Dr Byrne's book offended by presenting a feminist plea that Catholic woman should be allowed to administer the sacrament, a view that conflicts with the Pope's 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, that the Catholic church cannot and will not ordain women.

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In the Catholic church, for example, marriage is a religious sacrament carrying no secular legal significance.

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The Catholic Church is never going to view marriage except from the perspective of a sacrament, an unbreakable bond between one man and one woman, open to the God-given gift of children.

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