Same-sex marriage has been passed into law in Australia. The new legal definitions and requirements resulting from the law change took effect last Saturday. Weddings using the new legislation can be celebrated from 9 January 2018. A commentary about the new laws has been published. This notes: “The legal definition of marriage in the Marriage Read more
During the past 12 months, Australia’s Catholic Church has had to face several moral issues. These include a sex abuse crisis as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse published reports about abuse at Catholic schools and institutions, losing the same-sex marriage referendum and Victoria government’s upper house voting to allow euthanasia. Read more
Priests from the Church of England copied Martin Luther’s means of protest against the Church during the past week. They stuck a copy of their complaints to the doors of five cathedrals. The priests’ actions mimic the fable that Luther nailed his 95 theses against the Catholic Church to the door of a chapel in Read more
Individual opinions about Australia’s gay marriage postal survey are personal, Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen of Parramatta Diocese says. In a pastoral letter published on the Catholic Outlook website last week, Nguyen said “when voting there must be a deep sense of respect for all concerned, and for the opinion and decision that each person Read more
A British MP is being given a hard time for his Catholic views: opposing abortion in all circumstances and disagreeing with same-sex marriage. In an interview on Good Morning Britain, Jacob Rees-Mogg said he was “completely opposed to abortion” including in cases of rape and incest. “Life is sacrosanct and begins at the point of Read more
Australia’s Catholic church is threatening to fire teachers, nurses and other employees who marry their same-sex partner if gay marriage is legalised. The Church’s threats come as opponents and supporters of marriage equality stand firm to their view while the countdown to the federal government’s postal vote to decide the issue continues. The Archbishop of Read more
Germany’s “marriage for all” bill was passed last Friday with 393-226 votes and four abstentions. Surprising conscience vote results show all six Muslim MPs voted in favour of it. Chancellor Angela Merkel, known for her liberal views, voted against it. Four of the six Muslim MPs are with the Green Party, one is with the Read more
Married gay priest Fr Bernard Lynch says he’s still ordained and Church is wrong in its attitudes to gay people. In an interview on Irish-channel Clare FM’s Morning Focus, Fr Lynch said the message of God is to love and to love one another. He said the Catholic Church “does terrible damage and it is Read more
Same-sex marriage and the Catholic church’s views on it are likely to change, says US Democratic Vice-presidential candidate and devout Catholic, Tim Kaine. His comments were made on Saturday at the US annual national dinner for the Human Rights Campaign. “My support for marriage equality now — my full, complete, unconditional support for marriage equality Read more
Warren Hall, who is a North Jersey priest, has been suspended by his archbishop after expressing support for a basketball coach who lost her job for being gay. This is not the first time Hall has been in trouble for his views. Hall, 53, who was working at a Hoboken church, told Religious News Service (RNS) he Read more