Until now, the same-sex marriage debate in America has centered upon the rights of homosexuals, but New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan says he’s going to work hard to shift the focus onto the First Amendment rights of the Church, rights he believes are in imminent danger.

According to McKay Coppins of Deseret News, if anyone wants to know where the same-sex marriage movement is heading in the future, they need to look to Archbishop Dolan, the highly respected Archbishop of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and popular blogger. No shrinking violet, Dolan has made it a point to stand on the front-lines of the marriage debate and do whatever he can to shape the conversation.

“One of our arguments has always been that people of principle who feel this [same-sex marriage] violates their deepest-held convictions are going to be forced to the wall,” Archbishop Dolan said. “We were told we were being Chicken Littles and that was ridiculous.”

But no sooner did New York pass a same-sex marriage law than priests throughout the state started coming to him with stories of couples threatening to sue if they didn’t allow the unions in their parishes.

Richard Barnes, executive director of the New York Catholic Conference, told Coppins threats like those are unlikely to get anywhere because the new law specifically prohibits lawsuits against churches that refuse the use of their facilities for same-sex marriages. It also protects religious institutions from being penalized by the state, such as losing funding for programs.

But Barnes points out other areas where religious groups remain vulnerable, such as in their hiring practices. For instance, if an employee of the Catholic Church wants to marry another man, he would be dismissed from his job for embracing a lifestyle that contradicts Church teaching. However, the new marriage law offers the Church no protection for their hiring and firing practices.

“I could foresee the state determining that we can’t make decisions on a moral or religious basis as we would have in the past regarding the employment of individuals who are actively defying church tenets,” Barnes told Coppins. “If that happened, we would be in a position where we were asserting our First Amendment rights in court.”

This could impact religious institutions across the state.

The law also offers no protection to individual business owners who are personally opposed to same-sex marriage. This means a wedding photographer who refuses to work with a same-sex couple can be sued. Cases such as these are happening all over the country right now, such as the case in Vermont where a couple is suing the owners of an inn because they refused to allow their hall to be used for the wedding reception.

“My prediction is that we’re not going to know the full implications of this legislation for a decade,” Barnes said. “Because many of these things may end up in litigation.”

These are the issues that keep Archbishop Dolan on guard.

“We have to be particularly vigorous now in the protection of religious freedom,” Archbishop Dolan said, “making sure the government does not force us to violate our conscience.”

While he fights for religious liberty, he will also be working behind the scenes to better educate the flock about the meaning and importance of marriage. He’s the first to admit that the institution has been deteriorating for years because of high divorce rates and rampant cohabitation.

“We are, as a people of faith, against any attempt by anyone anywhere to diminish the pure definition of marriage,” Archbishop Dolan said. “We’re against adultery, we’re against a frivolous divorce, we’re against cohabitation before marriage.”

He believes these societal threats can be fought as effectively at home as at the ballot box. Even though the New York Legislature may not agree with God’s vision for marriage, couples need to hold firm to the truth that the union between a man and woman was meant to be “loving, faithful and forever.”

Opponents of gay marriage may have suffered a defeat in New York this year, but same-sex unions remain unacceptable to a majority of Americans. In the 31 states where it has been put to a vote, it has failed to pass. The only states that allow it are those where the law was imposed by activist judges or legislators.

Archbishop Dolan believes he and his fellow New Yorkers can play a vital role in keeping it that way.

“We have to do a better job of getting our point across,” Archbishop Dolan said. “I admit that even some of our Catholic people need convincing.”

He also believes that one of the most important ways a Catholic can voice their opposition to same-sex marriage is by making sure they don’t come across as being hateful toward homosexuals.

“They have our love, they have our acceptance, they deserve our dignity and respect,” he said. “And so we can’t allow this ever to be reduced to an anti-gay question.”

If traditional marriage advocates can find the right tone in making their case, Archbishop Dolan said he believes they’ll win the battle in the long run, especially if the “gritty realities” of redefining marriage — divorce, custody battles, shifting standards of fidelity — complicate the romantic public perception of the campaign.

“I think now it’s still new enough that it’s the flavor of the month cause for the culturally elite,” said Archbishop Dolan. “I would say it will be more analogous to the Equal Rights Amendment of 30 years ago. Everybody thought that was a shoo-in, and for a while it enjoyed a lot of dazzle, and all of a sudden it faded away.”

Some pollsters might disagree with him, but that doesn’t faze the feisty Archbishop. After all, that’s what the Church has always been about, he says – good cheer in daily life, strong effort in the face of adversity — and high hopes even after defeat.

“We will never give up on the ideal,” he said.

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