Irish bishops are warning Catholics in Ireland that presenting same sex-partnerships as equivalent to marriage would be akin to saying that the union of man and woman is no longer the foundation of society.
In a pastoral statement aimed at presenting the Church’s teaching on marriage ahead of a vote on same-sex marriage due to be held early next year, the Irish bishops’ conference said the promotion of the unique nature of marriage as a union between one man and one woman is a matter of justice.
“The Catholic Church, with other Christians and those of no particular religious view, regard the family based on marriage between a woman and a man as the single most important institution in any society,” said the statement issued Dec. 3 after the general meeting of the bishops’ conference in Maynooth.
“To seek to re-define the nature of marriage would be to undermine it as the fundamental building block of our society,” the bishops said. Continue reading