Newark, New Jersey Archbishop John
Myers has urged Roman Catholics who support gay marriage to skip the
communion line.
In a lengthy 16-page pastoral letter
released Tuesday, Myers argued that gay and lesbian couples should
not be allowed to marry because they cannot procreate.
“There are many bodily activities
that people do together: enjoy meals, play sports, do manual labor,
etc. Friends, teammates, colleagues, and others engage in all of
these and many other activities. But everyone recognizes that
marriage involves a sexual component, which these other physical
experiences lack. A brother and sister or an uncle and his niece are
prohibited everywhere from marrying because of the relationship of
marriage to sexual activity and the laws of consanguinity. Even
those who propose radically altering the definition of marriage would
not advocate allowing two brothers or sisters or an uncle and his
nephew to marry (say, for the tax benefits, or for hospital visiting
privileges),” Myers said.
“What, then, explains this connection
– acknowledged even by those who would redefine marriage –
between marriage and sexual activity? Each individual is a complete
organism, for every bodily function save one: reproduction.
Biologically, reproduction requires the coordination in a particular
way of two sexually complementary persons to form an authentic union
whose biological function is reproduction. This coordination might
or might not lead to conception, but only through it does a couple
function biologically as a unit; only such acts bring the couple into
a true one-flesh union. Conjugal acts, and only these, fulfill the
behavioral conditions of procreation and thus consummate a marital
relationship.”
He
added: “I urge those not in communion with the Church regarding
her teaching on marriage and family … [that] they must in all
honesty and humility refrain from receiving Holy Communion until they
can do so with integrity; to continue to receive Holy Communion while
so dissenting would be objectively dishonest.”