Ah those wise Celibate men (or they are supposed to be celibate) were holding their Autumn conference for the last few days and launching a new website yesterday. And in their statement released after their meeting they told us that they were talking about civil partnership. The full text of their thoughts relating to the proposed civil partnership bill is below for your dissection.

Which part of the word CIVIL do they not understand? (Never mind the word partnership…)

If God is about Love why do they hate us so much (or patronise us by saying love the sinner, hate the sin). They don’t mention the words lesbian or gay either, see that – they think they are clever!

(Many thanks to Damien (!) for the fluffy link that led me to this nugget. Nothing but eclectic the work of the Mulleymeister! More Donna Summer or Kylie needed!)

All this just in time for Conor’s appearance on the Late Late Show. Good luck to Conor, his brother and his parents, yes the whole family – they’ll be able to speak with some authority on the matter unlike the men in the mitres.

Civil Partnership Bill 2008
Bishops discussed the Civil Partnership Bill 2008, which was published in June by the Department of Justice, and in particular the Constitutional obligation on the Government to guard the institution of marriage with special care (Art. 41.3.1). Bishops highlighted the benefits which derive from marriage between a man and woman as the fundamental unit of society.

Bishops restated that marriage exists so that spouses may grow in mutual love and by generosity of their love, bring children into the world and serve life fully. As a faithful, exclusive and lifelong union between one man and one woman, marriage is both a relationship of persons and the fundamental unit upon which society is built.

Our recognition of this unique status is further deepened by our Christian understanding that love of husband and wife mirrors Christ’s abiding love for the Church.

The Irish Constitution rightly acknowledges the unique status of marriage and why it is appropriate for Government to support that status with special measures, including special measures in taxation and social welfare.

God, who is love, is the author of marriage. This authorship includes the natural complementarity of man and woman through which the union of spouses is deepened and the gift of new life is made possible.

Indicating that a further and more detailed statement on the Civil Partnership Bill would follow at a later date, Bishops revisited their submission to the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Family in February 2005, which concluded:

“This special status of marriage does not prevent just and appropriate measures being taken in relation to the diversity of other forms of dependent relationship which exist in society. It may, in certain circumstances, be in the public interest to provide legal protection to the social, fiscal and inheritance entitlements of persons who support caring relationships which generate dependency, provided always that these relationships are recognised as being qualitatively different from marriage and that their acceptance does not dilute the uniqueness of marriage. However, it would seem discriminatory to confine this protection to those in sexual relationships and thereby exclude from protection the interests of siblings and other non-sexually involved cohabitees. Moreover, the creation of a category of ‘marriage like’ relationships which would enjoy special rights and protections would seem to contradict in spirit, if not in law, the pledge in Article 41.3.1 to guard with special care the institution of marriage. In the case of those who would in any event be free to marry, any scheme which confers on them many of the advantages of legal marriage, might be judged to be an incentive not to marry and to have devalued the institution of marriage.�?