Archbishop Julian Porteous. / Credit: Archdiocese of Hobart
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 12, 2025 / 17:06 pm (CNA).
A Catholic archbishop in Australia is calling attention to an ecumenical statement on human sexuality released last year as the group behind the project seeks to gain approval for the creed from “biblically orthodox leaders” worldwide.
Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart is among some 6,000 initial signatories of the “Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity,” a statement affirming fundamental Christian ethics on sex and gender that was drafted last October by a team of over 100 Christian faith leaders, including Catholic clergy.
In a Catholic Weekly interview last week, Porteous explained his decision to back the initiative, saying: “I thought it was good ecumenically to show support. And from the Catholic point of view, I felt we had a lot to offer because we have been able to articulate a lot of this material through magisterial teaching, through the catechism and so on, and help them with terminology.”
The creed outlines common Christian moral tenets on the creation of every person as male or female, marriage and sexuality as exclusively between men and women, the belief that every human life is sacred, and the call to chastity and faithfulness both in marriage and singleness.
“We believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who designed sex as part of his loving plan for humanity and whose will for sexual integrity is clearly revealed in holy Scripture,” the statement reads.
“We believe our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,” the statement adds, “that Christ calls and empowers us to repent from all sin, including sexual sin, that his mercy abounds to forgive and restore, and that by living with sexual integrity we glorify God and humbly embrace his wise and loving plan for human life.”
“Every era has its particular heresies,” the creed website states. “We believe the time has come for a new creed that affirms the timeless teachings of the church regarding sexual integrity and that articulates God’s glorious design for sex and marriage as revealed in holy Scripture.”
“Our hope and prayer,” the website notes, “is that the Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity will gain global approval from biblically orthodox leaders in the Catholic Church, the Anglican/Episcopalian Church, the Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Orthodox Church, evangelical and Pentecostal churches, and many more besides.”
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CNA Staff, Aug 20, 2024 / 15:36 pm (CNA).
Two federal judges in separate states have ruled against school policies that prohibit students from joining teams of the opposite sex, forcing school officia… […]
A young woman holds a pro-life sign during a rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2023, marking the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. / Joseph Portolano/CNA
Washington D.C., Jun 25, 2023 / 06:40 am (CNA).
Marking the first anniversary of Roe being overturned, a group of pro-life leaders rallied hundreds to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Saturday with the message that they were united around the fight for full, legal protection for the unborn from the moment of conception in all 50 states.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told those gathered on a sunny, hot summer day that while she celebrated the 25 states that have passed strong pro-life laws, “we are in fact living in a divided states of America” where “a person’s location determines if they will survive the abortion gauntlet as we did.”
Hawkins said the country must become “an America where every human being is recognized as the unrepeatable person as they are with equal rights and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed, not because of what state their mother resides in or if they are perceived to be convenient or the circumstances of their conception.”
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, addresses the crowd at a pro-life rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial on June 24, 2023, marking the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Joseph Portolano/CNA
Hawkins told CNA that pro-life leaders are uniting around the belief “that every human being is a human person at conception” and that the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal justice clauses should be equally applied to persons in the womb.
“At a very minimum if you’re running for federal office, you should be able to acknowledge that abortion is a federal issue,” she said. “We want to see every presidential contender join with us to acknowledge what is so clearly written in the Fourteenth Amendment: that all human beings are human persons and deserve equal protection of our laws.”
Lila Rose, president of the pro-life group Live Action, called the Fourteenth Amendment “one of the most beautiful notes in our national song” and lamented that “when it comes to preborn children we have failed to extend these protections.”
Speaking at a rally in front of of the Lincoln Memorial on June 24, 2023, Lila Rose, president of the pro-life group Live Action, called it a “tragic contradiction” that “while our society celebrates advancements in prenatal care and technology, we simultaneously deny personhood and rights, the personhood and rights of these very same children.”. Joseph Portolano/CNA
Rose called it a “tragic contradiction” that “while our society celebrates advancements in prenatal care and technology, we simultaneously deny personhood and rights, the personhood and rights of these very same children. It is inconceivable that we would selectively deny these rights to one group of human beings solely based on their location: the womb.”
Republican presidential candidate and former Vice President Mike Pence, who recently called on his fellow GOP presidential candidates to join him in backing a “minimum” nationwide 15-week abortion limit, made an appearance at the rally.
“As we celebrate this anniversary, let us here resolve that we will work and we will pray as never before to advance the cause of life in the laws of the land in every state in America. That we will support women in crisis pregnancies with resources and support for their care, for the unborn, and for the newborn as never before,” Pence said.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, addresses the crowd at a pro-life rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial on June 24, 2023, marking the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Joseph Portolano/CNA
“We stand for the babies and their unalienable right to life,” he said, pledging that he and his family “will never rest and never relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in the land.”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-life America, shared words of advice for the growing list of 2024 presidential candidates: “Get your act together. Figure out what you’re for and advance it. Don’t wait,” she urged.
“We have consensus in this country,” she added. “Start with that and be the president you’re called to be in justice and love for moms and justice and love for their babies.” Consistent Gallup polling shows that the majority of Americans would prefer to limit abortion to the first three months of pregnancy.
There were many young people in the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial, including Katriel Nyman, a 17-year-old from Washington state who is with Students for Life Tri-Cities. She told CNA that it was “really encouraging to see a bunch of people who believe in rights from conception.”
She said she’d “like to see more pro-lifers continue to persevere through this” post-Dobbs fight because “even if abortion isn’t legal in your state, you should be fighting for the rights of infants that are soon to be born in other states.”
Sameerah Munshi, a recent graduate of Brown University who is interning with the Religious Freedom Institute, holds a sign with a verse from the Quran about the sanctity of life that reads “We have dignified the children of Adam,” at a pro-life rally at the Lincoln Memorial on June 24, 2023. Lauretta Brown/CNA
Sameerah Munshi, a recent graduate of Brown University who is interning with the Religious Freedom Institute, held a sign with a verse from the Quran about the sanctity of life that read “We have dignified the children of Adam.”
She told CNA that she wanted to make her voice heard as a Muslim who believes, based on her faith, that abortion is wrong in most cases. She said many Muslims followers feel, as she does, that life begins “in the first couple weeks after conception.”
Munshi said that in the year since the Dobbs decision, “a lot of people that I know who don’t have strong opinions on abortion have been coming out either in favor or against” abortion. She sees it as valuable that there’s more discourse about the abortion issue and people are “coming to more conclusions for themselves as opposed to maybe rhetoric that they’ve seen in the news or rhetoric that they feel has been a part of their political platform.”
Jessica Newell, a Catholic student who is interning with Live Action and entering her third year at Coastal Carolina University, told CNA that “it’s so important for people who are indoctrinated by this culture to learn the truth about biology and the truth about God and that they’re made in the image of God.”
She emphasized that the pro-life movement still has so much to do and part of that work is “letting people know that they’re loved, that is a big step in changing the culture to a culture of life.”
Melissa Ohden, who survived a saline-infusion abortion at 31 weeks gestation, stands alongside her oldest daughter Olivia, 15, at a pro-life rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2023. Joseph Portolano/CNA
Melissa Ohden, who survived a saline-infusion abortion at 31 weeks gestation, stood at the rally alongside her oldest daughter Olivia, 15, and a sign which read “Babies survive abortions. I am one of them.”
“This was a very personal thing for Roe to be overturned,” she told CNA, “It is a day that we can celebrate, but it has not been a chance to pause, take our breath, it has been a time of continuing to hit the ground running.”
In her work heading the Abortion Survivors Network, Ohden said that since the Dobbs decision she’s heard from “more women than ever reaching out to us after their chemical abortions have failed.” She said it’s important to reach moms who are vulnerable to chemical abortions which make up the majority of abortions in the country.
Ohden said that since Dobbs the pro-life movement “has continued to be the side that is providing resources and support whether it’s in communities, at the state level, pushing for federal policy that supports mothers and children and families in a greater way.”
Her daughter Olivia said it was “amazing” to be at the rally with her mom and called the issue an emotional one because “people like my mom should be protected no matter who they are, where they are.”
In answer to your question: Who could have ever predicted it? I have to go with the Holy Spirit. 🤓 (John 16:13).
I talked to the gazillionth priest about Franciscus a few months ago. He was French and had trouble saying all he wanted in English regarding the natural law and conscience. So instead of giving a dissertation about the heteropraxy of Amoralist Laetitia, this priest pointed at his heart and said: The faithful will always come back to Confession because of what God is saying to them within.”
The fact that this statement on sexuality was released a year ago and got no coverage tells you how far its going to go. Chastity? You must be kidding. That is a defunct concept these days, where so many people “sleep around.” Too many priests fail to preach about Catholic stands on sexuality from the pulpit. The lack of such preaching undercuts parents who feel nobody is helping to back them up to take a stand. Parents of course cannot control what adult children chose to do, like living together. Beyond of conveying disapproval of them doing it. But this behavior should not go unremarked at church. And when such couples come to get a church wedding (which it appears they now rarely do) why does the priest simply rubber stamp the situation and give them a wedding date at the church?? If we lose such potential church “members” because they dont like the reprimand, so what? They do not follow catholic beliefs anyway. And most do not attend church, but if they do, they sure DO go to communion. Thats also a problem which is unaddressed from the pulpit far too much.
I believe it was Ryan T. Anderson (When Harry Became Sally) who said recently that until there is a renewal of chastity and marriage, there will be no success in the fight against abortion.
Quite remarkable!
Here at the conclusion of the Bergoglio imbroglio, there is still a bishop who affirms the actual teachings of the Church on sexuality!
Who could have ever predicted it?
That document ought to be preserved for historians centuries hence.
Who knew, right brineyman?
In answer to your question: Who could have ever predicted it? I have to go with the Holy Spirit. 🤓 (John 16:13).
I talked to the gazillionth priest about Franciscus a few months ago. He was French and had trouble saying all he wanted in English regarding the natural law and conscience. So instead of giving a dissertation about the heteropraxy of Amoralist Laetitia, this priest pointed at his heart and said: The faithful will always come back to Confession because of what God is saying to them within.”
Pray and stay Catholic.
Brineyman above – Yes, and he’s not alone, believe it or not.
The fact that this statement on sexuality was released a year ago and got no coverage tells you how far its going to go. Chastity? You must be kidding. That is a defunct concept these days, where so many people “sleep around.” Too many priests fail to preach about Catholic stands on sexuality from the pulpit. The lack of such preaching undercuts parents who feel nobody is helping to back them up to take a stand. Parents of course cannot control what adult children chose to do, like living together. Beyond of conveying disapproval of them doing it. But this behavior should not go unremarked at church. And when such couples come to get a church wedding (which it appears they now rarely do) why does the priest simply rubber stamp the situation and give them a wedding date at the church?? If we lose such potential church “members” because they dont like the reprimand, so what? They do not follow catholic beliefs anyway. And most do not attend church, but if they do, they sure DO go to communion. Thats also a problem which is unaddressed from the pulpit far too much.
It would have been good if something about contraception being incompatible with Christianity, but I’m guessing that is a bridge too far.
I believe it was Ryan T. Anderson (When Harry Became Sally) who said recently that until there is a renewal of chastity and marriage, there will be no success in the fight against abortion.
Ryan T. Anderson – The pro-life movement needs to pivot to promoting chastity and marriage – CWR, Sept. 13, 2024.