Mary KennyI think that quite a lot of sincere and good Catholics will feel minded to vote ‘Yes’ to the same-sex marriage referendum coming up on May 22. People want to be kind. People want to be respectful of others and of the nature of others. There are old Irish sayings which underline these sensibilities.
Long before ‘diversity’ was a fashionable political concept, there were old grannies saying: “It would be a poor world if we were all the same.”
There’s a nice motto about the acceptance of difference and eccentricity making sense to the individual involved. “Every cripple has his own way of walking straight.”
And even where tolerance fails – human nature being what it is – the New Testament is emphatic about the principle of not judging others.
At the end of the day, when you go to cast your ballot in that vacated schoolroom, it’s down to your own conscience where you put the X. If you’re not sure, perhaps it’s down to your conscience to abstain.
The British Home Secretary, Teresa May, once warned her colleagues in the Conservative party to beware of being seen as “the nasty party”. Catholics are so often cast, these days, as the villains of the piece that this is something worth pondering on. The debate coming up to the referendum should refrain from the nasty.
But really, it’s what comes after same-sex marriage becomes the law that should be examined, because that is where the problems await. When the lawyers get their mitts on this particular legal equality, I fear that the bullying to conform will become endless.
Equalities
Small bed-and-breakfast family homes, where the bean an tí would prefer not to serve breakfast to two gay guys emerging from the double bed, will be taken to the legal cleaners.
Small caterers who choose not to provide wedding cakes for same-sex weddings will feel the full force of the equalities quangoes and, as likely as not, be put out of business.
The principle which has held good since the Medieval guilds – that you are entitled to trade with whosoever you please – will be wholly quashed.
Children in primary schools will be quizzed about their knowledge of homosexual sex education: in Britain, the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has supported school inspectors who asked a 10-year-old girl about homosexual sex (the child, attending Grindon Hall Christian School in Sunderland, went home in tears).
No matter, gay sex education must now be treated equally with straight sex education – it’s illegal to discriminate.
And schools which are known to be Christian are being especially targeted, now, in Britain, on grounds of ‘equality law’.
I believe that’s the scenario we have to look at: what comes afterwards. Be kind. Be respectful of others. Be understanding and tolerant. But when the law starts to hammer home ‘equality’, be prepared to watch all dissent swept aside.
Customer feedback from the pews
Pope Francis has said that the martyrdom of the Middle East Christians will surely draw us closer together in an ecumenical spirit of solidarity. Hopefully. And with permission from the participants, I’d like to quote from an insightful conversation on this theme on my Facebook page this week.
Tony Allwright from South Dublin lamented the lack of relevant commentary from Irish pulpits: “Still waiting for a priest – any priest – to remember from the pulpit these [Coptic Christians] and the thousands of other recent Christian martyrs in the Middle East and Nigeria. Deathly hush.”
Mary Quinlan responded by saying: “Tony, our beloved priests, for all we know, are engaged in white martyrdom in their everyday lives, thanks to the likes of priest haters [she mentions a prominent religious commentator] and the group thinkers in RTÉ and the media generally who portray our beloved priests in caricature only.”
Tony responds: “Our beloved priests do not help their cause when they remain silent about all the major issues facing Catholics today… Instead, Irish priests just seem to recycle what feel like platitudes, such as reflect inwardly, visit your neighbour, contribute to this or that charity, pray for the ill and deceased. All worthy sentiments, but not to the exclusion of the really important issues…”
But Anna Maria McDonagh says that, in Limerick, there is a real awareness: “I have to say that my regular church, the Redemptorists in Limerick, rarely let anything go by without praying for and acknowledging it.
“Our parish was also very active in collecting for Syrian people recently and a lot of priests are working out there. There are many issues which I wish all priests would speak out more readily on, but when it comes to persecution, I have not found the priests I know wanting!”
Reverend fathers – this, I think, is what is called, in the retail world, “customer feedback”.