Gippsland’s Catholic Bishop is spearheading a lobbying campaign to influence federal legislation on same sex marriage.
In a proactive move led by Sale Bishop Christopher Prowse, Victoria’s eight bishops have united to circulate 80,000 copies of a letter calling on Catholics to contact parliamentarians with their views on same-sex marriage.
The letter, titled ‘Pastoral Letter on the True Meaning of Marriage from the Catholic Bishops of Australia’, was distributed throughout Gippsland over the weekend.
Bishop Prowse said it was the “responsibility” of members to speak with compassion “about the truth of the human person”.
“Bringing new human life into the world is founded on the loving union in difference of male and female. Children are best nurtured by a mother and father,” the letter said.
“… ‘gay marriage’ is impossible because it attempts to cut loose marriage from its grounding in our biological life. If we do that, we deny our humanity.”
Two private members’ bills are currently being tabled in Federal Parliament aimed at broadening the interpretation of the Marriage Act, including an amendment to broaden the definition of marriage from the union between a man and a woman to the union of “two people”.
