Catholic Church response to government plan for same-sex marriage referendum

Following the announcement by the Irish Government that it will hold a referendum on same sex marriage in May 2015, Bishop Denis Nulty the Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin issued a strong statement of opposition to the proposed changes to the very essence of marriage and by extension, the family.

The debate at the heart of the referendum announced today by the Government is not about equality or about the false separation of a religious view of marriage from the civil view of marriage. It is about the very nature of marriage itself and the importance society places on the role of mothers and fathers in bringing up children. With others, the Catholic Church will continue to hold that the differences between a man and woman are not accidental to marriage but fundamental to it and that children have a natural right to a mother and a father and that this is the best environment for them where possible.

Married love is a unique form of love between a man and woman which has a special benefit for the whole of society. With others of no particular religious view, the Church regards the family based on marriage between a woman and a man as the single most important institution in any society.

To change the nature of marriage would be to undermine it as the fundamental building block of our society. The Church will therefore participate fully in the democratic debate leading up to the referendum and will seek with others to reaffirm the rational basis for holding that marriage should be reserved for the unique and complimentary relationship between a woman and a man from which the generation and upbringing of children is uniquely possible.

As Christians our primary commandment is to love. Love always demands that we respect the dignity of every human person. That is why the Catholic Church clearly teaches that people who are homosexual must always be treated with sensitivity, compassion and respect. It is not lacking in sensitivity or respect for people who are homosexual however to point out that same-sex relationships are fundamentally different from opposite sex relationships and that society values the complementary roles of mothers and fathers in the generation and up-bringing of children. 

Comment.

It is heartening to know that the Irish Bishops intend to participate fully in the democratic debate leading up to the referendum and will work with others to oppose it.

We agree that our primary commandment as Christians is to Love. Love however is not just about respecting the dignity of others it is also about upholding the truth even if by doing so others are offended. The expression of truth in love is at the heart of the Christian message which in addition to respecting dignity must have an eternal perspective in caring for the immortal souls of those who are in error.

Civic Responsibility for the Common Good

Although he wrote his Pastoral Letter on Civic Responsibility for the Common Good back in 2004, Cardinal Raymond Burke’s words are more than ever relevant for us today – for 2012 and for the years ahead of us.  Here are some extracts from the document:

‘We are morally bound in conscience to choose leaders at all levels of government who will best serve the common good, “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.”  “[T]he sum total of social conditions” embraces a wide spectrum of concerns which the Catholic voter must have before his or her eyes, for example, safeguarding the right to life and the sanctity of marriage and the family; securing domestic and international peace; promoting education and public safety; assisting those suffering from poverty; providing sufficient and safe food, health care and adequate housing; eliminating racism and other forms of injustice; and fostering justice in the work place.

‘The “fulfillment” which the common good helps us to attain is not self-fulfillment in the popular sense.  It is, rather, the fulfillment of God’s plan and destiny for us and our world.  […]

‘In considering “the sum total of social conditions,” there is, however, a certain order of priority, which must be followed.  Conditions upon which other conditions depend must receive our first consideration.  The first consideration must be given to the protection of human life itself, without which it makes no sense to consider other social conditions.  […]

‘The safeguarding of human life is understandably foundational to all other precepts of the natural law.   […]

‘The Church’s teaching on the intrinsic evil of procured abortion forbids the destruction of human beings from the moment of fertilization through every stage of their development.  It is intrinsically evil to destroy human embryos, even for some intended good. […]

‘ “This evaluation of the morality of abortion is to be applied also to the recent forms of intervention on human embryos which, although carried out for purposes legitimate in themselves, inevitably involve the killing of those embryos.  This is the case with experimentation on embryos, which is becoming increasingly widespread in the field of biomedical research and is legally permitted ink some countries. … [I]t must nonetheless be stated that the use of human embryos or fetuses as an object of experimentation constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings who have a right to the same respect owed to a child once born, just as to every person.” (Evangelium Vitae)   […]

‘Another intrinsic moral evil which seemingly is growing in acceptability in our society is euthanasia.   […] Our thoroughly secularised society fails to understand the redemptive meaning of human suffering, while, at the same time, it views a human life burdened by advanced years, serious illness or special needs as unworthy and too burdensome to sustain. […]

‘Another moral concern of our time touches both upon the inviolability of human life and upon the sanctity of marriage and the family, in which human life has its beginning and receives its first and most important education.  The attempt to generate human life “without any connection with sexuality through ‘twin fission,’ cloning or parthenogenesis” is a grave violation of the moral law.  […]

‘Another moral concern touching upon marriage and the family, which is of particular urgency in our time, is the movement to recognize legally as a marriage a relationship between two persons of the same sex.  Such legal recognition of a same-sex relationship undermines the truth about marriage, revealed in the natural law and the Holy Scriptures, namely that it is an exclusive and lifelong union of one man and one woman, which of its very nature cooperates with God in the creation of new human life.   […]  Likewise, the legal recognition of a homosexual relationship as marriage redounds to the grave harm of the individuals involved, for it sanctions and even encourages gravely immoral acts.

‘Among the many “social conditions” which the Catholic must take into account in voting, the above serious moral issues must be given the first consideration.  The Catholic voter must seek, above every other consideration, to protect the common good by opposing these practices which attack its very foundations.   Thus, in weighing all of the social conditions which pertain to the common good, we must safeguard, before all else, the good of human life and the good of marriage and the family. […]’

Time and space have prevented me from quoting at greater length from Cardinal Burke’s pastoral.

I would like, however, to direct you to a recent interview that Cardinal Burke gave to EWTN/CNA News, when he stated that it is ‘critical at this time that Christians stand up for the natural moral law’, especially in defence of life and the family.  We should take particular note, too, of the Cardinal’s devotion to and admiration of St. Thomas More, Patron Saint of Lawyers and of Politicians.   Referring to St. Thomas’s last words before his execution – ‘I die the King’s good servant but God’s first’, Cardinal Burke said that by these words St. Thomas showed how he served his king best, and served the law best, by serving God.   What an example to us today, when we are being bombarded on all sides by immoral laws and practices that are so lethal to the common good of society