Same-sex “marriage” is not an extension of marriage rights but a dismantling of an institution on which the well-being of societies depend, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB wrote last week before leaving to attend the New Evangelisation synod in Rome.
The Archbishop wrote exclusively for The Record in the wake of last month’s defeat of same-sex marriage proposals in both the Australian and Tasmanian parliaments.
“(Any) attempt to redefine marriage in such a way as to sever the link between the love of the partners in the marriage and the rights and needs of their children is a misuse of the state’s power,” Archbishop Costelloe wrote.
“Our governments did not create the institution of marriage and they should not seek to dismantle it by altering its fundamental character.
“Rather, as many commentators have noted, the foundational role which families play in the well-being of a society underpins the responsibilities of governments to provide special protection and support to this institution.”
Catholic tradition, Archbishop Costelloe wrote, does not compartmentalise between religious matters and “purely secular matters”. Catholic convictions about marriage are based on the common good and the teachings of the faith.
“We are not so much against things as we are for things. We are for the family and for the rights of children to be raised by their mother and father,” he wrote.
“What reason tells us is good for humanity is in profound harmony with God’s creative plan. Sexual difference and the sexual complementarity between a man and a woman, which are God’s gifts to us, are the basis for the creation of the family.
“It is because we are for marriage, for the family and for the rights of children that we stand so firmly against any attempt to legislate to change the nature of marriage.”
Catholics maintained the rights of people to live free from unjust discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual preference, Archbishop Costelloe wrote.
“Those who argue against the redefinition of marriage are often accused of unjust discrimination and the denial of people’s human rights. Sometimes they are accused of homophobia.
“The latter accusation is a sweeping generalisation which by its very nature is itself unjust. The former accusation is premised on the notion that marriage should be open to everyone.
“But marriage, as opposed to other kinds of human relationships, is of its very nature the establishing of a union between a man and a woman for the purposes of their mutual love and support and for the raising of their children, should they have any, in a stable environment.
““Same-sex marriage” does not extend marriage rights to a wider group of people. It dismantles marriage and creates something else – a relationship which has no essential link to the family which marriage exists to nurture and support.
“Calling this new reality a “marriage” cannot change that fact,” Archbishop Costelloe wrote.
Proposals to legally institute same-sex marriage were rejected in both houses of the Australian Parliament last month, with one proposal being defeated 42-98 in the House of Representatives and a similar proposal going down 26-41 in the senate.
While the Government’s members were allowed a conscience vote, Opposition MPs voted according to their 2010 election commitment to retain the current definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.
A state proposal to permit same-sex marriage in Tasmania was defeated on September 28 despite being supported by the State’s Premier, Lara Giddings.
Same-sex marriage advocates said the vote was only lost in that state because several MPs were concerned about the constitutionality of the state parliament legislating on marriage.
South Australia is set to be the next battleground with a gay-marriage bill expected to be debated in the state’s parliament, early next year.