SALT LAKE CITY -- Mormon church leaders will ask California members to join the effort to amend that state's constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

The church will work with a coalition of churches and other conservative groups that put the California Marriage Protection Act on the Nov. 4 ballot to assure its passage, the letter states.

In May, California's Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, saying gays could not be denied civil marriage licenses.

"The church's teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and the formation of families is central to the Creator's plan for His children," the four paragraph letter states.

"We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to ensure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman," church leaders said. "Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage."

California Mormons - there are more than 750,000 according to a church almanac - have heard and heeded this kind of call from their leaders before.

In 2000, a similar letter from the pulpit asked members to give time and money in support of Proposition 22, a ballot measure that prohibited California from legally recognizing gay marriages performed outside the state. It passed but was later struck down in a court ruling.