Same-sex marriage: Cardinal Keith O’Brien takes gay row into pulpits

Catholic worshippers heard criticism of the Scottish Government’s gay marriage plans at Sunday services yesterday as a letter from leading bishops was read aloud in churches.

The letter, which was read in all of Scotland’s 500 Catholic parishes, urged followers to continue to act against efforts to
“redefine” marriage.

But supporters of the change branded the church “anti-gay” and called on the SNP government to stand firm.

The Roman Catholic Church declared yesterday as National Marriage Sunday and called on politicians to “sustain rather than subvert marriage”.

The Scottish Government has said it is right to introduce same-sex marriages, but has stressed no clergy would be forced to perform them.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Scotland’s most senior Catholic churchman, last week broke off discussions on the issue with First Minister Alex Salmond.

In a strongly-worded message, the letter, from the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, highlighted the church’s “deep disappointment that the Scottish Government has decided to redefine marriage and legislate for same-sex marriage”.

It also announced a National Commission for Marriage and the Family to co-ordinate a campaign against gay marriage.

The cardinal said: “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.”

He added: “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.”

Mr Salmond and his senior ministers faced protests on the issue when they held a cabinet meeting in Renfrew last week.

The Scottish Government has pledged to bring forward a bill on the issue later this year, and has indicated ceremonies could take place by the start of 2015.

The Equality Network, which is campaigning in support of same-sex marriage in Scotland, said politicians should stand firm on the plans.

Tom French, the charity’s policy co-ordinator, said: “It is increasingly clear that the church has an anti-gay agenda that it wants to impose on the rest of society.

“We urge the Scottish Government to stand firm on plans to introduce equal marriage and not give in to demands that would discriminate against LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] people.

“In particular, the Equality Network would be deeply concerned at any attempt to promote an anti-gay agenda in schools. School should be a welcoming environment for all young people, regardless of their sexual orientation or their family situation.”

The network says that the Catholic Church has campaigned against all major step towards LGBT equality, including the introduction of an equal age of consent, the repeal of Section 28, Civil Partnerships, same-sex adoption, and now same-sex marriage.

The Catholic Church recently came under fire when it emerged that the recently installed Bishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia had questioned whether gay lifestyles could lead to shortened lifespans and appeared to draw a link to the death of Labour MP David Cairns last year.