CV NEWS FEED // The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ICBC) is warning citizens against two referendums on family life, saying that the proposals “diminish” the importance of the roles of marriage, family, and mothers in society.
In a statement read at Masses across the country on February 25, bishops spoke out against “The Family Amendment” and “The Care Amendment,” two proposed amendments to the Irish Constitution that citizens will be able to vote on in a few weeks.
The Family Amendment seeks to change a section of the Constitution which reads that “The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society…” and affirms that the family is founded on marriage.
The proposed amendment would give “other durable relationships” the same protections and status as a legal marriage, changing the language to read that “The State recognises the Family, whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships, as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society.”
The amendment would also strike the clause affirming that marriage is the foundation of the family.
The ICBC said that the Family Amendment “diminishes the unique importance of the relationship between marriage and family in the eyes of Society and State and is likely to lead to a weakening of the incentive for young people to marry.”
“While ‘Marriage’ entails a public and legal commitment, the term ‘durable relationship’ is shrouded in legal uncertainty and is open to wide interpretation,” the bishops stated:
It does not make sense that such an ambiguous reality would be considered “antecedent and superior to all positive law” and acquire the same “inalienable and imprescriptible” rights as those ascribed to the “family founded on marriage.”
The bishops also affirmed that “the commitment of marriage contributes to the common good in a unique way, by bringing stability to the family and to society,” and called for voters to keep marriage in the Constitution.
The second amendment, known as “The Care Amendment,” would strike all reference to motherhood from the Constitution in an attempt to balance gender roles.
The current Constitution says that “the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.”
“The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home,” the Constitution continues.
The proposed amendment would strike both paragraphs and insert a new article without any mention of gender roles, reading:
The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to Society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provision.
The ICBC expressed doubts over the benefits of deleting the terms “woman” and “mother” from the Constitution, saying that the current Constitution does not state that “a woman’s place is in the home” and does not “excuse men of their duties to the home and family.”
“The proposed amendment would have the effect of abolishing all reference to motherhood in the Constitution and leave unacknowledged the particular and incalculable societal contribution that mothers in the home have made and continue to make in Ireland,” the bishops stated:
…The present constitutional wording does not in any way inhibit women from working or taking their proper place in social and public life. It does, however, respect the complementary and distinct qualities that arise naturally within the Family. The role of mothers should continue to be cherished in our Constitution.
