A question to consider and ask!

In several countries around the world, and currently in Canada, a debate rages about what Pope Benedict refers to as "psuedo-marriage", that is the so-called 'union' of two persons of the same sex.

There is the current drive to legalize such unions as equal to what has commonly been held to be a lawful marriage.

Quite rightly Catholic Bishops, as well as religious leaders from the other Christian Churches, and leaders of other faiths, have raised - somewhat- their voices in protest.

But here is the question to consider in countries like Canada where priests are in a real sense agents of the state for priests are lisenced so that when witnessing the sacramental sanctification of marriage by the spouses the priest is the state's legal authority and thus keeps a civil register along with the parish register.

Now why are we still doing this? Why have the Bishops not ordered all priests to hand in their lisences and civil registers and disentangle the Church from this whole legal aspect?

This would mean, as happens in France, couples would have to go to the civil authorities {if they so wished} to have the state's sanction {if they want it} while the Church, freed from being de facto agents, accomplices really, of the state, holding as a revealed truth sacramental marriage can only be given by a man to a woman and a woman to a man, and only one of each, could not then be forced to witness a non-sacrament.

Maybe we should be asking our Bishops why they still cling to being agents of the state.