Courtney McGrailDear Editor, Ireland is a wee country, led by a wobbly Government loaded with the domestic and social problems of a post austerity regime. Isn’t it strange to imagine a referendum to change the definition of marriage to permit two people of the same sex to marry one another, should already be gathering momentum among certain media, Labour party members and well-funded pressure groups. Our priorities, as we approach 2015, have certainly changed!
Marriage has many interpretations. We generally accept it as a state where man and woman are legally united in matrimony, usually with the possibility of pro-creating offspring. Opinion polls presently show around 65% support for same sex marriage. If so many, in conscience, honestly favour such a union by all means let the Government legislate accordingly. Then those people will have won in getting equality and similar monetary and social welfare rights. However, it can never be recognised as ‘marriage’ in the Catholic concept.
Anybody having a serious conscience problem on the vote: Just recall recently – Baroness Nuala O’Loan, a member of the Medical Ethics Committee of the British Medical Association (BMA). When she scented BMA support for the extension of Britain’s 1967 Abortion Law to Northern Ireland she immediately resigned her prestigious position, saying – “I believe in the sanctity and sacredness of human life so I could not commit to anything inconsistent with that position. I felt I had to resign.” (IC 18/12/2014) This is the thought and conviction an honest voter must have, regardless the cause!
Yours etc.,
James Gleeson,
Thurles,
Co. Tipperary.