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QUEBEC BISHOPS' CONFERENCE SPEAKS OUT AGAINST HOMOSEXUAL 'MARRIAGE'

But Has Not Retracted It's Neutral Stance on Homosexual Civil Unions

QUEBEC CITY, April 1, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An official statement published March 13 on the website of the Quebec Bishops Conference (Assemblee des evesques du Quebec - AEQ) notes that the Bishops have "reaffirmed that marriage consists of the legitimate union between a woman and a man, the principal ends of which are the union of the couple and the procreation and rearing of children."

Mgr Andre Gaumond, Archbishop of Sherbrooke, stressed that "marriage constitutes a fundamental good and a key in the factor in the renewal of society." The Bishops note also that de facto unions are less stable than marriages.

Although the statement is said to have come from an assembly at which "marriage and civil unions" were discussed, it does not retract the Bishop Conferences' earlier statement on homosexual civil unions. On March 15 last year (2002), the AEQ stated that they did not object to homosexual civil unions nor to homosexual adoption when one of the biological parents was involved.

Writing for the AEQ last year, Bishop Bertrand Blanchet of Rimouski said, "Civil law should not be conformed on every point to the morality of one religion." He explained that, "To not object does not mean to approve or promote." On homosexual adoption Bishop Blanchet wrote: "Finally, the issue of whether one of the partners of a civil union should have the possibility to adopt children. The first criterion to consider is the good of the child.

When one of the partners is his biological parent, it is possible that adoption might be the best solution."

See the March 13, 2003 and the March 15 2002 articles on the AEQ website:
http://www.eveques.qc.ca/aeqdoc_aeq_2002_3_15_f_0.html
http://www.eveques.qc.ca/aeqdoc_aeq_2003_3_13_f_1.html

To contact the AEQ or the Papal Nuncio:

or
The Most Rev. Luigi Ventura, Apostolic Nuncio
724 Manor Ave.
Ottawa, ON K1M 0E3
Phone: (613) 746-4914
FAX: (613) 746-4786
E-Mail:

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