The support of Catholic group, We Are Church Ireland for same sex marriage is founded in Christian values of love, tolerance and respect, says Rob Buchanan.

The group, We Are Church Ireland (WACI) unanimously supports a Yes vote in the Marriage Referendum, saying “loving, committed relationships between two consenting adults should be treated equally by the Irish State, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.”

These people are to be commended for prioritising love and kindness over dogma and conservatism. They are truly examples of the authentic spirit of Catholicism, and its sad to say that their decency and desire for the happiness of others, regardless of sexual orientation, is notable in its very rareness.

WACI may not be an LGBT group of people, but they realise that their rights, their personal lives, their marriages are in way diminished or affected by two strangers of the same sex who love each other choosing to make the ultimate commitment to marriage and family.

They are also keen clear the waters, which are being willfully muddied by certain right-wing Catholic groups, by pointing out that that adoption and surrogacy are not part of this referendum. And also that constitutionally in Ireland there is no reference to the institution of marriage being between a man and a woman.

Spokesman Brendan Butler said: “The proposed referendum will not redefine marriage but rather refine it to make it more inclusive and so enhance the meaning of marriage.”

It’s people like those who make up WACI who will be the saviours of the Catholic Church in Ireland, despite the best efforts of conservative dogmatic Catholics, who have caused attendance levels at mass to plummet through their insidious combination of misogyny, homophobia, hypocrisy and a failure to listen to the congregations.

I know a significant amount of LGBT people who would love to return to the Church, but are distinctly uncomfortable with being told by elderly virgins bedecked in gold that they’re “intrinsically disordered” and that their relationships not as recognised as equal to those of heterosexuals in the eyes of God.

We Are Church Ireland is part of an international move to reform and revive the Catholic Church from its current stagnation. While Pope Francis disappointingly spoke out against same-sex marriage last Sunday,
We Are Church Ireland instead showed true Christian values of love, tolerance and respect.