Catholics Fight Maine Gay Marriage

The Roman Catholic Church inserted itself more aggressively into the fight against same-sex marriage in Maine, where the bishop of Portland asked the diocese to take a special collection this weekend to benefit Stand for Marriage Maine, the campaign to overturn the new marriage equality law through a November ballot initiative.

Bishop Richard Malone (pictured) requested that a second collection take place during services for the benefit of Stand for Marriage Maine, according to WBLZ-TV.

Stand for Marriage Maine was instrumental in the collection of well over 60,000 signatures to place a "people's veto" on the ballot to repeal the same-sex marriage law, which the legislature passed in May.

The marriage equality law was supposed to go into effect in September, but it is suspended pending the outcome of the ballot initiative, known as Question 1.