Portland, Maine, Nov 18, 2008 / 03:52 am
Richard Malone, the Bishop of Portland, Maine, has written a letter to Maine Catholics in response to a Portland news conference where leaders in several other Christian faiths professed support for same-sex marriage. The bishop defended marriage, saying opposition to its redefinition derives not only from faith but also from reason and a concern for the good of society.
According to Bishop Malone’s letter, which was sent over the past weekend, the Christian ministers’ news conference had urged the people of Maine to embrace same-sex marriage “in the name of equal civil rights.”
“To claim that marriage is a civil right open to all forms of relationships is a misnomer,” he explained.
“Marriage is an institution that predates civilization, ordained by God, and exclusive to one man and one woman who are given the responsibility to procreate the human race, and to nurture, educate, and pass on shared values and mores to their offspring. To redefine marriage to include same-sex couples is to strip marriage of an essential component, namely the ability and obligation to procreate. To strip marriage of this essential component is to render marriage meaningless and open it up to endless revision and redefinition.”