potential for the state to eventually define marriage as anything it says it is.”