Homosexual Civil Unions in Sweden & Norway
German and Norwegian scholars collected data in Norway and Sweden, where homosexual civil unions do not deviate much from the concept of marriage (Gunnar Andersson et al., “The Demographics of Same-Sex Marriage in Norway and Sweden,” Demography 43 [2006], as reported in The Family in America, Dec. 2006).
According to the German and Norwegian researchers, “the divorce risk for partnerships of [homosexual] men is 50% higher than the corresponding risk for heterosexual marriages and the divorce risk for partnerships of [lesbian] women is about double (2.67) that for [homosexual] men (1.50).” The researchers noted, moreover, that “the incidence of same-sex marriage in Norway and Sweden is not particularly impressive.”
The Family in America notes that same-sex “marriage” or marriage-like civil unions are “remarkably fragile.”
Permanence is generally not a defining characteristic of homosexual relationships. But transience is. (Is it any wonder that AIDS and other STDs pass through “gay” populations like wildfires?) Attempts to codify permanence into homosexual relationships via state recognition of same-sex civil unions or “marriage” will inevitably fail. Much to the delight of divorce lawyers.
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Review of Homosexuality by James P. Hanigan... and The Homosexual Person by John F. Harvey
The Vatican evidently wants neither to ban nor not ban homosexuals from the priesthood, since it again chose to do neither in a recently-issued document on clerical formation.
The Liturgy of the Word, which is a part of every Mass, would be one logical place for Catholics to look for divine guidance.