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Canada Catholic Bishops Plenary Council Neutral on Homosexual Unions

OTTAWA, September 10, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The conflict within the ranks of the Canadian Catholic hierarchy is beginning to show in its documentation on the subject of homosexual unions. In its most recent offering released today, the Plenary Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) retained a neutral stance on the subject of giving legal recognition to homosexual unions and came out forcefully against the redefinition of the word 'marriage'. Of note, the CCCB letter does not at all acknowledge the recent Vatican document "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons."

While the Vatican document, released a little more than a month ago, was devoted to "why it is necessary to oppose legal recognition of homosexual unions," the CCCB pastoral letter remains neutral on legal recognition other than 'marriage'. "Since the very beginnings of this debate, we have acknowledged there is a desire to give formal protection to other forms of adult personal relationships which also involve commitment, mutual care, and emotional and financial interdependence. We remain convinced solutions can be found without proceeding to a radical redefinition of marriage," says the CCCB letter.

Another departure from the Vatican's direction on the matter is how the CCCB letter addresses the obligations of Catholic politicians in voting on legislation pertaining to homosexual unions. While the Vatican was crystal clear in its direction to Catholic politicians, the CCCB letter is widely open to interpretation. The Vatican's document instructs: "When legislation in favour of the recognition of homosexual unions is proposed for the first time in a legislative assembly, the Catholic law-maker has a moral duty to express his opposition clearly and publicly and to vote against it. To vote in favour of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral."

Addressing the same point, the CCCB says, "What the Church asks of Catholic politicians, and indeed of every Catholic, is to develop their conscience through prayer, meditation, careful reading of Scripture and respectful listening to the teaching of the Church, in order to heed that 'objective moral law, which as the 'natural law' written in the human heart, is the obligatory point of reference for civil law itself.'"

While some may interpret the preceding as a necessity to vote in support of traditional marriage, many would not.

The CCCB continues, "Far from taking away the freedom of the Catholic politician, the Church recognizes it, putting the personal responsibility on the individual politician to discern on the basis of a well-formed conscience the best possible way to achieve the common good. All politicians are first and foremost accountable to their conscience, and then to their constituents."

The CCCB urged lay people, "especially those who are married" to "indicate to their political representatives, in a spirit of love and deep respect for all people, their firm opposition to a redefinition of marriage that includes same-sex partners."

See the CCCB pastoral letter and the Vatican document:
http://www.cccb.ca/Files/marriagemessage.html
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_d...

See related LifeSite coverage:
Catholic Group Wonders "Why the Compromise on Homosexual Civil Unions?"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/sep/03090801.html
General Secretary of Canadian Bishops Conference Minimizes New Vatican Doc
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/aug/03080101.html
QUEBEC BISHOPS CONTRADICT CHURCH TEACHING ON HOMOSEXUAL ADOPTION http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/mar/020307.html

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