Two elite private Jesuit schools in Australia appear cautiously to have endorsed same-sex marriage, citing the teaching of Pope Francis, ahead of a referendum on the issue in that country.
In messages to parents, staff and students, St Ignatius's College in Sydney and Xavier College in Melbourne stopped short of explicitly backing a 'Yes' vote but urged parents to reflect on Pope Francis's teaching on love, mercy and non-judgmentalism.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the rector of Xavier College, Chris Middleton pointed out that young people overwhelmingly backed same-sex marriage.
'In my experience, there is almost total unanimity amongst the young in favour of same-sex marriage, and arguments against it have almost no impact on them,' Fr Middleton wrote.
'They are driven by a strong emotional commitment to equality, and this is surely something to respect and admire. They are idealistic in the value they ascribe to love, the primary gospel value.'
Middleton also suggested that by opposing same-sex marriage, the church could be accused of hypocrisy following revelations by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. 'To be brutally honest, the church speaking out in controversial areas around sexuality risks being mired in vitriolic attacks on its credibility in the aftermath of the royal commission,' he said.
Further, he hinted that Catholics should reflect on whether 'denial of the right to civil marriage is an "unjust discrimination"'.
Meanwhile the rector of St Ignatius's College, Ross Jones said that same-sex couples already had many rights, claiming many wish to marry 'for the same reasons as their opposite-sex counterparts'.
He also said that Catholic couples could 'in good conscience' engage in sexual relationships for reasons other than procreation. 'Presumably, same sex-couples, who make such a commitment to each other in good conscience, do so by reflecting on experience and on what it is to be human, using their God-given reason,' he wrote.
The principal of St Ignatius's College, Paul Hine, also rejected suggestions that staff in Catholic schools or parishes could be sacked if they enter same-sex marriages. 'I won't be asking with a view to removing them from the school,' he said.
St Ignatius's College is the alma mater of the former prime minister Tony Abbott, who is a strong opponent of same-sex marriage, while the current opposition leader Bill Shorten attended Xavier College.
The messages from the colleges come as Kay Goldsworthy, the newly appointed Anglican Archbishop of Perth, strongly hinted that she personally backs same-sex marriage, adding that she took an 'inclusive' approach while respecting the wider position of the church.
