Primary school was told by bishops to distribute the material saying same-sex marriage ‘messed with marriage and messed with kids’, report claims

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A Northern Territory Catholic school has reportedly sent children home with an anti same-sex marriage brochure.

St Paul’s Catholic primary school, in the Darwin suburb of Nightcliff, was told to distribute the brochure on behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Australia conference, the NT News reported on Friday.

The brochure, entitled “don’t mess with marriage”, outlined in detail the Catholic church’s opposition to same sex marriage, the report said, claiming it was “a struggle for the very soul of marriage”.

Released last month, it supported marriage as a vehicle to “beget children” and wrote: “same-sex friendships are of a very different kind: to treat them as the same does a grave injustice to both kinds of friendship and ignores the particular values that real marriages serve.”

It also said that “messing with marriage” was “messing with kids”, citing “sociological research, as well as the long experience of Church and society”.

It was published for the family youth and life commission, which sits within the bishops conference.

Catholic Education NT referred questions to the bishops conference, which told Guardian Australia each bishop has discretion over its distribution and circulation, with some choosing to distribute to schools in their diocese.

The Darwin diocese covers the whole of the Northern Territory except Uluru.

The office of the bishop of Darwin, Eugene Hurley, has been contacted for comment.

The brochure was released amid increasing support for legislation allowing same-sex marriage.

Following the historic referendum in Ireland, opposition leader Bill Shorten announced he would introduce a bill, co-signed by deputy leader Tanya Plibersek.

It was introduced on Monday, with parliamentary debate adjourned to a later date.