Standing with House and Senate supporters, Gov. Martin O’Malley announced this afternoon that he will lead the charge for gay marriage in Maryland and put his name on a bill that allows same-sex couples to wed.

“Marylanders of all walks of life want their children to live in a loving, stable, committed home protected under the law,” O’Malley said. He said it would be one of “a small handful” of legislative priorities.

The governor was supportive of same-sex marriage last year, but stayed mostly in the background. Today’s announcement was rumored for weeks, with chatter increasing after a gay marriage bill was signed into law in New York.

The Maryland Catholic Conference immediately issued a statement calling the governor’s decision “regrettable.” “The moral and social impacts of redefining marriage would be pervasive and severe,” according to the statement.

Martin O’Malley is a Catholic and a graduate of my alma mater, the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. As is Maureen Dowd, who yukked it up about eternal damnation with Andrew Cuomo recently in a same-sex-marriage-victory cackles column.

As you may recall, last year, churches inundated Annapolis to stop an attempt at redefining marriage there. Pray that they will fight another day.

And pray too we all recommit ourselves to supporting actual marriages, practically, in our lives, too — not only in political fights.