Catholic Archbishop claims Yes vote has no real majority

LESS than half of Australia voted Yes in the same-sex marriage vote, according to Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher.

Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. Picture: Britta Campion.

IT’S good enough for the people and good enough for the government — but that’s not good enough for the Catholic church.

While the Yes vote for gay mariage was a convincing 61.6 per cent, the country’s most influential Catholic cleric Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher reckons that is not a majority.

Because about 20 per cent of eligible Australians “abstained altogether”, Bishop Fisher claims actual support for same-sex marriage is really only about 49 per cent.

Admitting he was disappointed but not surprised by the “Yes” victory, Bishop Fisher also warned it would have “unintended consequences” for church agencies, such as welfare giant St Vincent de Paul possibly being banned from government projects.

Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher: “What is clear is we are very divided over this issue and probably many others.”

“While people are talking about overwhelming support, it’s still not clear that it is overwhelming,” he said.

“What is clear is we are very divided over this issue and probably many others. The consensus in Australia is somewhat fractured.”

With Federal Parliament still to pass any related legislation, Bishop Fisher said he wanted the same-sex marriage bill to ensure protection for religious and civil marriage celebrants who don’t want to marry same-sex couples and to reinforce the freedom of church organisations to hire senior staff according to their adherence to Catholic lifestyles and values.

He is concerned an official inquiry into religious freedom, which would not report until after the bill had became law, would be used as an excuse to do nothing.

It could also mean that organisations that do not support same-sex marriage could be barred from carrying out future good works, he warned.

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“There would be issues such as will charities, churches and other charities still be able to tender for government contracts?” he said.

“I am quite sure that most of the people that ticked yes were not thinking that they don’t want St Vincent de Paul not doing housing projects any more because they are a Catholic organisation, but that is the kind of consequence that can flow.”

When asked how same-sex marriage is different to divorcees remarrying — another union to which the church is opposed and which it already scrutinises in senior church agency staff — Bishop Fisher said the activism around divorce was not so feverish.

Clint McGilvray of Australian Marriage Equality.

“You don’t have every major corporation, every trade union, every arts and sports organisation coming out with a position on divorce and remarriage in Australia, the way they did on same-sex marriage,” he said.

“There is less diversity on this issue than there might be on a thing like divorce and remarriage, where people are happy to live and let live.”

But the Archbishop’s comments were discounted by marriage equality campaigners, who said under his logic, only 30.5 per cent of Australians voted No.

“It is disappointing that Bishop Fisher is the only No case leader ungraciously refusing to accept the result,” Equality Campaign spokesman Clint McGilvray said.

The campaign said churches and religious groups already have exemptions from discrimination laws that allow them to refuse service to gay people.

“We have to remember that there have been many changes to our laws that are out of step with religious doctrine, such as legalising no-fault divorce and interracial marriage, and the sky hasn’t fallen in,” said Equality Campaign co-chairman Anna Brown.

“Religious views are still taught in schools and expressed freely and religious charities continue their good work.”