David QuinnIt is more important than ever that the Church teaches with clarity, writes David Quinn
The marriage referendum was passed by a majority of 62% to 38%. Almost three-quarters of a million people voted ‘no’. They had no political parties whatsoever to represent them. No media were on their side. None of the major institutions of society were on their side, apart from the Catholic Church. No famous celebrities were on their side. Almost all of the money was on the ‘yes’ side.
In light of this, it is almost a miracle that 734,000 people voted ‘no’. If any of the major parties had been on the ‘no’ side, any of the major media, the referendum could have been defeated despite the campaign in favour of same-sex marriage beginning not four weeks ago, but four years ago.
What is disappointing is that more Mass-going Catholics did not vote ‘no’. We can’t know what percentage voted ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but clearly many weekly Mass-goers did vote ‘yes’ because about one million adults in the Republic go to Mass each week and, if each of them had voted ‘no’, we would have won the day last Friday.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told RTÉ’s Joe Little on Saturday that the result was a “reality check” for the Church in light of the gigantic percentage of young people who voted ‘yes’. That’s true. The question is, what kind of reality check?
Questions
Joe Little seemed to suggest from his questions that what the Church needs to do is follow the example of people like Sr Stanislaus Kennedy who voted ‘yes’. She works with the marginalised, said Joe, and the people in the Church who work with the marginalised voted ‘yes’. The Church should listen to the likes of them if it wants to be more relevant to young people.
But Sr Consilio has worked with the marginalised for almost 50 years – in her case, with those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction – and she voted ‘no’. And many others in the Church who work with the marginalised, but have no public profile, also voted ‘no’. I know this because I met some of them before and during and the campaign.
So if the leaders of the Church are, post-referendum, to follow the lead of those within the Church who work with the marginalised, it won’t know where to go because some of those who work with the marginalised voted ‘yes’ and others voted ‘no’.
Quite apart from this, however, it remains a fact that Churches which have gone down the path of accommodating modern sexual morality, including homosexuality and same-sex marriage, have not fared well, to put it mildly. They are not attracting young people and are losing numbers even fasters than the Church which have remained orthodox in their approach to sexual morality and other issues.
The Episcopalian Church in America is a case in point. It is now more than ten years since that Church ordained its first openly-gay bishop, Gene Robinson. Bishop Robinson was in a gay relationship at the time.
This decision split the Episcopalian Church badly, not to mention the world-wide Anglican Communion of which it is a part (as is our Church of Ireland).
But apart from causing huge divisions within Anglicanism, the move did not do Episcopalianism within New Hampshire (where Gene Robinson is based) a whit of good in terms of attracting young people back to the Church.
If the Catholic Church was ever to follow the example of the Episcopal Church in America it would split the Catholic Church asunder and would completely fail to attract young people in the promised numbers, or in any numbers.
It is quite simply amazing that, when people invite the Catholic Church to go down this path, they never consider the empirical evidence. They can never point to a Church which has gone down the suggested path and has thrived as a result.
Apart from Sr Stan, other prominent Catholics urged a ‘yes’ vote. The most prominent of all was Mary McAleese. She undoubtedly influenced a lot of people, including probably many Mass-going Catholics to vote ‘yes’. But she is quite at variance with the teachings of her own Church on this point.
The bishops played their part in the debate. Many issued pastoral letters on the matter and some did interviews, including Archbishops Eamon Martin and Diarmuid Martin.
Nervous
It is hard to know how many priests addressed the topic at Masses or read out the pastoral letters. Some will have voted ‘yes’, while others will have been too nervous to go near it.
The fact that many Mass-going Catholics voted ‘yes’ (a substantial minority probably) is indeed a reality check for the Church.
The reality check is that the Church has done almost no catechesis in the area of marriage for years and years. It has done lots of pastoral counselling, but it has not taught on a systematic basis what marriage is and why it is so important to society and why it can only be between a man and a woman by its very nature.
It has not explained why this is not “exclusionary” but in fact protects the very basis and rationale for the institution.
The failure to teach in this way is why many Catholics were bowled over when the referendum came, especially as they have been subjected by the media to such relentless propaganda in favour of gay marriage for years.
Now that the referendum has been carried it is more imperative than ever that the Church teaches very clearly on the issue of marriage. It will need to contrast its belief about marriage with the State’s new version of marriage and make crystal clear to people why it believes what it believes.
The Church must always teach what is true both in season and out of season. Its teaching on marriage is now out of season. So be it. It must teach it all the same..