Scottish Catholic Observer

AS Scottish MPs helped impose same-sex ‘marriage’ on England and Wales on Tuesday by overwhelmingly voting for a redefinition of marriage, some stood firm against it.

Although Labour MPs support for the Coalition Government’s bill allowed legislation on same-sex ‘marriage’ to be approved by parliament, seven Scottish Labour MPs, including Catholics such as Tom Clarke and Frank Roy, resisted pressure to support the bill.

John Deighan, the parliamentary officer for Scotland’s bishops, said that ‘sadly the rest of Scottish Labour, including some professing Catholics, voted for the historical abandonment of the centuries old understanding of marriage.’

“There has obviously been a concerted effort in recent years to present this as merely opening up marriage but it is in fact the destruction of the legal understanding which has always centred around the fact that men and women together have children,” he added.

“The fact that Catholics have also been taken in by this despite the Church’s clear teaching on the importance of the family is a matter for concern.”

Mr Deighan also said the vote was a clear case of politicians’ exceeding their authority.

Although the SNP delegation at Westminster did not vote on the bill, saying it would be superseded by the Scottish Government’s forthcoming legislation on the issue, this legislation does contain some provisions that affect Scotland.

These include setting up armed forces rules applying to Scottish same-sex ‘marriage’ if the Scottish bill passes and allowing changing sex without divorce in Scotland if the marriage took place England or Wales.

A spokesman for Scotland’s bishops said that this sort of legislation is always wrong, no matter which parliament it comes from.

“The Catholic Church has made its view very clear that the redefinition of marriage is unwise and unnecessary,” Peter Kearney said. “

–        This story was reported in full in the February 8 print edition of the SCO.