Catholic High Schools Have Been Giving Kids Pamphlets Calling Marriage Equality “Gravely Unjust”

It’s been an eventful few weeks in the seemingly never-ending marriage equality debate. Bill Shorten’s much-vaunted bill legalising same-sex marriage a few weeks ago kicked the issue back into the spotlight, while Senator Ricky Muir’s recent announcement that he supports marriage equality, a well-received Weekly monologue courtesy of Charlie Pickering and an upcoming LGBTI-centric episode of Q&A inexplicably featuring Fred Nile are keeping it there.

All pretty feel-good stuff, but the distribution of a controversial anti-same-sex marriage pamphlet to kids at Catholic schools in southern NSW and the ACT this week is firing people up for decidedly less rosy reasons.

The pamphlet, put together by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and distributed to about 56 Catholic schools across the Canberra/Goulburn diocese, has surfaced in recent days as students either take them home to their parents or upload photos of them online. Titled “Don’t Mess With Marriage,” the pamphlet says that legalised marriage equality would amount to “a serious injustice”.

“In this pastoral letter we argue that what is unjust – gravely unjust – is to legitimise the false assertion that there is nothing distinctive about a man and a woman, a father or a mother; to ignore the particular values that real marriage serves; to ignore the importance for children of having, as far as possible, a mum and a dad, committed to them and to each other for the long haul; to destabilize [sic] marriage further at a time when it is already under considerable pressure; and to change retrospectively the basis upon which all existing married couples got married.”

According to the pamphlet, marriage is commonly misconstrued as “essentially an emotional tie, enhanced by public promises and consensual sexual activity,” whereas the strict Catholic definition of ‘marriage’ is “a comprehensive union between a man and a woman grounded on heterosexual union;” an act “where man and woman truly become ‘one flesh’ (Gen 2:24; Mt 19:5; Eph 5:31)”.

“‘Messing with marriage’, therefore, is also ‘messing with kids’. It is gravely unjust to them,” the pamphlet concludes.

“We all know and love people with same-sex attraction. They are our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and neighbours. They need love and support like anyone else. But pretending that their relationships are ‘marriages’ is not fair or just to them. As Christians we must be willing to present the truth about marriage, family and sexuality and to do so charitably and lovingly.”

Copies of the pamphlet were handed out to students at Canberra’s Merici College on Thursday, prompting dozens of angry responses from current and former students, parents and others on Facebook.

In a letter to school principals, Vicar for Education Monsignor John Woods conceded that “this emotional issue has caused various levels of concern and in some instances distress among particular parents and students”, and asked principals to refer complaints and media requests to the Archdiocesan media manager, “as this was not a school initiative but one from your Archbishop”; namely, the Archbishop for Canberra and Goulburn Christopher Prowse. In an interview with the ABC on Tuesday, Prowse called the pamphlet “a robust defence on traditional marriage” and said that “traditional marriage needs to be protected with all our strength” if humanity is to flourish in the future.

“We talk about preserving the Great Barrier Reef and the ecological treasures that we have, then we have the archaeological treasures, this is the great human treasure, family…to have a one-sided debate is not satisfactory,” Prowse said.

In a statement provided to Junkee, Prowse said: “I understand that this is an emotive, hot button issue and we believe, like most civilisations over the millennia and all major religions, that marriage is at the very centre of good living and good life…to re-define what marriage means is not an inconsequential moment in our history. We wanted to make a contribution to this discussion.”

In a media release, Merici College principal Loretta Wholley said the distribution of the pamphlet “has not changed who Merici College is or how we work in the classroom or beyond. We are and will continue to be an inclusive Catholic school that promotes Christian values and supports girls on their academic, spiritual and personal journey.”

But former Merici student Katie Cunningham, who works for Junkee’s parent company The Sound Alliance, alleges that the pamphlet is not the first time such sentiments about homosexuality have been expressed at Merici.

“In religious education classes — which were compulsory — I have a distinct memory of a teacher telling the class that ‘it was okay to be gay, but not to act on it’ because any sex that wasn’t for the purpose of procreation was a sin. This would have been when we were 14 or 15, and it’s worth noting that in a class of 100 or so, not a single girl publicly came out in my entire time at Merici,” Cunningham says.

Junkee have contacted Merici for comment.