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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
________________South
Africa_______________
Bishops reject same-sex
adoption
Criticism of court ruling
A South African high court ruling that same-sex couples should be allowed to
adopt children has been denounced by several religious bodies, including the
Catholic Church.
The ruling marked the first time that a judge had ruled in favor of gay adoptions. The court based its decision on the post-apartheid constitution of 1996. That constitution has given rise to liberalization of the country’s law on other social issues such as abortion.
Bishop Reginald Cawcutt, as spokesman for the South African bishops’ conference, said that the Church supported the rights and duties of a one-parent family, and even the right of an individual to adopt. “But it is God’s plan that a man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family,” Bishop Cawcutt said.
“A growing child has so many problems and difficulties to face. For an adoptive baby to be placed in a same-sex situation—with all it contradictions and questions—would, to my mind, only complicate that child’s growth in maturity,” the bishop continued. Thus the Church could never approve of the court ruling, he said.
Back to Catholic World Report November 2001 Table of Contents