A Call to True Love

A CALL TO TRUE LOVE

Subject to probable approval by Parliament the Sexual Orientation Regulations are very likely to become law this coming April. It is to become illegal to discriminate, in the provision of goods and service, against those who have declared a prominent sexual attraction to people of the same gender.

We have discussed the most public and immediate effect upon the Catholic church of these regulations in the last two weeks newsletters. Namely our adoption agencies, publicly acknowledged to be excellent, are to be prevented from functioning in accord with the intrinsic nature of the two thousand year old Catholic Church.

In short we would note that this is the first moment where the laws of our post-Christian culture formally clash with living out classical Christi-anity. This culture has received significant influence from a redefining of the meaning of sexual relations. The Catholic Church, as ever, witnesses to the perennial teaching from Christ which implies that this radical, anti-life, redefin-ition has been a dangerous wrong turning. This is already evident in the hundreds of daily abortions and the general lowering of respect for the human person.

We would note that these regulations will apply across a wide range of modern life from NHS care through to hotels and restaurants. A Christian person operating a bed and breakfast will break the law if they refuse to allow a gay couple to share a bed in their house. If a Church hires out its hall to other groups, it will not be lawful to refuse a gay group who wish to hire the hall.

Schools will also need to remove anything that might be termed "bias" in favour of heterosexuality. They could fall foul of the law by assuming or teaching that marriage or heterosexual relationships are more normal than homosexual relationships.

The Northern Ireland version of the Regulations which recently came into force make it illegal to harass someone on the basis of their sexual orientation. This is extremely concerning because the definition of harassment relies largely on the perception of the person who claims they were harassed: all they need do is allege that someone has ‘violated their dignity’ or that someone created a ‘hostile or insulting environment’ for them, and they can take legal action.

Our response: Write to our M.P. More importantly, attempt to respond more fully to Christ’s fundamental call to each of us to “Repent and Believe the Good News.” Renew our call to God for the grace to act wisely, charitably, and to resist temptation to cooperate in thought or action with the undermining of true love. This is how we will rebuild Christian culture. Above all don’t get swept downstream.