The debate at the heart
of the referendum announced today by the Government is not about
equality or about the false separation of a religious view of marriage
from the civil view of marriage.
It is about the very nature of marriage
itself and the importance society places on the role of mothers and
fathers in bringing up children.
With others, the Catholic Church will
continue to hold that the differences between a man and woman are not
accidental to marriage but fundamental to it and that children have a
natural right to a mother and a father and that this is the best
environment for them where possible.
Married
love is a unique form of love between a man and woman which has a
special benefit for the whole of society. With others of no particular
religious view, the Church regards the family based on marriage between a
woman and a man as the single most important institution in any
society.
To change the nature of marriage would be to undermine it as
the fundamental building block of our society.
The Church will therefore
participate fully in the democratic debate leading up to the referendum
and will seek with others to reaffirm the rational basis for holding
that marriage should be reserved for the unique and complimentary
relationship between a woman and a man from which the generation and
upbringing of children is uniquely possible.
That is why the Catholic Church clearly teaches that people who are homosexual must always be treated with sensitivity, compassion and respect.
It is not lacking in sensitivity or respect for people who are homosexual however to point out that same-sex relationships are fundamentally different from opposite sex relationships and that society values the complementary roles of mothers and fathers in the generation and up-bringing of children.