The Supreme Court today has ruled in favour of a heterosexual couple who were fighting for the right to a civil partnership instead of a marriage. The couple have based their argument on a problem with the “legacy of marriage” which “treated women as property for centuries”.
Bishop Peter Doyle, Catholic Bishop for Marriage and Family Life, commented:
“Marriage is a response in love ultimately founded in the call of God who is love. Couples enter the bond of marriage as equal partners, mutually and freely giving and receiving each other.
“God blesses the marriage bond only when the couple freely and without conditions exchange their consent. We hope that today’s ruling does not deter people from that sacred and life-long commitment.
“As Ms Steinfeld and Mr Keidan state, the commitment between man and woman is also to raise children in a nurturing and fruitful environment, in which the shared parental role is extremely important.
“We must recognise that family is the building block of a good and strong society”.
