TORONTO, January 19, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin released yesterday, Toronto Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic has asked that a bill be enacted to protect the traditional definition of marriage.
Moreover, knowing that provincial courts have forced the redefining of marriage, the Cardinal asks that the bill include use of the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to allow for it to take effect.
“I urge you, Prime Minister, to table a Bill that legislatively enacts the traditional opposite-sex definition of marriage, coupled with a clause that provides for the legislation to take effect notwithstanding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” wrote the Cardinal.
The request for the legislation is couched in a demand for a time of reflection prior to altering the definition of marriage.
“My purpose in writing this open letter to you is to urge caution in taking this step towards the re-definition of marriage. We all would do well to pause reflectively before we alter social structures like marriage and the family that lie at the core of our society, and that represent the accumulated wisdom and experience of the ages,” he writes.
One of the dangerous consequences of the redefinition of marriage which the Cardinal draws attention to is the equating of heterosexual sex with homosexual sex.
“The law is a teacher. Does Canadian society as a whole, and do parents in particular, understand what the law will be teaching in this instance? It will be teaching that homosexual activity and heterosexual activity are morally equivalent.”
The Cardinal Archbishop of Toronto added, “Public schools will be required to provide sex education in that light.”
In his letter the Cardinal acknowledges the use of the notwithstanding clause may be controversial.
However he notes, “Its use in the context of same-sex marriage would be most appropriate.”
In conclusion the Cardinal urges that “all parliamentarians, Cabinet Ministers included” be permitted “to vote their consciences on any legislation that is put to a vote in Parliament on the issue of marriage.”
See the full letter from the Cardinal here.