Friday, May 09, 2008

Defend family based on marriage, says Cardinal Brady

The Primate of All-Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, has warned the Government that granting marriage-like rights to other family forms undermines marriage, which he called a “fundamental building block of our society”.

The remarks come as the Government prepares to legislate for civil unions which will give same sex partners most of the same tax and inheritance rights currently enjoyed by married couples.

In his strongest remarks yet on the issue, Cardinal Brady added that such a move would further erode “the values which hold societies together”. However, he did not explicitly refer to the Government legislation.

The cardinal, speaking on his return from Israel, where he was accompanied by the head of the Church of Ireland, Dr Alan Harper, Dr John Finlay, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and Rev Roy Cooper, President of the Methodist Church, said he noted on his trip the importance which all “attached to the bond of family based on marriage”.

He continued: “Something which unites the three great faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam is their common belief in the family as the fundamental building block of a strong, cohesive and successful society.”

All of these great faiths believe that God has revealed the family, based on the marriage of man and woman, as the most important relationship in society, worthy of special respect, support and promotion.

The cardinal went on to warn that the family was “under increasing threat” in the Western world. Echoing the call of Pope Benedict, he called on the media to remember its responsibility “to act in support of and to reveal to the world the beauty of the family”.

The media had “immense influence”, he added. This influence could be used “to build up things that are good and which support and develop our society or things that are evil and which undermine the virtues and values on which society is built”, Cardinal Brady said.

Too often, he added, the values of parents and families were being “undermined and challenged by those who write and broadcast so many of these programmes on our televisions”. He asked why the “values of family and marriage, values which the great religions of the world share” were so under-represented in the entertainment offered by the media. The image of the family reflected in soap operas seldom reflected the beauty and joy of family life, he said.

Governments also had a duty to legislate in favour of families, built on marriage between a man and a woman. “Nothing can replace marriage and family as the fundamental unit of society,” he added.

Referring to the pope’s message, the Cardinal said “that the peace of the world depends on the defence, promotion and support of the family based on marriage”.

Cardinal Brady was speaking at a special Mass for World Communications Day last Sunday in the parish of Ardee, Co. Louth.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce