Human beings in one way or another feel the psychological and social need of a significant other who being an influential and important person in one’s life constitutes an important audience in a particular role.

As our parents become older and moving nearer to death and as the process starts for each of our siblings to go his or her separate way we start looking for our significant other outside the confines of our home.

This is very often a spouse with whom, maybe through marriage, one is expected to establish highly significant sexual relationships punctuated with high level of mutuality and reciprocity.

The American novelist, Nicholas Sparks, defines romance as thinking about your significant other when you are supposed to be thinking about something else. Perhaps that is why in common parlance this person is sometimes referred to as ‘your better half’.

According to the doctrine of the Catholic Church this significant other in marriage has to be a person of the opposite sex. Any other form of partnership in marriage is anathema to the Catholic Church.

However the state in its role of legislator has to follow the secular pursuits of modern society and look beyond the narrow confines of this definition of marriage. The approval of the amendment of the Marriage Equality Act aimed at making it more secular in outlook and more commensurate with the principles of equality is an act of compromise which may test one’s Catholic beliefs.

The widely quoted phrase giving Caesar his due has assumed the meaning of respecting secular authority. It has indeed become the basis of the relationship between Christianity, secular government and society and the rationale to the adherents to the Catholic faith to appease their conscience.