CCCB president writes PM about marriage vote

Archbishop Andre Gaumond

By DEBORAH GYAPONG
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

The president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has written Prime Minister Stephen Harper, raising a number of concerns in the wake of a failed motion to restore the traditional definition of marriage.

"For Catholics, marriage is an issue intimately related to human nature which has been created male and female," wrote Sherbrooke Archbishop Andre Gaumond in a Dec. 18 letter to Harper.

Exclusive union

"Despite the recent decision of the House of Commons, Catholic teaching on this remains consistent and constant: marriage is the exclusive union of one man and one woman."

"The Catholic bishops of Canada, with the majority of other faith groups and also many citizens of no religious affiliation, are especially concerned that the recent vote in the House of Commons is yet another step toward the de-institutionalization of marriage, the privatization of human rights, the marginalization of family life, and the alienation of legal and social structures from human nature and the common good," he wrote.

"Statistics show that children do best when their father and mother are in a stable married relationship."

Couples

"We urge the Government of Canada and all political parties to do more to safeguard the rights of all children, to strengthen family life, and to provide basic protection for the social and economic well being of married couples."

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