Redefining marriage in the upcoming referendum would be a “profound act of injustice”, a group representing Catholic lay people has said.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Knights of St Columbanus, an organisation that describes itself as an “order of Catholic laymen dedicated to the service of Christ in daily life”, said: “Redefining marriage is not an expression of tolerance – it is a profound act of injustice.”
The group said the referendum proposal “will not be to equalise marriage” but rather to “negate the true meaning of marriage and enshrine an entirely novel definition in the Constitution”.
“Right reason confirms that homosexual unions – definitively closed to the gift of human life – are not marital and therefore cannot be assimilated to the conjugal love of husband and wife without utterly transforming the essence of marriage in law,” it said.
“To consolidate these very different realities under the term ‘marriage’ would be to deprive marriage of one of its core components – the openness to the transmission of new life which is only made possible by the complementarity of male and female.
“Radically altering the Constitution as proposed will relegate the marital state to a primarily adult-centred relationship with no intrinsic link to the capacity for procreation.”
The statement cited Article 41 of the Constitution – which includes the contention that “family” is “founded” on marriage – and said revising the legal effects of marriage will have “repercussions for the way in which Irish society understands and defines the family in the Constitution”.
“Approving the proposed amendment will end the Constitution’s long-standing special care for the family founded on the marriage of one man and one woman and instead introduce a regime that consciously refuses to promote and protect the inherent dignity and worth of that institution,” it said.
“We believe it will also entrench neutrality on the part of the State as to whether children should preferably be raised by a mother and a father.”
The group added it was directing a “sincere appeal” for people to “recognise and safeguard the natural bonds of motherhood and fatherhood in marriage and the unique contribution that the marital union of male and female can make to the well-being of children and the common good of society”.
