.- The San Elredo Community, which is backed by Bishop Raul Vera of Saltillo, Mexico, plans to request that civil unions between same-sex couples from now on be referred to as “marriage.”
Noe Ruiz, the coordinator of the community, said they would call on the new congress and governor of the State of Coahuila to establish policies that “respect” homosexuals, according to the June 16 edition of the Mexican newspaper Vanguardia.
The community is backed by Saltillo's bishop despite its open opposition to Catholic teachings on homosexuality.
Ruiz added that his group plans to propose that same-sex couples be allowed to adopt and receive social security benefits, and that civil unions between them be called “marriage.”
The Diocese of Saltillo
Bishop Raul Vera Lopez of the Diocese of Saltillo has repeatedly expressed support for same-sex unions.
In March of this year, Bishop Vera Lopez published a statement on the diocesan website expressing support for the “sexual, family and religious diversity forum.” The event was aimed at “eradicating what some sectors of the Church believe about homosexuality” — especially the belief “that homosexual acts are contrary to God.”
Fr. Robert Coogan, the American priest who founded San Elredo, told CNA, “The only answer the Catechism gives is to tell (homosexual persons) to be celibate, and that is not enough.” He voiced his own support for the legalization of same-sex unions and adoptions and said the community “has the strong support of the bishop.”
Noe Ruiz told CNA the purpose of the forum was to show that “two men or two women can raise a child and live normally like everyone else.”
Pro-family groups in Saltillo, such as the Familias Mundi Association, disagreed with that argument. “We do not agree with forming same-sex families because families come from marriage, and marriage is a vocation that occurs between two people of the opposite sex who complement one another.”
CNA also interviewed Fr. Leopoldo Sanchez, who until a few months ago was the spiritual director for Courage Latino in Mexico, a ministry for homosexuals who wish to live according to the Church’s teachings. “The Church reminds us that the right path is the path of love, a love that is lived in chastity, and absolutely all Christians are called to this, regardless of whether they have same-sex attraction or not,” he said.
