Ottawa, Canada, Jul 17, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Speaking on the impact of same-sex marriage on the Catholic Church in Canada, Cardinal Marc Ouellet reportedly told the Senate hearing committee last Wednesday that in the case of baptism, “according to our canon law, we cannot accept the signatures of two fathers or two mothers as parents of an infant” in our baptismal registers.
His statement left the impression with several senators and observers that the Catholic Church would not allow the baptism of children of same-sex couples.
Senator Marcel Prud'homme took issue with the cardinal’s statement, saying that a child should not be denied baptism.
But Benoit Bariteau, associate general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the Ottawa Citizen that this would only be the case if both partners in a same-sex union insisted on signing the baptismal certificate.