Florida bishops react to same-sex marriage

January 06, 2015

Florida’s bishops said that a federal judge’s decision to overturn a state constitutional amendment and impose same-sex marriage “threatens both religious liberty and the freedom of individuals to conscientiously object.”

“The conjugal nature of a marriage between a man and a woman has provided for millennia the basis for norms of marital exclusivity and permanence that made possible stable families necessary for human flourishing,” the bishops stated.

They added:

How society understands marriage has great public significance. Because of this, redefining civil “marriage” to include two persons of the same sex will have far-reaching consequences in society. Such a change advances the notion that marriage is only about the affective gratification of consenting adults. Such a redefinition of marriage does nothing to safeguard a child’s right to a mother and father and to be raised in a stable family where his or her development and well-being is served to the greatest extent possible.

 

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Further information:

• Statement in Response to the Redefinition of Marriage in Florida (Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops)