The Roman Catholic Church is planning to enlist the support of more than a million regular worshippers in opposition to Government plans for same-sex marriage.
Senior bishops are preparing to draw up a letter to be read at Masses across England and Wales when the Government consultation on plans to redefine marriage gets under way later this month, it is understood.
It would be only the second time in recent history that a joint pastoral letter on behalf of all Catholic bishops in England and Wales has been issued on an issue of political importance.
The move is being proposed as the debate over extending marriage to homosexual couples gathers momentum. At the weekend Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the most senior Catholic cleric in Britain, accused the Coalition of trying to “redefine reality” and branded the proposals a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”.
Although the proposals would not extend to Scotland, he argued that they would nevertheless “shame the UK in the eyes of the world”.
Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9122677/Catholics-will-be-called-to-oppose-gay-marriage.html
The more controversial first reporting of this came from a letter written to the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9121424/We-cannot-afford-to-indulge-this-madness.html
Do you think Catholics Bishops are right to get politically involved in this issue? Do you think the term 'marraige' should be used by homosexual couples? What difficulties can you see arising? WHy do you think Cardinal O'Brien came in for such fierce criticism? Do you think some Catholics will find this difficult to agree with?
No comments:
Post a Comment