The Scottish Government does not deserve the support of Scotland’s 800,000 Roman Catholics because of its proposal to redefine marriage, the Church has warned.
And the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has cautioned that redefining marriage would have serious repercussions for Scottish schools and society.
Earlier this month the Scottish Government, led by the Scottish National Party (SNP), launched a consultation on whether to change the definition of marriage for the sake of homosexual marriage.
Trust
But Philip Tartaglia, a senior bishop, has warned that “such a government does not deserve the trust which the nation – and including many in the Catholic community – has shown in it.”
And Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the Church’s head, has branded the proposal as a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”, and warned that it would deprive children of the opportunity to have a mother and father.
Cardinal O’Brien, writing in the Scottish edition of the Mail on Sunday, warned that redefining marriage would lead to homosexual behaviour being normalised in the nation’s schools.
Homosexual
He added: “There is no question, that normalising gay marriage means normalising homosexual behaviour for public school children.
“In November 2003 after a court decision in Massachusetts to legalise gay marriage, school libraries were required to stock same-sex literature; primary school children were given homosexual fairy stories such as King & King; some high school students were even given an explicit manual of homosexual advocacy”.
He added: “Other dangers exist, if marriage can be redefined so that it no longer means a man and a woman but two men or two women, why stop there?
Polygamy
“Why not allow three men or a woman and two men to constitute a marriage, if they pledge their fidelity to one another? Canada has legalised homosexual marriage, and litigation is now underway in one Canadian Province to legalise polygamy.”
His concerns were echoed by Philip Tartaglia, the Bishop of Paisley.
Children
In a written submission to the Scottish Government he said: “Marriage has always existed in order to bring men and women together so that the children born of those unions will have a mother and a father.
“For that reason, same sex unions cannot fulfill the nature and purpose of marriage. Marriage, therefore, should not be treated as an equality issue.
“A government which favours and allows for same sex ‘marriage’ does wrong. It fails in its duty to society.”