The bill was passed by the Senate the next day and was sent to Gov. Pat Quinn for his signature. Quinn said he would hold a bill-signing ceremony early in the new year. The law will go into effect in June 2011.

The Catholic Conference of Illinois, representing the Illinois bishops, said it regretted passage of the bill. The statement reaffirmed Catholic teaching that marriage

“Marriage has been established by our Creator in harmony with the nature of man and woman and with its own essential properties and purpose. … No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman, who by personal gift, proper and exclusive to themselves, mutually commit to each other in order to cooperate with God in the procreation and upbringing of new human lives,” the statement said.

The statement also pointed out that legalizing civil unions contains a potential for serious conflict with religious liberty.

“While the bill states that nothing in the act should interfere with or regulate the religious practice of any religious body, such language may offer little protection in the context of litigation religious institutions may soon encounter in relation to charitable services, adoption and foster care.

“We hope these issues will be seriously evaluated by policy makers in the coming months and that additional conscience protections will be afforded,” the statement concluded.