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Bishop tells PM: You've lost your way If true to his faith, a Catholic must not support gay marriage, Gervais warns The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Ottawa has written Prime Minister Jean Chrétien a personal letter warning that he has lost his way as a Catholic if he supports same-sex marriage. Archbishop Marcel Gervais would not discuss the details of his confidential reprimand to the prime minister, the second in two months. In May, Archbishop Gervais took Mr. Chrétien to task for his pro-choice stand on abortion. Archibishop Gervais wrote his latest letter after learning that Mr. Chrétien's government intends...

Archbishop to faithful: Confess in person only Ottawa's Gervais puts an end to group absolution Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Gervais has clamped down on what the Pope says has become an all-too-common practice: the abandonment of individual confessions in favour of group absolution. In a letter to the archdiocese's clergy and faithful, the archbishop said John Paul II "insists that general absolution should be restored to its original purpose as an extraordinary means of receiving absolution (of sins)." Archbishop Gervais is just one of several Canadian bishops trying to curb the trend toward overuse of general absolution. However, that doesn't mean...

GG stirs protest by taking communion Officials say Anglican should not take part in Roman church's central ritual Bob Harvey The Ottawa Citizen Wednesday, January 22, 2003 CREDIT: Art Babych Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson receives communion from Archbishop Marcel Gervais during the memorial for Yousuf Karsh, Sept. 19, 2002. Catholic Church officials say Canada's Anglican Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, should not be taking communion in Roman Catholic parishes. With a few narrow exceptions, the church's practice is to refuse communion to non-Roman Catholics, yet the Governor General's spokesman, Stewart Wheeler, said she "does take communion in Roman Catholic services. She...