Australian bishop protests census recognition of same-sex 'marriage'

August 11, 2011

An Australian Catholic bishop has decried the decision of national census officials to count some homosexual couples as “married,” despite the fact that same-sex marriages are not legally recognized in Australia.

The census will allow all respondents to name their marital partners—including homosexuals who married in other countries where such unions are legally recognized. Bishop Peter Comensoli, an auxiliary of the Sydney archdiocese, complained that this policy “can have no other effect than to undermine the purpose of the national census as a true record of what is the case about marriage in Australia in 2011.”

Marriage, the bishop argued, “is a legally defined reality that can be objectively determined.” Since marriage is defined in Australia as a union between a man and a woman, the census results will deliberately distort that objective reality, he said.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Protest at same-sex marriage in Census (Catholic Weekly)