Catholic bishops mount ferocious attack on gay weddings. So why don't they want to talk to the press about it? (Contribution)

The Catholic Church in England and Wales has unequivocally condemned the Government’s plans to allow gay weddings in church. 

Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark has really torn into the Coalition on this one, even though Catholic churches wouldn’t be forced to hold gay weddings – or allowed to do so by the bishops. 

Here’s what the Archbishop said in a statement:

No authority – civil or religious – has the power to modify the fundamental nature of marriage.

The Equality Act was amended to permit civil partnerships on religious premises, which unhelpfully blurs the distinction previously upheld by parliament and the courts between marriage and civil partnerships.

A consenting minister is perfectly free to hold a religious ceremony either before or after a civil partnership.

That is a matter of religious freedom, but it requires no legislation by the state.

We do not believe it is either necessary or desirable to allow the registration of civil partnerships on religious premises.

These will not take place in Catholic churches.

As Riazat Butt notes in the Guardian, Archbishop Smith is implicitly condemning not just politicians but other religions who solemnise gay partnerships in church, synagogues or wherever.

Strong stuff, particularly compared to the bishops’ earlier evasiveness over civil partnerships.

The statement raises questions about how the bishops will go about tackling the Government on this issue, and to what extent they are indeed distancing themselves from other faiths. 

It calls for explanation, context, the sort of details that a “Catholic Communications Network” is employed to supply.

But it hasn’t – at least, not in time for journalists to meet deadlines. 

I’ve just been on the phone to a religious correspondent from another paper who’s fuming about this, saying that the CCN should prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act for calling itself a network or suggesting that it’s in the business of communicating.

It seems that Archbishop Smith’s comments were slipped out without informing key media outlets. 

When the CCN was contacted for more details there was the usual rigmarole – familiar to anyone who deals with this sorry outfit – of “They’re all tied up in a meeting at the moment”, etc. (It’s a myth, incidentally, that the Catholic Communications Network played a significant part in the success of the papal visit: much of the work of keeping journalists informed was done by the Catholic Herald.)

Now, this may just be another manifestation of the Hobnob-munching, mañana mentality of Eccleston Square. 

Then again, having been compelled – perhaps by pressure from Rome – to condemn gay wedding ceremonies in unusually blunt terms, the Bishops’ Conference may prefer to back out of the spotlight before anyone notices (or asks inconvenient questions about those Gay Masses at Warwick Street).

Either way, journalists are losing patience with a so-called communications network which spends all its time exclusively revealing that “there’s no one available to speak to you at the moment”.

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