(March 12, 2012) The Catholic Church in England intensified its campaign against
government plans to legalize same-sex marriage Sunday, urging the faithful to protect
the “true meaning” of matrimony for future generations. In a letter read in 2,500
parish churches across the country during Sunday Mass, the church's senior archbishops
argued that the proposed change would reduce the significance of marriage. “The law
helps to shape and form social and cultural values. A change in the law would gradually
and inevitably transform society's understanding of the purpose of marriage,” Archbishop
Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Peter Smith said in the letter. “There would be no
recognition of the complementarity of male and female or that marriage is intended
for the procreation and education of children,'' they wrote, echoing what Pope Benedict
XVI told on Friday to a group of bishops from the United States. The English archbishops
ended the letter by calling on Catholics to fulfil their duty to make sure “the true
meaning of marriage is not lost for future generations.” Britain's government plans
to allow everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, to have the option of a
civil marriage. Prime Minister David Cameron has openly backed the plans, and the
equalities minister will launch a consultation later this month on how to change the
legal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. Human rights activists
said the Catholics' opposition amounted to discrimination.