bishops – NZ Catholic Newspaper

From the beginning of creation

Michael Otto — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 04:56:37 +0000

A pastoral letter from the bishops of New Zealand to young New Zealanders
Dear Kiwis of Generation Y.
As the people who entered adulthood in this millennium, you are being wooed by politicians and advertisers. Your choices will help shape our nation. One such choice is the present legislation about amending the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. The lobby that promoted and achieved the Civil Unions [law] now says that this does not go far enough.
We would like you to consider carefully the wider implications of this major social change.
Why should you care?
Marriage is a fundamental structure in our society. Every one of us was born into a family, each of us has parents. The legal status of married couples is a long-established recognition by society of how important the family unit is, most especially to the children who grow up in that family.
How marriage is defined affects us all; changing that definition will have many consequences, including with respect to adoption and throughout the education system. Some consequences will be unexpected and unintended. This is no small matter, nor quibbling about words; this is an attempt to re-engineer the status and structure of family life in New Zealand and elsewhere.
Why oppose?
When Jesus was discussing marriage with his disciples he observed
“From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Mark 10:6-9).
The reality, as Jesus observed, is that male and female pair with each other. Males and females are different and complementary. Each has a significant role to play in the nurturing of children. We come from one family and we set out to make another one.
Marriage is not merely a human construction, it is the legal recognition of something natural.
Civil law reflects and protects human nature. Society promotes and affirms the married state for the sake of the couple and for the sake of their children.
The Church considers marriage to be the first blessing from the Creator and celebrates it as a sacrament. Christians did not invent marriage; it has been part of every human society throughout history. Legislators did not invent marriage; when the laws were written they were taking account of a pre-existing reality. We address this letter to you, rather than only to Church members, because of the universality of marriage.
Marriage promotes love and generates life. Love, friendship, and commitment exist in many forms, but only the bond between one man and one woman, intending to live together and hoping to have and raise children, is dignified with the name and legal status of “marriage”. The couple vow to love and honour each other, and New Zealand law and custom have responded by recognising that commitment and honouring it with a unique recognition.
Is this simply a question
of equal rights?
Marriage is never a universal human right. Not all persons can or should be married.
While the immediate focus of the current proposal is whether a marriage must involve a man and a woman, the argument for change applies far more widely. Claiming “freedom of preference” and a universal “right to marry” would call monogamy itself into question. This denies the right to the truth about what marriage is, and about what the Church teaches on sexuality and marriage.
For the sake of married couples, their children and society as a whole, we ask you to oppose any change to the legal definition of marriage.

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80,000 letters to encourage vote against homosexual ‘marriage’

Michael Otto — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:50:23 +0000

MELBOURNE (CathNews) — The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, and five other bishops will send out 80,000 letters this weekend asking parishioners to take a stand against proposed new laws and influence politicians’ vote on homosexual “marriage”, reports the Herald Sun.
Sale Bishop Christopher Prowse, one of the signatories to the letter, said the Church’s directive was about highlighting the “true meaning of marriage”.
“At this stage [the debate] is about same-sex marriage, but next it might be polygamy,” Bishop Prowse said.
The bishops argue the foundation of marriage is the sexual difference between men and women and the “potential for new life”.
“Without this there would be no human beings, and no future,” the letter says. “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.”
Labor’s Stephen Jones and Greens MP Adam Bandt have put forward amendments to the Marriage Act.
An inquiry into the Bill allows Australians to answer questions online, including on whether they agree that same-sex “marriage” should be legalised.
About 54 per cent of 65,000 Australians who have completed the online survey supported the change.
The bishops are asking their parishioners to vote in that online survey.

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Church has right to bring Gospel values to public debate, Pope says

Vatican City (CNS) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:00:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Catholic teaching and the truths of the Gospel have a right to be heard in public debate, especially in a country where so many people claim to be Christian, Pope Benedict XVI told the bishops of England and Wales. echo $variable;

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Australia’s Catholic bishops to get perspective of two former Anglicans

Michael Otto — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

PERTH (CNS) When Australia’s bishops meet in Sydney to discuss the impact of Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic constitution welcoming Anglicans into the Catholic Church, they will have the somewhat-unique perspective of two former Anglicans. echo $variable;

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Bishops lift flu-prevention restrictions at Masses in NZ

Michael Otto — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

WELLINGTON Restrictions on actions at Masses aimed at preventing the spread of Influenza A (H1N1) can be lifted from Saturday, September 12, New Zealands Catholic bishops have decided. That means Communion on the tongue and from the chalice and contact during the Sign of Peace can resume from that date.A message announcing this was sent

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Iraqi bishops express concern for people after blasts target Baghdad

Michael Otto — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) Two Catholic bishops in Baghdad, Iraq, expressed shock and concern for their people following a series of targeted blasts that killed 95 people and wounded more than 500. "With these acts of violence, we are losing everything," Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni told Catholic News Service by phone Aug. 20, the day

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New Zealand Catholic Bishops: Reconciliation should drive Justice Ministers vision

Michael Otto — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

WELLINGTON In advance of New Zealand Minister of Justice Simon Powers address (July 23) to the Institute of Policy Studies on the future of the criminal justice system, the countrys Catholic bishops are also laying out their vision and key principles. echo $variable;

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Congo’s bishops urge citizens to fight corruption in their country

Michael Otto — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +0000

KINSHASA, Congo (CNS) The Catholic bishops of Congo have called on each citizen to become personally involved in the fight against deeply rooted corruption in the African country. The bishops describe corruption as "one of the bases for the unequal distribution of national resources between the wealthy classes, made up of public authorities, and the

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Bishops’ visit to Rome delayed till 2010

Michael Otto — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +0000

WELLINGTON The ad limina visit of New Zealands Catholic bishops to see the Pope and Vatican officials has been put back to 2010, NZ Catholic understands. Diocesan bishops are required to make such a visit every five years to render an account of their dioceses to the Pope and to visit the tombs of the

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US bishops cite abortion deregulation fears in post-election statement

Michael Otto — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:00:00 +0000

BALTIMORE (CNS) Fears about laws and changes in regulations on abortion that might advance under a new Democratic-run Congress and White House are the central focus of a statement approved by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops during their annual fall meeting in Baltimore. echo $variable;

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