Fr. Z: Theologian responds to Archbp. Marini’s less than helpful comment on same-sex unions

CNA interviewed Fr. Rhonheimer --

“Conferring legal equality to same-sex unions signifies to publicly establish, in the law system, the principle of dissociation of sexuality and procreation,” he explained in an April 22 telephone interview with CNA.

Archbishop Piero Marini explicitly denied that same-sex unions should be equal to marriage between a man and a woman. So the CNA article is a bit misleading, as it sets up a strawman argument... the question is, rather, whether same-sex civil unions should be recognized as such at all. (Or whether one can be conferred certain rights, without any sort of legal recognition of a sexual relationship. While liberals or individualists might think so, one can ask whether the rights of others, e.g. family members, are prior to that of someone who is not related by blood, a friend, or a same-sex "lover.")