Marriage between a man and a woman is a fundamental good
in society which deserves unique legal protection protection under the
Constitution, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said.
It is the first time he has directly
addressed this issue and it comes as the new Government plans a ‘constitutional
convention’ which will look, among other things, at the possibility of changing
the Constitution to allow same-sex marriage.
Archbishop
Martin also warned that the planned children’s rights referendum should not
give too much power to the State and overall he defended the Constitution from
accusations that it is overly influenced by the Catholic Church.
In addition, while welcoming the proposed
national forum on the patronage of primary schools, he defended the rights of
Catholic parents to send their children to Church-run schools.
In a major address given in Mater Dei Institute last night, entitled ‘The Relationship between Church and State’ he noted that the Constitution
“clearly carves out a special role for the family”.
He said: “The legal presumption is that the
definition of the family in the Constitution is one based on marriage between a
man and a woman.
“In line with most European countries Ireland
recognises the fundamental difference between marriage and other forms of
relationship.”
He added: “This is not to say that the law should not guarantee people in other forms of relationship their fundamental rights. Marriage is however a fundamental good which deserves unique protection.”
In the wide-ranging speech, he also referred to
the debate on the Government’s proposed children’s rights referendum.
While he noted that mechanisms were needed to
protect the rights of children,
Archbishop Martin said that “in general it would be wrong to think that simply
moving responsibility from parents to the State would provide a more effective
answer”.
Quoting former US President Bill Clinton, he
said: “It is not the State’s job to bring up children; it is the job of
parents.”
Archbishop Martin also insisted on the
Church’s freedom to “take positions that are culturally unpopular”.
Where the Church was only able to speak the
language of the culture of the day “the life of the Church becomes a sort of
civil religion, politically correct, but without the cutting edge of the
Gospel”.
And he insisted that believers must be
allowed to bring their religious beliefs to discussions on public policy,
saying that the State “would not be enhancing freedom if the believer were
forced to leave aside his conviction to be allowed enter into the public
square.”
He welcomed Minister for Education Ruairi
Quinn’s announcement of the establishment of a National Forum on School
Patronage.
However he added that pluralism in
educational provision would prove difficult to realise.
He said “Simply providing greater choice will
not guarantee true pluralism. People may use pluralism in school choice to
choose to opt out of pluralism. The temptation will always exist for parents to
choose a school precisely because it is not pluralist, because there are no
disadvantaged or marginalised children.
He insisted that Catholic schools must defend
their ability “to maintain and foster and indeed strengthen its Catholic
identity in a pluralist context”.
“If the Catholic school waters down its
Catholic identity then it is not going to bring its specific contribution to
society,” Archbishop Martin said.
He also noted that the Constitution “has
overall served the people of Ireland well”.
The Constitution, contrary to what many of
its detractors claim, was “far from being some sort of unquestioning
regurgitation of sectarian Catholic principles,” the Archbishop said.
He added: “It is a remarkably modern
Constitution in many of its aspects. Constitutions should be and must be
changed to address challenges in society but not at every whim. Constitutions
are not there in general to be played around with lightly and often.
“The Constitution’s guarantees regarding the
sphere of activity of the Church are thoroughly modern in their juridical
formulations.”