The Catholic Church is not against other forms of people's intimacy, but it has an obligation to express the essential elements of Christian marriage as it understands it from revelation, said Archbishop Diarmuid Martin at a press conference earlier this week. Even when a marriage is not blessed by children, it is a marriage, he said. “The intention of having children is not excluded by the person’s deliberate action.”
Asked about same sex unions, and the desire such couples might have to have children, the archbishop replied that marriage in Catholic theology is linked with the complimentarity of the sexes and that is what is celebrated in the sacrament of marriage.
He went on: “That is not something that it is possible for any individual to change. It is part of the order that was instilled from the beginning of creation.”
“There is a consistency in the teachings, not just of the Catholic Church, but of all the Christian Churches on the uniqueness of marriage based on the complementarity of the sexes and that is something that all the Christian Churches defend in their teaching."
“Addressing other forms of intimacy can be done, but on a different level to marriage,” he said.
The topic of the Civil Partnership Bill 2008 was considered by the Irish Bishops’ Conference during their winter meeting this week.
They are examining the bill, which was published in June this year, and its implications for marriage and society.
At the Céifin Conference earlier this month, Cardinal Séan Brady, Primate of All Ireland, had expressed reservations about the bill.
Noting that some restrictions would apply to adoption by same sex couples, he said that nonetheless as social welfare and tax entitlements would be on a par with those of married people, it was “difficult to see how anything other than the introduction of de facto ‘marriage’ for cohabiting and same-sex couples is envisaged” .
He said if this was the case, those committed to the Constitution, the Word and the “precious human value of marriage between a man and a woman as the foundation of society,” might have to mount a legal challenge to the bill.
Asked if the Church was heading for a Church-State confrontation over the issue, Dr Martin said there were "concerns" about the current text.
"We are united with the position being taken by bishops all over Europe in this."
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(Source: CIN)