Priests agents of state?

A National Post article on Jan. 5 entitled, "Bishops appeal to parishioners in campaign against same-sex marriage," described how the Bishops of Ontario were requested to write to their Catholic parishioners asking their support to protect marriage as being distinctly between a man and a woman. My question is this: if the Bishops of Canada are serious about this, why have they still not asked their priests to return their provincial licenses and civil registers and disentangle the church completely from being de facto agents of the state?

In many places around the world, only state officials can legalize a marriage, since it is not the priest who 'marries' the couple, but the baptized couple who confer the Sacrament upon each other.

Are the bishops fearful of losing a lucrative source of income? I ask this question bemuse those Catholics who are non-practicing or lukewarm would probably not bother to ask the church to witness "just" a Sacramental union.

Being freed from being de facto agents of the state would eliminate any danger of a same-sex couple challenging the church. The clergy would be presiding over a sacred religious ceremony that would essentially be protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. No court would dare force the church to perform a same-sex "marriage" as this would be an outright conflict between the so-called rights of the "couple" and the religious freedom of the church. Thus, the church could not be compelled to act as such via some sort of civil action.

Two Canadian provinces have made it clear that marriage commissioners must resign their commission if they are not willing to perform same-sex "marriages." Where does this leave church clergy who are also marriage commissioners for those provinces?

I believe the Bishops can make a bold statement about the defence of marriage and family by having their clergy resign their commission. It is time for our bishops to break their national silence during the erosion of the Catholic Christian influence in our society, especially when it comes to the sacredness of the human person and sexuality. This silence undermined the Catholic Christian influence in Canadian society, and it has also undermined the ability of most Canadians whether Catholic or not to see the Canadian bishops as credible witnesses to the Gospel on any level other than their local episcopates.

John Everett

St. Albert, Alta.

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