This week Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami published an op-ed in the Sun Sentinel: "Traditional Marriage Predates All Of Us."

But it was the Archbishop's description of the two sides of the marriage debate which drew the venom of a local gay journalist.

Here's what Archbishop Wenski wrote:

"In our nation's culture wars, the two sides are fighting about the understanding of man and his relationship to truth and reality. One side — and today, "gay marriage" is its poster child — holds that anyone can essentially create his or her own reality. This side holds for a radical autonomy by which truth is determined not by the nature of things, but by one's own individual will. The other side holds men and women are not self-creators, but creatures. Truth is not constructed, but received and thus must reflect the reality of things. Or, as the Book of Genesis says: "Male and female, He (God) created them." (Genesis 1:27)."

"Those who see "same sex marriage" as progress towards a more "tolerant" society will, with characteristic intolerance, label their opponents as "intolerant," "bigoted," "homophobic" and so on."

Instead of just attacking Wenski personally and suggesting that he is all the nasty things Wenski mentions, Thorp proceeds to attack the entire Catholic Church (and it's history) as well as the Christian position on marriage and family.

In other words, Thorp creates his own reality about what Christianity is and what it teaches. (I have more thoughts on Thorp's screed on my personal blog, American Papist.)

Whatever your views about the Catholic Church (Thorp clearly hates it with a passion) - we should be thankful that brave men such as Archbishop Thomas continue to publicly defend the institution of marriage, knowing full well the sort of vicious response they will be subject to.

Read Wenski's column and read Thorp's response and then ask yourself - "which man is living in reality?"

Photo: Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post