The two Irish Government coalition partners Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have announced a revised programme for government which commits them to enacting “The Civil Partnership Bill,” which is expected to come before the Dáil (The Irish Parliament) on November 2 and be enacted by the end of the year. This Bill is a direct attack on the institution of marriage and the family. It also contains provisions that would severely restrict the rights of religious believers in the areas among others, of conscientious objection and freedom of speech. We are currently preparing an analysis of the provisions of the bill but include a link to it here.
This bill is yet another example of the Irish Government apparent disdain of traditional Christian values and their blind pursuit of yet another radical EU agenda. It is precisely because of this type of action that the Lisbon Treaty was rejected by the Irish electorate in the first instance.
This bill should be withdrawn immediately, attempting to amend it is insufficient.
Whilst there are members of many faiths and none in the Dail many of its members are Catholic. We respectfully point out that the issue of civil unions was highlighted for Catholics in a statement issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 3, 2003 with the approval of Pope John Paul 11. This document sets out Church teaching on the issue and concludes as follows.
The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the primary unit of society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and women and for the good of society itself.
We strongly urge all Irish readers to contact their TD’s and to object in the strongest possible terms to the passing of this bill.
Other readers are also encouraged to contact the Irish Government to express your opposition to this move.
The names and e-mail addresses of all TD’s are set out in the following link
