Archbishop says No but he’s ‘not happy’
ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin will vote No in the Marriage Equality referendum but admits he’s ‘not happy about it’.
The leader of the Catholic Church in Dublin says he feels strongly about the referendum but be believes ‘we haven’t been looking at what being male and female means’.
‘All of us as humans are either male or female and there is a complementary to that which for me is vital in understanding marriage and family. If you put that aside, you are not just changing the Constitution but you are changing something else,’ he has said.
Claiming that the issue was being rushed, he said: ‘We have to find ways in which the desires of gay and lesbian people have their love fully recognised in an equal but different manner.’
Archbishop Martin told RTÉ’s This Week that civil partnership is adequate but conceded it could be tweaked. He said the Marriage Equality referendum is not just a political issue but something that’s very important for social cohesion.
‘To change it within a very rapid period of time, I believe, is something that we should really think about and that’s why I have come out and said where I stand on it.’
He said some gay people ‘may not trust’ him when he says there is another formula in which they could fulfil their wishes to be happy and he added he does not have an answer to this issue, however the Archbishop said ‘there are other ways in which this could be done.’
Dr Martin said he is not happy voting No because it would not provide the answers he is looking for. Of his decision to vote No, he said: ‘If that could be interpreted that I am against gay and lesbian people coming to a realisation of their own desires, I would be very unhappy if that were the case.
‘In a referendum like this, which is being done in a hurry, voting No would seem to be interpreted in a way that maybe not all of us who are voting No would really feel and I think there are other people out there who are voting Yes and are unsure about the long-term consequences.’
Reacting to the Yes argument that the referendum will merely extend marriage to same-sex couples, he said: ‘I don’t believe that this is just adding on something, this is actually a fundamental change in the Constitution.
‘All the interpretations between the High Court and the Supreme Court have clearly come down on the side that marriage is between a man a woman.’ Meanwhile, in a letter read out to parishioners, the Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary, has urged a No vote, saying: ‘Despite what we are led to believe, this referendum is not about samesex relationships or about equality, but about the family.’