Posted on 08/24/2006 6:37:10 AM PDT by presidio9
A southern Ontario bishop is urging Catholics to boycott an upcoming fundraiser featuring former U.S. president Bill Clinton, saying his views don't reflect the church's beliefs.
Clinton is set to deliver a speech Nov. 8 during a $500-per-seat fundraising lunch for the Catholic Family Counselling Centre in Kitchener.
But Rev. Gerard Bergie, the auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Hamilton, says Clinton is an inappropriate guest speaker, the Waterloo Region Record reported.
Clinton's support for abortion, his marital infidelity and promotion of condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS go against Catholic Church doctrine, said Bergie.
He says he's received complaints from Catholics across the country.
"They find it difficult to reconcile the fact that an organization that calls itself Catholic has extended an invitation to an individual whose views … go against the Catholic church," he told the newspaper.
Cathy Brothers, a spokeswoman for the centre, said it is a non-denominational agency and that the fundraiser is "not about our Catholicism."
Clinton is a regular on the guest-speaker circuit, drawing as much as $350,000 per speech. Brothers wouldn't say how much it cost to bring Clinton to Kitchener.
The counselling centre plans to use the money raised to expand services for victims of domestic abuse.
Thank you. My old memory gets older.
Well, what a relief for a prelate to exhibit skill in logic, critical thinking, and moral theology.
And all in one press release! Is this the new "springtime" of prophecy? :)
Bill Clinton? Hmmm. Didn't he dirty up the Oval Orifice?
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