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UK Bishop: Couples that Cohabit and Reject Responsibility of Marriage Should Not Receive its Legal Benefits

By Elizabeth O'Brien

LONDON, United Kingdom, August 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic Bishop's Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW) recently issued a statement that said that if cohabiting couples are unwilling to accept the responsibility and commitment of marriage, they should not receive the legal benefits of marriage.

In light of newly proposed UK legislation, the president of the CBCEW's Committee on Marriage and the Family, Bishop John Hine, expressed his "special concern" for a law that "would make cohabitation equivalent to marriage," Catholic News Agency (CNA) reports.

The British Law Commission, a government advisory body, recommended on Tuesday that the government should adopt certain legal safeguards for unmarried couples that broke up after having children and living together for many years.

The Commission declared that the regulations would not give cohabiting couples the equal rights of married couples. Nevertheless, Hine strongly cautioned against the proposed law, recognizing that it would give cohabiting couples "legal recognition, with their corresponding rights and titles."

According to CNA, the CBCEW is concerned over the proposed law - which has to do with "financial consequences" involved in a break-up - because it creates a set of rules for cohabiting couples that is distinct from the rules that govern couples that divorce. In essence, this set ups cohabitation as an alternate and equally valid lifestyle to marriage.

While applauding the proposal's intention to seek the welfare of any children involved, Hine voiced the bishops' concern over the basic justification of the proposed legislation. He explained that the law stipulates a minimum cohabitation time for couples before they can receive legal benefits, thereby giving them a certain legal status.

Cutting to the core of the issue, he affirmed, "Basically, couples that cohabit and deliberately choose not to marry, forgo the responsibilities and obligations of marriage, and (therefore) they should also forgo the legal benefits of marriage. It's very important that the distinction is clearly made."

Hine underlined that it is unacceptable to "make cohabitation equivalent to marriage." He further emphasized the "duty of the state to promote, uphold and safeguard marriage as the basis of family life, the best and most stable environment for bringing up children".

Read related LifeSiteNews coverage:

Cohabitation Ends in Separation 90% of the Time
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06072106.html

PENNSYLVANIA BISHOPS CITE REASONS AGAINST COHABITATION
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/sep/99091603.html

Unmarried Parents Five Times more Likely to Separate than Married
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/aug/05080201.html

No Right to Adopt for Co-Habiting Northern Irish Couple
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jun/07060410.html

Listen to the Vatican Radio Report:
http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=147758

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