STATEMENT
Fr. Lawless has expressed his own personal views.
The Bishop’s Letter was issued to all parishes last weekend in which he stated that the “referendum, if passed, will redefine our understanding of marriage, from a unique relationship different from all others, to being another adult relationship regardless of gender.”
The letter stated that “Children have a natural right to a mother and a father. Sometimes, unfortunately due to circumstances beyond everybody’s control this does not obtain, but this is quite different from legislating to make it impossible for some.”
The diocese also draws attention to the recent words of Pope Francis (November 2014) re the man/woman nature of marriage, which he said, is “an anthropological fact … that cannot be qualified based on ideological notions or concepts important only at one time in history.”
Ends
John Carroll (Rev.)
DCO
Diocese of Ferns