“A weak king weakens the strongest people.” This famous phrase by Portuguese epic poet Camões comes to mind when reading the statement issued by the Permanent Council of the French Bishops Conference, three days after one of the largest demonstrations that France has ever known.
Dissenting from the million marchers who clamored for an immediate withdrawal of the Taubira projected bill, the highest-ranking figures of the Church in France merely asked that deputies in the parliamentary debate employ formulas that respect the heterosexual nature of marriage, filiation and homosexuals.
The bishops therefore accept the principle of a reorganization of family law: they welcome the claims of the LGBT lobby for a formal legal framework provided that the product does not bear the label “marriage,” and as long as the adoption of children by homosexual couples is done without a fictitious recognition of paternity.
It is understandable that an episcopal body willing to give in to this point would deplore the growing gap between a France attached to the traditional family and a socialist government blinded by “gender theory.”
But we will never understand how Catholic Shepherds may suggest, even implicitly, a “civil union plus” (PACS+), that is to say, an even worse PACS as an alternative to “marriage for all” [same-sex “marriage”].
In fact, this formula is in open contradiction with the teaching of the Church that “there is no right to homosexuality, which therefore should not form the basis for juridical claims” (see Declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, July 1992).
Facing this disappointing communiqué, Avenir de la Culture reiterates what it has written in its “Respectful Appeal to the Bishops of France: Have No Fear!” issued December 8:
“Catholic grassroots want an uninhibited Church that does not hesitate to enter the fray to defend beliefs and speak out on Christian values with a strong voice. If the bishops persist in offering the Government and the homosexual lobby “an improved PACS” as an alternative to “Marriage for All” [same-sex ‘marriage’], they will only widen the gap between them and the faithful.”
Avenir de la Culture ardently hopes that bishops who disagree with this orientation make their voices heard so that Mrs. Taubira will eventually be unable to say what Simone Veil wrote in her memoirs referring to the legalization of abortion: “With the Catholic Church, things have turned out better than I could have feared.”
Posted by Avenir de la Culture on January 17, 2013