Cardinal O'Briens' ...

... letter read out to every Scot who attended mass this Sunday ...

A Message for Marriage Sunday 26 August 2012

from The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland

In all things, we as Catholics look to Jesus Christ as our model and teacher.   When asked about marriage He gave a profound and rich reply: “Have you not read that the Creator, from the beginning, ‘made them male and female’, and said: ‘This is why a man must leave father and mother and cling to his wife and the two become one body’.”   (Matthew, 19: 4-5)

In the Year of Faith, which begins this October, we wish to place a special emphasis on the role of the family founded on marriage.   The family is the domestic Church, and the first place in which the faith is transmitted.   For that reason it must have a primary focus in our prayerful considerations during this period of grace. 

We write to you having already expressed our deep disappointment that the Scottish Government has decided to redefine marriage and legislate for same-sex marriage. We take this opportunity to thank you for your past support in defence of marriage and hope you will continue to act against efforts to redefine it.   We reaffirm before you all the common wisdom of humanity and the revealed faith of the Church that marriage is a unique life-long union of a man and a woman.

In circumstances when the true nature of marriage is being obscured, we wish to affirm and celebrate the truth and beauty of the Sacrament of Matrimony and family life as Jesus revealed it;  to do something new to support marriage and family life in the Catholic community and in the country;  and to reinforce the vocation of marriage and the pastoral care of families which takes in the everyday life of the Church in dioceses and parishes across the country.

For that reason, in the forthcoming Year of Faith we have decided to establish a new Commission for Marriage and the Family.   This Commission will be led by a bishop and will be composed mostly of lay men and women.   The Commission will be charged with engaging with those young men and women who will be future husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, and with those who already live out their vocation to marriage and parenthood in surroundings which often make it hard to sustain and develop the full Catholic family life we cherish. 

We wish to support too, those who are widowed, separated and divorced and all who need to feel the Church’s maternal care in the circumstances in which they find themselves.   The new Commission will promote the true nature of marriage as both a human institution and a union blessed by Jesus.

The Commission will be asked to develop an online presence so that prayer, reflection, formation and practical information on matters to do with marriage and family life can be quickly accessible to all.   It will also work to produce materials and organise events which will support ordinary Catholic families in their daily lives.   During the course of the coming year we will ask for your support for these initiatives.

Our faith teaches us that marriage is a great and holy mystery.   The Bishops of Scotland will continue to promote and uphold the universally accepted definition of marriage as the union solely of a man and a woman.   At the same time, we wish to work positively for the strengthening of marriage within the Church and within our society.

This is an important initiative for all our people, but especially our young people and children.  We urge you to join us in this endeavour.   Pray for your own family every day, and pray for those families whose lives are made difficult by the problems and cares which they encounter.  

Finally, we invite you to pray for our elected leaders, invoking the Holy Spirit on them, that they may be moved to safeguard marriage as it has always been understood, for the good of Scotland and of our society.

Is the Catholic Church in Scotland opposition to Gay marriage another manifestation of intolerance towards minorities ?

I believe so, and mores the point, if politics doesn't remove this intolerance, it will send a message that intolerance of minorities is "Open Season" ...............

............... who or what would be next on the intolerance agenda ?

Mean spirited, not the voice of Wales, or ...

... is it an attempt to impose a selective apartheid to further the aims of the separatist agenda ?


To understand the politics of Jac it might be necessary to read his latest diatribe supported by Miserable, it represents a separation of people based upon origin and social conditions, except where the origin might fit a comfortable criteria that is perceived to have no impact on the objectives of the nationalists of the North West (refugees and the persecuted).  It is of course an extension of "identity politics" so beloved of the nationalists of Wales.

The preoccupation with group injury is one of the most visible features of identity politics.  The rhetoric of victimisation indicates that it is a sense of vulnerability that fuels the demand for the validation of identity, and it is the fragile character of emotion-based identities that unleashes the permanent quest for affirmation.¹  It is a belief that precisely because the quest for identity can never be fully realised that it is open to the influence of intolerant sensibilities.  An insecure identity not only craves recognition, it also has difficulty dealing with challenges to itself.

¹ 'Fragile identities' Therapy culture:Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age. 2004. London: Routledge.

With the call by Jac and Miserable for the application of intolerance upon the most vulnerable sections of society, a group of people who might depend for shelter on the Social Housing sector, how soon before there is a call to extend their modern day Welsh apartheid to the rental market as a whole, or to apply conditions of residence before a person is allowed to buy a home in Wales.

And what exactly is this society that Jac and Miserable wish to stamp upon?  It is anyone they do not approve of, anyone that doesn't fit into their narrow vision of the future.

Intolerance of our neighbours takes many forms, the last European nationalists to identify and treat sections of society as less than desirable were the Nazi regime of Germany who discriminated against ...

• Jews
• Roma (or Gypsies)
• political prisoners
• homosexuals
• people with disabilities
• Jehovah's Witnesses
• Catholic clergy
• ...

... and who will be the local judge to determine acceptability, candidates best be devoid of social conscience and responsibility, maybe Jac or Miserable ............

... for tolerance, I couldn't advise Jack's view of ...

... the world, in particular the relationship between Wales and the rest of humanity.

For the latest diatribe you might hop across to his blog, though I would warn it is not for the faint-hearted.

He writes in one paragraph ....

... hate filled and intolerant, and he is not alone. intolerance

Just the other day I was sent an email with a single embedded image ...

... obviously he lives in a different reality, possibly the Discworld of Terry Pratchett, there is a downside, he works for an assembly member who must by definition approve of his particular intolerance, will the A.M. approve of "kickings" in the wider world I wonder.  Is it hate filled or intolerant, I'm not sure, when comparing his words with those of Jack I see a certain similarity ......