Statement on Same-Sex Marriage

Statement on Same-sex marriage
prepared by Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Gervais

This statement was prepared by Archbishop Gervais in response to a media request on this subject.

Same-sex marriages have already received approval in the courts of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Should the clergy in your faith be performing same-sex marriages to stay in tune with the times?

Even though same-sex marriages have received the approval of some lower courts, these decisions will not affect the Church. We will continue to support the recognition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. Even if the Supreme Court of Canada gave its approval, the Catholic Church would not permit any of its licensed personnel to celebrate these relationships as marriages.

A marriage between male and female is a unique bond. It transcends time, has common religious, cultural and social dimensions and is universally upheld. It is not something based on individual practices and choices. For centuries, the quality of the union between opposite sexes has been recognized as providing a richer and more stable environment for raising a family.

The type of sexual communion involved in marriage is completely natural for a man and a woman. This is marriage. Intercourse with the possibility of fertility is impossible for two people of the same sex. This may be called other things, but it is not marriage. One could question whether it is to the benefit of society to change the definition of marriage so that it no longer corresponds to its natural meaning.

Clergy and other authorized persons can celebrate a wedding of a man and a woman who are properly disposed and free to marry. Rules governing who is well disposed and who is free to marry are clearly spelled out in Canon Law.

In our Catholic faith, the clergy only witness the marriage, they do not constitute it. The exchange of vows between bride and groom is the public gesture that legitimizes their marriage, and intercourse is its consummation. For us, it is the couple themselves that are the celebrants of their own marriage; it is a covenant that they individually swear to keep to both God and each other. In the Catholic Church, an attempted marriage of two of the same sex would not be recognized and the person officiating would be suspended from their sacred duties.