Gay marriage 'is wrong' - cardinal

16 Oct 2006- Cape Town- South Africa- Redefining marriage for the sake of providing benefits to those who cannot rightly enter into marriage is wrong, says Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of the Catholic Church in South Africa.

"A law cannot make what is wrong right," Napier said in his submission — on behalf of the church — to the National Assembly's home affairs committee on Monday on the draft Civil Unions Bill.

The Catholic Church "teaches that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered", he said.

Legalising same-sex unions was against "natural law".

"We agree that civil law and moral law are two different things, but we also say that man-made laws cannot legitimise what is against the natural moral law. Civil law cannot make what is wrong right."

Across cultures and different religious beliefs, marriage was the foundation of the family and these cultures and religions saw marriage as a loving and lasting relationship between a man and a woman; a relationship open to new life and the future of the human race.

Napier said legalising same-sex unions undermined the foundations of society and was against the common good.

"Again, across different religious beliefs and cultures, the family is seen as the basic unit of society.

"Society owes its continued survival to the family, founded on marriage. Giving legal recognition to same-sex unions would in effect redefine marriage. The very concept of marriage and family would undergo radical devaluation," he said.

It was against the good of children, as the family provided the best conditions for rearing children — the family being the stable, loving relationship between a married father and mother.

Children who might be placed in the care of a same-sex couple would be deprived of the experience of either fatherhood or motherhood.

Regarding the issue of discrimination, Napier said the Catholic Church deplored discrimination against homosexual people.

"Homosexual persons have a right to be treated with respect by individuals and by society. In fact they may have even a greater right because they are more vulnerable," he said.

"Here, however, we are speaking about giving legal status to homosexual unions which, we maintain, are not marital and do not contribute to the common good of society.

"Justice itself demands that it would be wrong to redefine marriage for the sake of providing benefits to those who cannot rightly enter into marriage.

"Some of these benefits can be obtained in other ways. For example, any two individuals can agree to own property jointly or to choose a beneficiary for their will."

These benefits could be extended by provisions that would not amount to a redefinition of marriage, Napier contended.

The committee is working to meet a Constitutional Court deadline of December 1 to correct what it ruled in December last year was an unconstitutional definition of marriage in legislation.

The last round of public hearings on the issue ends on Tuesday.

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