New York, NY —

Both the New Jersey Assembly and Senate are back to work this week in Trenton as the clock winds down on gay marriage and other issues this lame duck session.

The Democratic leadership of both houses is taking a wait and see approach when it comes to letting the marriage equality bill come to the floor for an up or down vote.

Democratic Senate Majority leader Steve Sweeney says there's still no consensus on the landmark bill. "This is a very personal, personal issue that a lot of people have strong feelings towards and we just started talking about it as a caucus. This has to have quite a debate amongst ourselves first," Sweeney says.

Essex County Senator Nia Gill, who backs the bill, is urging her colleagues to act, even if they don't have votes for final passage: "And sometimes you need to put a bill up in order to understand not only the opposition but so the opposition can understand you, and in fact you may be able to persuade."

Legislators are under intense pressure, especially from the anti-gay marriage groups who have taken their campaign to the airwaves while the state's Catholic Bishops are asking parishioners to defend marriage as defined by the church.

The Archdiocese of Newark says that more than 150,000 New Jersey Catholics have petitioned the state legislature to maintain the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Incoming Governor Elect Chris Christie has vowed to veto a gay marriage bill.