THE debate on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry reached Roman Catholic church services in Gwent at the weekend.

UK government ministers, supported by the prime minister, David Cameron, are looking at redefining marriage to allow same-sex couples to be married in civil ceremonies, with a consultation paper expected to be published this week.

But on Sunday Catholic congregations across England and Wales were read a letter from two senior British archbishops during mass protesting against the move.

The letter, written by Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols and Archbishop of Southwark Peter Smith, stated that while same-sex couples can currently register civil partnerships, changing the legal definition of marriage would be a “radical step” that would reduce the purpose of the institution to “the commitment of the two people involved”.

“There would be no recognition of the complementarity [sic] of male or female or that marriage is intended for the procreation of children.”

Catholics have also been called to sign a petition against the move.

Father Brian Cuddihy, parish priest of St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Lliswerry, Newport, said the letter was a clear “description of the Christian attitude towards marriage”.

“I don’t think the government has got the right to change the definition of marriage in the sense that it was set out in the letter,” he said.

Mary Montgomery, a member of the church’s parish, said the letter was “timely”

and said she believed it would diminish the importance of the family unit.

She said family and marriage “two go together and should go together”.

“I think the concept of family that a marriage represents, it isn’t represented by a same-sex union.”

However, Andrew White, director of gay-rights group Stonewall Cymru, said: “At a time when 11,000 families in Wales are homeless and a billion people across the world live on less than a dollar a day, it’s extraordinary that archbishops are worrying about the family arrangements of a few thousand gay people.

“We assume that Roman Catholic congregations will take as much notice of the instruction to marginalise gay people’s relationships as they do of the regular instruction they receive not to use birth control.”