Wednesday, 22 February 2012

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have put their weight behind a new campaign against the Government’s plans to legally redefine marriage.

The Most Rev. Peter Smith, the Archbishop of Southwark, welcomed the launch of the Coaliton for Marriage and encouraged Catholics to sign its petition.

Archbishop Smith, chairman of the Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, also urged Catholics to make their objections known to the proposals during the consultation phase that is due to open next month. “The Government’s imminent consultation on changing the definition of marriage is of great concern to many people in our society, and we will be encouraging Catholics to participate in the consultation and to make their objections known,” the archbishop said.

“We welcome the formation of the Coalition for Marriage as a grass-roots movement to campaign for the current definition of marriage to remain in English law.

“A change is not needed because the Civil Partnerships Act provides for the civil rights of same-sex couples already.

“Nor is a change desirable because it would fundamentally change the legal purpose of marriage by removing any reference to the begetting and rearing of children.

“Marriage is a fundamental social institution and neither the State nor the Church has the right to redefine its meaning.

“Together with the Church of England and the new Coalition for Marriage we will be encouraging people to sign the petition registering their opposition to a change in the law on marriage.”

The comments by Archbishop Smith reflect the concerns raised by Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury, during the annual diocesan Mass of celebration for marriage.

“For politicians of Christian conscience this will be a moment to resist the leadership of their own political parties together with every parliamentarian who recognises the Judeo-Christian foundations on which our society rests,” Bishop Davies said.

“Marriage is not a merely a human institution made or un-made by any generation,” said Bishop Davies. “God himself is the author of marriage.”

“Many who do not share our Christian faith see in this timeless institution of marriage not only the source of the greatest good for the family but one of the key foundations on which the whole of society ultimately depends,” he added.

“Our voices must now be raised as clearly as they can be, in order to proclaim the God-given meaning of marriage not only for the sake of this generation, but for the sake of all generations to come.”

The highly influential gay rights group Stonewall has drafted a Bill for the Government in which it proposes to amend the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 to legally abolish the terms “husband” and “wife”, replacing them with “parties to marriage” instead.

Family campaigners were outraged by the plans. “This is horrific,” said Dr Patricia Morgan, a sociologist who specialises in family policy. “The whole concept of marriage is being redefined.

“It suggests a general dissolution into any ad hoc relationship,” she said. “Its purpose is to take traditional notions of marriage – a complementary relationship between a man and a woman, a regenerative relationship – and do away with them.”

“It is extraordinary. No society we have known has ever had a marriage between two men or two women. It is pointless.”

Norman Wells, the director of the Family Education Trust, said: “For generations marriage has been defined as ‘the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others’.

“The proposal to wipe the terms ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ out of the law at the stroke of a pen underlines the far-reaching implications of redefining marriage.”

He said it represented “nothing less” than activists “wanting to rewrite the English language on their own terms and to impose their agenda on every married couple by force of law”.

More radical changes

The Stonewall Bill also proposes to upgrade existing civil partnerships between same-sex couples to the status of marriage.

It also contains a clause allowing government ministers to extend its provisions at a later date, suggesting that the initial proposals are simply a first step towards more radical changes later on.

Although it provides exemptions for religious organisations or ministers who do not wish to marry gay in their premises, lawyers acting for the Churches have already said these could in practice turn out to be meaningless.

Ben Summerskill, Stonewall chief executive, said: “This simple two-page Bill of five clauses need not occupy a significant amount of parliamentary time. It could easily be included in the Queen’s Speech in May.”

The Coalition Government announced last autumn that it intends to change the law to allow civil marriage for homosexual couples.

Liberal Democrat and Coalition Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone said that a formal consultation process would begin in March, meaning the law could be changed before the next General Election in 2015.

All three leaders of the main political parties have publicly expressed their support for a change in the law.

The Prime Minister has said he is “emphatically in favour” of it in spite of more than 100 MPs of his own party expressing discontent.

Leaders of all mainstream Christian Churches are united in their opposed to the redefinition of marriage.

Please sign the online petition to voice your support of marriage.

Used, with adaptations, courtesy of the Diocese of Shrewsbury.

Photos: St Gabriel News and Media