Only between man and woman: CBCP stands firm on marriage

In the wake of the US Supreme Court's decision legalizing gay marriage, the Catholic Church will maintain its teachings on marriage, the head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said Saturday.

 

But CBCP head and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas reassured the LGBT community there will be no discrimination against them by the Church.

 

"The Church continues to maintain what it has always taught. Marriage is a permanent union of man and woman, in the complementarity of the sexes and the mutual fulfillment that the union of a man and a woman bring into the loftiness of the matrimonial bond. If there is an undeniable difference between man and woman, there is also an undeniable difference between the permanent union of a man and a woman," Villegas said in a post on his Facebook account.

 

"We will continue to teach the sons and daughters of the Church that marriage, transformed by The Lord Jesus and by His Church into a sacrament — a means by which the Risen Lord encounters his people — is an indissoluble bond of man and woman," he said.

 

Over the weekend, the US Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the US.

Meanwhile, Villegas reassured the LGBT community there will be no discrimination against them by the Church in rendering religious services.

 

"As president of the CBCP, however, I reiterate our commitment to the pastoral solicitude of all, and no bishop, priest, deacon, religious or lay leader actively serving the Church will ever demand to know of a person his or her orientation before serving the person, as The Lord Jesus commands all his disciples to serve," he said.

 

"All will continue to find welcome in the Church, while, under command from The Lord himself, will continue to teach what the Church has unceasingly taught," he added.

In a separate statement, LGBT party-list (formerly Ladlad party-list) chair Danton Romero said the US Supreme Court decision "touches the very heart of same-sex relationships: that now you can marry and live with the one you love, your union protected by the legal mantle of the state." 

A bill has been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to penalize discrimination based on gender, but it has been criticized for supposedly leading the way to same-sex marriages.

"This important and long overdue measure simply seeks to protect basic rights of citizens. It does not ask for special rights,” bill author Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao said in a statement in Friday.

“They (critics) must read and understand the bill carefully. Nothing in the bill grants recognition to same-sex marriage," she said then.

This has not stopped groups connected to the Catholic Church from demonstrating against passage of the bill.

Groups in Cebu organized a solitary walk against same-sex marriages and against Bag-ao's bill on Saturday.