CCCB head: Same-sex unions not marriages

Ontario court ruling devalues marriage, says Berthelet

By ART BABYCH
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

Bishop Jacques Berthelet of Saint-Jean-Longueuil, Que., said a decision by an Ontario appeals court to legalize same-sex marriages devalued marriage as "an essential institution for the stability and equilibrium of society."

"The definition of marriage that has been introduced by the Ontario Court of Appeal leads simply to a legal confusion which a rigorous analysis by the Supreme Court should be capable of denouncing," he told Chretien in a June 19 letter.

The Ontario court ruled June 10 that the federal government's definition of marriage as the union between "a man and a woman" was unconstitutional and must be changed to a union between "two persons." The ruling allowed gays and lesbians to apply for marriage licences and get married in Ontario.

Stating he was "profoundly disappointed" at the prime minister's decision not to appeal the Ontario court decision, Berthelet said marriage as a union between a man and woman "pre-exists" the state.

Because it is fundamental to society, marriage could not be modified by the state or courts, the bishop said.

Berthelet said the appeals court ruling "discriminates against heterosexual marriage and the family, which are thus deprived of their social and legal recognition as the fundamental and irreplaceable basis of society."

In his letter to the prime minister, the bishop said he hoped Chretien's legacy would not be tainted by a decision to support legislation "that represents an assault on common sense, an assault on the values of societies which are advanced but not amoral, and an assault on the liberties of men and women of good will."

On June 18, a group of 30 prominent Canadians, including Cardinal Edouard Gagnon, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said legalizing same-sex marriage does not fit with the tradition and values of Canadian society.

"The Catholic Church, which will continue to recognize marriage as "the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others." - Archbishop Marcel Gervais

The group also includes Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Halifax, chair of the board of directors of the Catholic Organization for Life and the Family, and a variety of Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders, and representatives of the Catholic Civil Rights League and family action groups.

In a statement published in the Globe and Mail June 18, the group said some people are heralding the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal as bringing the current debate about marriage in Canada to a "fitting" conclusion.

"In our view it only serves to underscore the conclusion of earlier judgments, namely, that Parliament, not the courts, is the place to forge an appropriate legislative response to the complex and multi-layered issues surrounding the public definition of marriage and the legal recognition of same-sex unions," the group said.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Marcel Gervais of Ottawa, a former CCCB president, said Catholic priests and others in the Church who try to marry a same-sex couple can expect to be suspended from their duties.

"In the Catholic Church, an attempted marriage of two of the same sex would not be recognized and the person officiating would be suspended from their sacred duties," said Gervais in a prepared statement June 23. He was responding to queries from the media.

The archbishop said the court's decision will not affect the Catholic Church, which will continue to recognize marriage as "the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others."

Even if the Supreme Court of Canada gave its approval to the same-sex marriage the Church would not permit any of its licenced people to "celebrate these relationships as marriages," Gervais said.

Gervais said the type of sexual communion involved in marriage is natural for a man and woman. "This is marriage," he said. "Intercourse with the possibility of fertility is impossible for two people of the same sex. This may be called other things, but it is not marriage."

He also questioned whether there is any benefit to society to change the definition of marriage "so that it no longer corresponds to its natural meaning."

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