Bishop urges Scotland not to grant gay couples adoption rights

Published: 2006-03-02

LONDON (CNS) -- A Catholic bishop has called on the most senior politician in Scotland to pull back from introducing a law that would grant gay couples the same adoption rights as married heterosexuals. Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell, Scotland, told Jack McConnell, first minister of the Scottish Parliament, that plans to change the law could "only be construed as yet another violation of family life." In a Feb. 24 letter to McConnell, he said the Catholic Church had watched with "mounting disquiet the forces of political correctness corrupt our moral, political and social order. And now their insidious influence threatens our innocent and vulnerable children," he said. "It is now time for us to do more than watch." Bishop Devine advised McConnell against "committing yourself to this shameful legislation" and urged the first minister to put the issue before the electorate in a referendum.

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