Protestors demanding same-sex marriage in Australia take to the streets. Inés San Martín
After statements from several Australian bishops reaffirming Church teaching to Catholics in the country ahead of an upcoming vote on same-sex marriage, two bishops are singing outside the chorus, with one of them saying it’s a “decision each person is free to make”.
Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen, appointed by Pope Francis to the Diocese of Parramatta, also said that just like the legalisation of divorce didn’t change the law of the Church, whatever the outcome of the same-sex plebiscite taking place later this year, it won’t change the teaching of the Church.
“The Church will continue to hold that marriage is a natural institution established by God to be a permanent union between one man and one woman, directed both to mutual companionship and to the formation of a family in which children are born and nurtured,” he wrote.
Bishop Long also called Catholics to exercise their responsibility to engage in this “community discernment”, saying that it’s not a matter of a simple yes or no.
Over the next two weeks, Australian households will receive a postal ballot enabling the 16 million eligible voters to have their say. Opinion polls show a majority will vote in favour. If this is the case, the government has vowed to introduce legislation in parliament to legalise same-sex marriage before Christmas.
Plebiscite
The ballots are supposed to be sent back in November. Unlike a referendum, where the citizens’ vote changes the law or at least cannot be easily dismissed, the plebiscite is only a sampling of public opinion and is not legally binding.
“It is important to remember from the very outset that the postal survey is about whether or not Australians want the legal definition of civil marriage changed to include same-sex couples,” Long wrote.
“It is not a referendum on sacramental marriage as understood by the Catholic Church,” he added, in a pastoral letter addressed to his diocese.
Bishop Long is a Vietnamese-Australian who was appointed bishop by Pope Francis last year. His appointment made international headlines because he was the first Australian bishop of Vietnamese origin. He arrived in the country in a refugee boat, back in the early 1980s.
In February, he told the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that, even though he was an adult when he got to the country, he too had been sexually abused by clerics, and that this made him empathise with other victims.
For many Catholics, Long wrote in his letter, same-sex marriage is not “simply theoretical but deeply personal”, either because they themselves experience same-sex attraction, or because friends or relatives do.
“In such cases, they are torn between their love for the Church and their love for their same-sex attracted child, grandchild, sibling, cousin, friend or neighbour,” he wrote.
Reiterating the commitment he made at his installation to make the Church in Parramatta a house for all peoples, where one can experience less exclusion and more “an encounter of radical love, inclusiveness and solidarity,” he said it includes everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, marital status and situation.
Long also wrote that throughout history, LGBTI people have often not been treated with respect.
“Regrettably, the Church has not always been a place where they have felt welcomed, accepted and loved,” he said. For this matter, and regardless of how the survey goes, Catholics must commit to reaching out to LGBTI people, “affirming their dignity and accompanying them on our common journey towards the fullness of life and love in God”.
Bishop Bill Wright, of Maitland-Newcastle, took a similar position, saying that a “common good” argument could be made that “in our pluralist society, it does more for community peace and harmony for gay couples to have a place in the recognised structures than for them to be excluded”.
Bishop Wright said that some time ago he’d noted that the push for same-sex marriage “seemed to arise from the desire of gay couples to have an officially sanctioned ceremony to formalise their commitment to each other and then to have that relationship accorded legal and social recognition”.
According to Bishop Wright, it’s an anomaly that in a society where same-sex relationships are legal and gay couples can adopt and raise children, the relationship itself doesn’t have a clear legal status.
Several news outlets in Australia have accused local bishops of going against Francis, whom they perceive to be in favour of gay marriage because of his “Who am I to judge?” comment, and his call for a more inclusive Church.
However, Francis actually has defended Catholic teaching on the matter. In his document on the family, Amoris Laetitia, he wrote: “As for proposals to place unions between homosexual persons on the same level as marriage, there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.”
There are five million Catholics in Australia, and recently Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne issued a warning that Catholic employees would be expected to live according to teaching, regardless of the outcome of the vote.
“Our teachers, our parish employees are expected totally to uphold the Catholic faith and what we believe about marriage. People have to see in words and in example that our teaching of marriage is underlined,” he said.
A pamphlet published by the Australian Bishops’ Conference earlier this month argues that saying that marriage is between a man and a woman is “not a criticism of other kinds of relationships” nor an assertion “of bigotry, religious dogma or irrational tradition, but a recognition of human ecology”.
In late August, the bishops also launched a campaign, inviting Catholics to pray and fast during the month of October “because all families need our prayers and need God’s Grace”.
The website for the Catholic Marriage and Family Council invites parishes, schools and homes across the country to pray “for our nation’s understanding of the importance of marriage: that we will act to protect God’s plan for marriage and family life. We also pray for the well-being of marriages and families, and in a particular way for people who are same-sex attracted or gender questioning.”
Inés San Martín is a reporter for Cruxnow.com