No, Archbishop, a ‘yes’ vote will not change the definition of marriage

My wife and I were married in a registry office... and we were sinners in the eyes of the Church writes Fergus Finlay

DEAR Archbishop Martin, I read with great care and respect your weekend statement about the forthcoming referendum on marriage equality. It confused me. I have no doubt that you intended the tone of your message to be pastoral and sympathetic. But I wondered at some of the loaded language you used.

For example, the heading on your statement said “to interfere with the definition of marriage is not a simple or trivial matter”. I’m puzzled at your use of the word ‘interfere’. Nobody is proposing to change the definition of marriage — the only proposal is to extend the definition of who can get married to include a group of people that historically has been excluded from society.