EDINBURGH, Scotland, AUG. 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- This Sunday a pastoral letter will be read out at all of Scotland’s Catholic churches to mark the inauguration of National Marriage Sunday.
In it Scotland’s bishops restate, their “deep disappointment that the Scottish Government has decided to redefine marriage and legislate for same sex marriage,” a press release issued Wednesday noted.
“The Church’s teaching on marriage is unequivocal, it is uniquely, the union of a man and a woman and it is wrong that Governments, politicians or Parliaments should seek to alter or destroy that reality,” declared Cardinal Keith O’Brien, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland.
“While we pray that our elected leaders will sustain rather than subvert marriage, we promise to continue to do everything we can to convince them that redefining marriage would be wrong for society,” he added.
The letter starts by quoting the Gospel passage where Jesus, on being questioned about marriage declares: “Have you not read that the Creator, from the beginning, ‘made them male and female’, and said: ‘This is why a man must leave father and mother and cling to his wife and the two become one body’.” (Matthew, 19: 4-5)
With the Year of Faith that starts in October the bishops explained that they wish to place special emphasis on marriage. “The family is the domestic Church, and the first place in which the faith is transmitted,” the letter states.
“We reaffirm before you all the common wisdom of humanity and the revealed faith of the Church that marriage is a unique life-long union of a man and a woman,” the letter continued, deploring the decision of the Scottish government to legislate in favour of same-sex “marriage.”
In order to support marriage and the family the letter explained that the bishops have decided to form a Commission for Marriage and the Family which will be led by a bishop, but made up mainly of lay people.
The role of the commission will be to engage with young men and women and also with those already married. It will also have the task of supporting those who are widowed, separated or divorced.
“The new Commission will promote the true nature of marriage as both a human institution and a union blessed by Jesus,” the letter explained.
“The Bishops of Scotland will continue to promote and uphold the universally accepted definition of marriage as the union solely of a man and a woman,” the letter declared.
The letter concluded with an invitation to pray for all families and also for politicians, that they may safeguard marriage, “for the good of Scotland and of our society.”
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