Skip to main content

Email Exchange with a Catholic Church Representative

Following the reading of an article on Pink News about the Catholic Chruch's opposition to marriage equality in Scotland, I decided a week ago to write an email to John Deighan, the Catholic Church's parliamentary officer. Contrary to my expectations I received a response though not really a reply within a day or two. I replied back with further points but I haven't heard anything more from Mr Deighan. Response and reply are copied below.

Dear [Zefrog],

Thank you for getting in touch. It is of course difficult to convey the details of our views in the media and I fully understand that it can be confusing to have arguments reduced to soundbites. It would be nice if we were given the opportunity for a full explanation of our views.

Fundamentally marriage arises from human nature and is a consequence of the natural complementarity of male and female. This is the environment in which children come in to the world and provides the ideal environment (ordinarily) for the socialisation of children. By altering the understanding of the family unit we alter the support for the best model of socialisation which will have a ripple effect through society.

It is not an instantaneous linkage that allows you to see an immediate effect as you suggest we should see from the other parts of the world which have adopted same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage just happens to be the next stage in the deterioration of support for the family built on marriage. The decline in that support has been accompanied by damage which is posing and will continue to pose problems. The collapse in birth rate across Europe, for example, is part of the reason our public services are unsustainable since the proportion of tax payers collapses with birth rate. We also see many problems arising from lack of family stability - drug and
alcohol abuse, crime etc.

I can only briefly give an overview in an email but if you are interested in finding out more you can check the website
www.catholicvotersguide.org/marriage-and-family and from there link to the appropriate information.

I should end by stating that the Church's views are not motivated by any animus or disrespect of any person. Rather it is about proposing the things which lead to fulfilment of the human person and human society.

Best wishes,

John Deighan



Dear John,

Thank you for your reply. Having read it, I am still none the wiser as to how practically you think marriage equality would be harmful. It doesn't take anything away from marriage as it is but if anything would add to its richness. People will be able to marry as they always have and for the same reasons. It just happens that more people will be able to enter into it thus becoming even more involved in society as a result. If anything it fosters a stronger feeling of social belonging from a part of society which has felt rather excluded until now.

You say that marriage arises from human nature. I agree with that. It comes for the desire of two people who love each other to make their relationship even more special and ask for the recognition and support of the wider community (although other elements of human nature, such as greed, have long been part of the reasons why people want to tie the knot).

Therefore I don't see why loving gay couple should have to renounce their human nature to bow to a restricted view of marriage, which is not even part of their moral landscape (since many are not Christian).

Indeed the Bible itself (Old Testament), since I assume (I hope not wrongly) that this is the basis of your objections, portrays and promotes various forms of marriage that even Christians do not recognise as valid any longer.

I would also point out that not all heterosexual marriages exist with a procreative aim. Should these therefore be forbidden?

Again you make statements about what marriage equality would do to marriage as a whole without explaining how this would happen practically. And I don't see why a comparison with other countries is not possible and can not bring some light on what would happen here. All of these countries are very much western and share very similar values to the UK.

To finish, I think I am aware of most, if not all, the arguments the Church has against marriage equality. What I am trying to understand, and the reason why I contacted you, is how it sees the process that would lead equality to engender the destruction of civilisation as we know it, since this is what we seem to be talking about here.

I am also somewhat surprised that while an ever smaller section of the Christian community is vehemently opposed to opening marriage to more loving couples, the same people are more than quiet about divorce, which seems to me much more undermining to marriage. It seems to me that they should be campaigning just as vehemently so that man does not separate what god has joined together. I can't help but feeling that this smacks of double standard.

I look forward to your thoughts on these points.

Regards,

[Zefrog]

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Short History of the Elephant and Castle and Its Name

Last night I attended a lecture by local historian Stephen Humphrey who discussed the general history of the Elephant & Castle, focussing more particularly on what he called its heyday (between 1850 and 1940). This is part of a week-long art project ( The Elephant Project ) hosted in an empty unit on the first floor of the infamous shopping centre, aiming to chart some of the changes currently happening to the area. When an historian starts talking about the Elephant and Castle, there is one subject he can not possibly avoid, even if he wanted to. Indeed my unsuspecting announcement on Facebook that I was attending such talk prompted a few people to ask the dreaded question: Where does the name of the area come from, for realz? Panoramic view of the Elephant and Castle around 1960/61. Those of us less badly informed than the rest have long discarded the theory that the name comes from the linguistic deformation of "Infanta de Castille", a name which would have become at

Rev. Peter Mullen's Blog

Rev. Peter Mullen is the chaplain to the London Stock Exchange and the rector of St Michael's Cornhill and St Sepulchre without Newgate in the City. Rev. Peter Mullen was also until recently a blogger. Sadly the result of his cyber labour seem to have been deleted but Google has thankfully cached some of it and I have saved a copy for posterity, just in case. The deletion of Rev. Mullen's writings might just have something to do with the fact that last week, the Evening Standard and then the Daily Mail published an article (the same article actually) about some of those very writings (even though the elements of said writings being quoted had been published in June this year, at the time of the blessing ceremony which took place between two members of the Church of England in St Bartholomew the Great - picture ). In the article, we learned what the Rev. thinks about gay people and what should be done to them: We ["Religious believers"] disapprove of homosexuality

Liam Messam and Tamati Ellison Swap Jerseys

I am having a bit of a vacuous evening looking at images of pretty rugby players. Addidas, with its latest viral campaign, Jersey Swap , seems to be squarely aiming at the gay market with a selection of five antipodean rugby players, visitor to the website can select and see take their tops off and... well... swap jersey (those interested can create posters too). My favorites of the bunch are Liam Messam and Tamati Ellison . The pictures of their pretty faces and bulging naked torsos (excuse me while I sit down for a second!) included to this post should tell you why. A job well done for Addidas. This will go round the Internet for a while, I think.