Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart says same-sex marriage could weaken society

The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart fears legalising same-sex marriage will make Australia a different society.

Archbishop Denis Hart says legalising same-sex marriage will make Australia a different society. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart has said same-sex marriage could weaken society.

Speaking to 3AW this morning, Archbishop Hart said he thought legalising same-sex marriage would make Australia a different society but traditional marriage would always exist.

“I do believe that marriage between a man and woman and family are the bedrock of society and if we follow that through then it could weaken us,” he said.

Archbishop Hart however refuted a report by The Sunday Age that doctors, nurses and teachers employed in Catholic institutions could be fired if they married their same-sex partner.

“I do believe that marriage between a man and woman and family are the bedrock of society and if we follow that through then it could weaken us,” he said.

He said he had no difficulty with doctors and nurses in a legalised same-sex marriage working in Catholic hospitals but there would be problems if teachers were unwilling to teach Catholic beliefs in their schools.

“People don’t have to work for the Catholic Church, they can make their own choice but that being said we exist to teach certain things and the people in our employ need to be able to do that,” he said.

Archbishop Hart said when people came to receive communion he didn’t ask their sexual orientation.

“Our policy of course is unless a person’s situation is so public and so known to the community that it would be an affront to our beliefs to give the person communion, we don’t enquire,” he said. “We accept people at their face value.”

He said if a person whose sexual orientation was very public came for communion, while he wouldn’t refuse on the spot, he would seek to have a discussion about whether it was appropriate for that person to be there.

“I have been a priest for 50 years now and I have dealt with lots of people,” he said.

“Some of my friends are in same-sex relationships and I respect who they are even though that’s not the choice that I would make and I think that in my discussions with people I would try to do it the same way.”

Archbishop Hart said he was not opposed to same-sex marriage in the sense that people can make choices contrary to the church’s teachings.

“But I would be very positively saying that ‘hey, everyone of us is from a man and a woman and I believe that the male and female component in their upbringing and education are very important for children’,” he said.

“That’s not to say that if people are in a same sex union, they don’t love their children or anything like that.”