THE CATHOLIC sacrament of marriage should apply to same-sex couples, a Catholic nun and professor of theology will tell a conference today.

Margaret Farley, professor of moral theology at Yale Divinity School and a member of the Sisters of Mercy order of nuns, said same-sex marriage should be allowed as a matter of justice.

“In a Christian context, Catholic understanding of marriage as a sacrament can be applicable to same-sex marriages as well as to heterosexual marriages,” she said in a interview, prior to today’s conference.

“We have to witness that homosexuality can be a way of embodying responsible human love and sustaining human and Christian fellowship.”

Prof Farley said same-sex couples have both a right, and a responsibility, to be fruitful through having or raising children and that a committed couple have the right to a marital relationship.

“We have softened gender stereotypes in recent times and it becomes possible to say that any two people who have the gift of love – which is theologically a call by God to participate in the sacrament of marriage – to marry,” she said. While she accepted her position was not accepted by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, Prof Farley said many senior bishops were sympathetic to the needs of same-sex unions.

She was speaking ahead of a conference in Trinity College Dublin today at which religious academics and church representatives will discuss the feasibility of same-sex marriage within the Christian churches.

The conference has been organised by the Irish school of ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin.

The seminar, according to the organisers, will provide a framework for Christians to move towards an understanding and acceptance of same-sex unions and marriages.

The conference co-ordinator, Prof Linda Hogan of Trinity College, said the debate on gay marriage in Ireland has so far only focused on civil marriage or non-religious marriage. “The conference, however, hopes to move the debate along and examine how and why marriage among same-sex couples may be feasible in the Christian setting and indeed may even strengthen the institution of marriage.”