Referendum on Eighth amendment: Vote in accordance with your conscience
Having consulted its membership We Are Church Ireland is of the belief that
people should be free to vote in favour of repealing the eighth Amendment to the
constitution in accordance with their consciences. This freedom of conscience
equally applies to people who wish to retain the Amendment.
We Are Church Ireland takes the meaning and implication of conscience from these
words of Doctor Joseph Ratzinger, now emeritus Pope Benedict 16th:
“Over the pope as the expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority,
there still stands one’s own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else, even
if necessary against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority. “;
(Joseph Ratzinger, Commentary on the Doctrine of Vatican 2, edited by Herbert
Vorgrimler, Volume 5, page 134. 1969)
“While it is important that Catholics give due regard to the teaching of their
Church in the formation of their moral judgment on the repeal of the eighth
Amendment to the Irish Constitution they have the right and duty to follow their
consciences as their final moral arbiters.
Once Catholics take a decision based on conscience they have done right and are
in good standing with God and their Church.
If the Amendment is repealed then legislators have a duty to act, according to their
consciences, for the common good”; stated Brendan Butler, spokesperson of We Are
Church Ireland.