Posted on 07/29/2003 11:27:12 AM PDT by Clive
OTTAWA - The Vatican is calling directly on Catholic politicians around the world to be true to their faith and reject the legalization of same-sex marriage.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops predicted yesterday the appeal may give pause to the federal Parliament as it considers just such legislation.
Catholicism is the dominant religion among federal politicians, as it is in Canadian society.
"What it may do is that it will cause some conscience problems for several MPs," said Monsignor Peter Schonenbach, general secretary of the conference.
But a spokesman for Martin Cauchon, the Justice Minister one of many Catholic MPs, said that Minister will base his vote on equality rights, not religion.
"His personal religious beliefs are not the issue here," said Tim Murphy. "He is the Justice Minister for all Canadians. The key things we have pointed out is that this is a fundamental issue of equality and there will be protection for religious freedom."
A federal bill legalizing same-sex marriage, and stating that religious institutions will not be forced to perform ceremonies, has been sent to the Supreme Court to determine whether it complies with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Liberal government has promised a free vote on the issue, meaning MPs can vote their conscience instead of along party lines. Several Liberal MPs have already expressed their opposition to gay marriage.
Same-sex marriages have been considered legal in British Columbia and Ontario since courts in those provinces ruled prohibiting the marriages violates the Charter of Rights.
On Thursday, the Vatican will release new instructions for Catholic politicians to oppose same-sex marriage, which has already been adopted in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Msgr. Schonenbach described the 12-page document, which is devoted entirely to the issue of same-sex marriage, as "a general reflection that pulls together things that have been said before."
Although the instructions do not specifically mention Canada, Msgr. Schonenbach noted that this country's plans have drawn significant attention from the Church and likely played a role in the Vatican's appeal. He noted he has done interviews with Vatican Radio on the issue.
The document builds on the Pope's approved guidelines for politicians, issued last January, calling on them to oppose abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage.
Those guidelines said laws safeguarding marriage between man and woman must be promoted and that "in no way can other forms of cohabitation be placed on the same level as marriage, nor can they receive legal recognition as such."
Jason Kenney, a Canadian Alliance MP who is Catholic and against gay marriage, said he doesn't think the Vatican's call will make much difference.
"Politicians who come from the Catholic tradition whose convictions are formed in part by their faith, this should be nothing new to them and they should already have taken that into consideration," Mr. Kenney said.
"They're all free to decide whether or not, and to what extent, they will form their conscience and actions in accordance with the Church teaching. It's up to each individual."
Mr. Kenney acknowledged that few politicians publicly declare their religious affiliation and are therefore not in a position where they have to answer to voters about faith. The appeal from the Vatican is not expected to sway other powerful Catholics in the Liberal government, including the Prime Minister and his heir apparent, Paul Martin, who intend to vote for the bill.
Mr. Chrétien, Mr. Martin and Mr. Cauchon all come from pre-dominantly Catholic Quebec, where the Church has a loose grip on the province's largely liberal society.
Mr. Chrétien has already come under fire from Marcel Gervais, the Archbishop of Ottawa, over the clash between his Catholic religion and his views on social issues. Most recently, the archbishop denounced the Prime Minister's pro-choice position on abortion.
The Vatican's directive, titled Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, expands on an appeal from religious institutions across Canada for the federal government to reject same-sex marriage.
As in the Canadian population in general, the Catholicism is the dominant religion in the federal Parliament, although exact records are not kept.
In the general population, 43.2% of Canadians identified themselves as Catholic in the last federal census, which makes the religion by far the most common. In second place was United, the declared faith of 9.6% of Canadians.
This month, a leading German cardinal condemned Germany's same-sex marriage law after it was upheld by the country's supreme court, calling it a blow to the family.
"Now the associations of homosexuals have a potent arm to obtain further concessions on the road toward full equality with married couples, including the right to adoption," Karl Cardinal Lehman complained in a Vatican Radio interview.
The Vatican is particularly worried about the waning influence of the Church in Europe. Drafters of a proposed constitution for the European Union ignored Vatican requests to include explicit mention of Europe's Christian roots.
On Sunday, the Pope lamented that the Church's message was being watered down in Europe.
But that's the real kicker, isn't it? For the past few decades, the Church has tolerated almost any and all moral dissent from the left with little or no comment, and almost never real action.
Want to be a rabid pro-abortion politician? Far be it from your bishop to say anything about it. Want to get divorce after divorce and still receive all the sacraments without comment? No problem. Want to make statements like all religions are valid paths to the same God? You won't hear a peep from your bishop saying otherwise.
So the real question is how many truly Catholic MP's even exist, in the sense of truly believing and following the teachings of the Church? I would guess it's a small fraction of the number who call themselves Catholic.
The modern Church culture of moral permissiveness, and failure to condemn sin, is now snowballing. And the Church finds itself without the moral authority necessary to put up much of a fight due to neglect of this duty for so long.
Precisely right. But I'll bet the first time these same politicians propose seizing Church property, they'll find themselves excommunicated--bell, book and candle.
Looks like the bishop of Ottawa condemned the PM. And in the US, the new bishop of Boston has been outspoken in the past about politicians who don't follow their professed faith. Also Bishop Weigand of Sacramento with Gray Davis, the bishop in North Dakota with Tom Daschle, Archbishop Chaput in Denver, all have confronted pro-aborts et al in the past year.
But you're right, that should be the norm, and it shouldn't be a new thing.
LOL!
Well, there is at least one bishop who's not following the craven crowd.
While you're at it, why not excommunicate all the "catholic politicans" who support abortion too?
Take care of one problem and everything else will fall into place.
Pedophile priests "repent" only when they are caught. Forgiveness is fine but consequence deters repeat offenders (and defenders).
GIVE IT TO THEM UNFILTERED J.P. II!
I'm no Catholic, but I like to see the Holy Father step in and put the smack down on these so-called "Catholic" cretins. Word up to Teddy K. and his so-called "Catholic" ilk.
J.P. II has put you all on notice. No excuses, now.
Reminds me of that Sam Kinison (Geez, I miss that guy. We need Sam now more than ever. I can only imagine his take on everything that's happened since September 11) routine with the Pope talking to the Gays:
"Suck the ----, lose the Kingdom. Romans I. Look, I didn't write the book, I just enforce it. C'mon, you got ---- on your breath, your stinkin' up the place, get outta here!"
But I'll still take his smack down on the pols over the homo-marriage issue.
Purging the Church of the infestation of pedophile priests ought to be the first item on the Church's agenda!
The document builds on the Pope's approved guidelines for politicians, issued last January, calling on them to oppose abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage.
Unless the Church is prepared to excommunicate pols like Kennedy, Biden, Dashole, and all of the other CINOs, then why bother issuing a "guideline?"
These seductions were gravely sinful and seriously wrong, but the campaign against a small number of priests, blown up with emotional issues that never properly belonged to the scandal, are an attempt to destroy the moral authority of the largest Christian church in the world. With that authority falsely questioned, the homosexual agenda to obtain the agenda's greatest prize - homosexual marriage - is almost in hand.
If you want to aid the enemy, support the campaign and buzzwords wrongfully applied to the campaign to destroy the Chuch. The campaign will not succeed (the gates of hell cannot prevail against it), but what most people do not want - the moral normalization homosexual relationships and marriage - may avalanche into unwanted reality. The spiritual harm that will follow that is unimaginable.
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