Bishops defend natural marriage

They urge faithful to lobby politicians

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Montreal

"Marriage needs to be preserved as an institution uniting two members of the opposite sex," the bishops say in a message to the faithful released in Montreal Sept. 10. "For the common good of society (marriage) must be protected."

In the message signed by the 16 members of the permanent council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, entitled Marriage in the Present Day, the bishops call marriage an icon of God's love and of human dignity.

They say they are participating in the same-sex marriage debate not because they are concerned about the freedom of clergy to celebrate the sacrament of marriage, but because they believe "marriage between a man and a woman benefits society and serves the common good which all Catholics are called to promote."

The bishops urge the faithful to express "their firm opposition to a redefinition of marriage that includes same-sex partners." Such a fundamental change, they warn, will have a serious impact on society.

"I think it's time for our good Catholic people to get off of their hands and to protest and to make known to the government their great displeasure," said Calgary Bishop Fred Henry. "This is their sacrament. They are to be in the forefront in terms of defending it."

Archbishop Thomas Collins said the government's proposed legislation "goes beyond what the government has a right to do" and people have a duty to speak up. "The government does not have a right to change the very definition of marriage and I think it is the responsibility of all people who recognize that to protest and to enter into the democratic process."

Collins and Henry are both members of the CCCB's permanent council.

"I think it's time for our good Catholic people to get off of their hands." - Bishop Fred Henry

Henry said there is no sound rationale to support a redefinition of marriage to include gay couples. "I think this is just secularism run amok in this particular time in terms of promotion of so-called same-sex rights."

Collins noted the current definition of marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman is not just a Catholic view but a universal one.

"Even atheists recognize as self-evident that to have a marriage you have to have a bride and a groom, a husband and wife. That's what marriage is," he said. "As bishops, we are trying to affirm and defend the reality of marriage, which also is very intimately and closely connected to the reality of the family."

The bishops' message says, "We reject the attempt of the state to reduce all intimate personal relationships to the same level, leading to the disappearance of the civil institution of marriage as understood in all human societies since time immemorial."

Because of the recognized contributions that marriage brings to family stability and to the future of society, "legislators have the duty of preserving the distinction between marriage and other forms of relationships involving two persons."

"The Catholic bishops of Canada call for the definition of marriage to remain intact: 'the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.'"

Collins stressed that true marriage necessarily involves a "covenant of love and life between a man and a woman."

"Marriage is blessed by God and it's a foundation really for bringing new human life into this world. And any effort such as the present one to make such a reality just another variety of marriage, certainly diminishes and undermines the centrality of true marriage."

The desire to give formal protection to other forms of adult personal relationships doesn't have to radically redefine marriage, the bishops say. The govern-ment's draft legislation proposes to remove the distinctions between heterosexual spouses and same-sex partners in order to give gay couples access to marital status.

Added Henry, the Calgary bishop: "If there are areas in which we need to recognize the rights of gay people then we can do that without altering a fundamental structure of our society."

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