Bishop Fabbro instructs London priests to suspend liturgical privileges of SSM MP

[Ani_Ibi]

Canadian Catholic Bishop Disciplines London Politician For Same-Sex Marriage Stance

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Question of whether MP may receive communion still unclear

lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05070703.html

LONDON, ON, July 7, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a letter dated June 6 and distributed to all the priests of his diocese, bishop Ronald Fabbro of London Ontario informed his priests of his decision to suspend the liturgical privileges and public Church activities of Windsor MP Joe Comartin. Bishop Fabbro cited Comartin’s public support for same-sex marriage, and the confusion that Comartin’s contradictory beliefs may cause his fellow Catholics, as his motivation.

“It is with sadness that I am informing you of a decision that it is my duty to make,” Fabbro’s letter began. “This decision is prompted by a public statement made by Mr. Joe Comartin, Member of Parliament for Windsor-Tecumseh.”

On June 28th Comartin, a Catholic and a marriage counselor in the London diocese, directly contradicted and defied established Church teaching when he spoke in favour of Bill C-38 during the debates in Parliament.

“One of my visions is that some day my church will allow those couples [in marriage preparation]to not only be heterosexual but also to be homosexual,” said Comartin, after informing the House that he was a Catholic and a marriage counselor. “My vision says to me that some day this will happen. The Roman Catholic Church in this country and across the globe will follow the precedents that the United Church, the Quakers, the Metropolitan Church and any other number of Christian denominations have taken. This is about love; we will guarantee within our religious services that all couples will be treated equally.”

According to Church teaching when a member of a bishop’s diocese publicly and stubbornly contradicts fundamental truths of the Catholic faith, the bishop has the duty not only do what lies in his power to shepherd the dissenter back to the truth, but also to protect others in his diocese from the false teaching.

“I have decided that Mr. Comartin is not to give marriage preparation sessions within this diocese, and that he is not to engage in any liturgical ministries, for example, minister of the Eucharist or reader,” said Fabbro. “The issue…is that a person who does not accept Catholic teaching on fundamental matters is disqualified from acting on behalf of the Church in a public capacity. Marriage is, beyond doubt, a fundamental matter.”

“My decision will remain in effect until Mr. Comartin has a change of mind with regard to the moral status of homosexual activity and the use of the word ‘marriage’ with reference to some homosexual unions,” the letter continued. “In the meantime, I would urge Mr. Comartin, other Catholic politicians, and other Catholics who share his views to take the necessary steps to form their consciences correctly on these issues according to the teachings of our Church.”

“By virtue of nature itself, marriage is a union of man and woman. As a natural institution, marriage predates any state, parliament, or court of law. No public institution has the authority to claim that marriage is something other than what it is. The issue is not one of rights; rather, it is a question of what the word ‘marriage’ means.”

Fabbro instructed the priests of his diocese to publicly inform their parishioners of his decision during the upcoming weekend Masses in order to curb and counteract the confusion caused by Comartin’s public and erroneous belief that approval of same-sex marriage and profession of Catholicism are in any way reconcilable.

It was unclear whether or not Comartin would be permitted to receive Communion.

Read the full text of Mr. Comartin’s June 28th statements:
[parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/d…](http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/<a%20href=http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/124_2005-06-28/HAN124-E.htm#Int-1378054>http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/d…)

JJ

Bishop Fabbro? Who would have known? :bigyikes: :bigyikes::bigyikes::bigyikes::bigyikes:

 

[Rosalinda]

God bless Bishop Fabbro. I only hope his priests will comply and read his letter from the pulpit. There are a lot of Catholics sitting in the pews unfortunately who think it is OK to diverge from Catholic moral teaching. My brother is a Knight of Columbus and his local council refused to participate in the same sex debate in public because they privately support equal rights for homosexuals. He was understandably disappointed.

It must be pretty clear to Bishop Fabbro, as it is to many, that the weight of the sledgehammer to the foundation of the family in Canada is comprised largely of many complacent, lackadaiscal Catholics. Ironically, the Catholics who cared most about this issue were the very ones promoting it ie. Prime Minister Paul Martin.

By the way, Archbishop Gervais of Ottawa has yet to respond to my suggestion he give serious consideration to our PM receiving the Eucharist.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

I wasn’t able to post this yesterday due to the surprise server maintenance:

Rosalinda:

God bless Bishop Fabbro. I only hope his priests will comply and read his letter from the pulpit. There are a lot of Catholics sitting in the pews unfortunately who think it is OK to diverge from Catholic moral teaching. My brother is a Knight of Columbus and his local council refused to participate in the same sex debate in public because they privately support equal rights for homosexuals. He was understandably disappointed.

It must be pretty clear to Bishop Fabbro, as it is to many, that the weight of the sledgehammer to the foundation of the family in Canada is comprised largely of many complacent, lackadaiscal Catholics. Ironically, the Catholics who cared most about this issue were the very ones promoting it ie. Prime Minister Paul Martin.

By the way, Archbishop Gervais of Ottawa has yet to respond to my suggestion he give serious consideration to our PM receiving the Eucharist.

Rosalinda:

It may be that Archbishop Gervais is waiting to see what public opinion on this issue is or how many Catholics actually care about it…

I think you should post his contact information along with a copy of your letter on this thread and allow us to either copy your letter or to sent our own to him.

At the same time, I think it would be efficacious if you cc’d both of Pope Benedict’s e-mails (He has one in Italian and one in English that I know of):

benedettoxvi@vatican.va
benedictxvi@vatican.va

There’s other contact info at the Vatican here if we need to apply pressure:

Re: Cardinal Mahoney supports event honoring a pro-abortion Catholic Mayor - Post #9:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=771380&postcount=9
Whole Thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=63153

Meanwhile, I think it’s time we began applying some correction to Cardinal Mahoney. I had originally suggested concentrating on the Nomination of Sandra Day O’Conner’s Successor, but I see that we’ve started to drift, and people are beginning to think we don’t care about Mahoney’s outrage.

It’s time to start acting on that. The information we need is in that thread.

Blessed are they who act to save God’s Little Ones. Michael

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Traditional Ang:

It may be that Archbishop Gervais is waiting to see what public opinion on this issue is or how many Catholics actually care about it…

He’s stonewalling. He has said that he will only consider excommunicating Paul Martin if the Pope tells him to. So send him what the Pope has to say on the matter. He is pretending he doesn’t know what the Pope has to say on the matter, but send it to him anyway. That way he can’t say no one told him.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

Ani Ibi:

He’s stonewalling. He has said that he will only consider excommunicating Paul Martin if the Pope tells him to. So send him what the Pope has to say on the matter. He is pretending he doesn’t know what the Pope has to say on the matter, but send it to him anyway. That way he can’t say no one told him.

Ani:

Then we need his contact information so that we can tell him.

I know I can quote Pope Benetict XVI’s letter about giving communion to Pro-Abortion Catholics. But, what are you quoting? - I forget the section, and yes, I do want to quote it, and then repeat both to Cardinal Mahoney.

We need to go after both, and to let Pope Benedict know that we REALLY need Shepherds and not HIRELINGS.

If the Bishops know that the sheep expect to be led and to be protected from real evil, heresy and apostacy, I believe most of them will rise to the occasion.

I can’t believe the whimpering I’ve heard during the last 2 years from the USCCB’s Conference is really the Catholic Bishops at their best. And, I can’t believe the only shepherd Bishops are the ones I’ve met over at St. Mary’s!

Blessed are they who act to protect the Innocent. Michael

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Traditional Ang:

Then we need his contact information so that we can tell him.

Click here for a webpage on which you will find Archbishop Gervais’s address and a riproaring letter from Fr de Valk. Fasten your seatbelts. There is also some music on the page which is so beautiful it is making me cry.
Traditional Ang:

I know I can quote Pope Benetict XVI’s letter about giving communion to Pro-Abortion Catholics. But, what are you quoting?

I am in the mood to quote King Henry the VIII or maybe Martin Luther.
Traditional Ang:

We need to go after both, and to let Pope Benedict know that we REALLY need Shepherds and not HIRELINGS.

Oh yes, by all means go after both. In fact a copy to B16, Cardinal Arinze, Cardinal Levada, and the Prefect for Bishops.
Traditional Ang:

If the Bishops know that the sheep expect to be led and to be protected from real evil, heresy and apostacy, I believe most of them will rise to the occasion.

I don’t. I believe they’ll burn us at the stake.
Traditional Ang:

I can’t believe the only shepherd Bishops are the ones I’ve met over at St. Mary’s!

I think we should open the case for Bishop Henry’s sainthood.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

**Fr. de Valk’s Letter to Archbishop Gervais: **

Most Rev. Marcel Gervais
Archbishop of Ottawa
1247 Kilborn Place
Ottawa, ON K1H 6K9

Your Grace,
I trust this letter finds you well. May the Lord bless your endeavours and may the Holy Spirit be with you.
Yesterday afternoon I issued a press release requesting that you and the other bishops put an end to the scandal of so-called Catholics often referred to in the daily press as devout Catholics publicly rejecting Catholic teaching and then attending Mass and receiving Communion.
In a press release last March you referred to Prime Minister Paul Martin as a faithful parishioner. Bishop Fred Henry, on the other hand, has made it clear that the Prime Minister is nothing of the kind. On June 2 he once more explained that Paul Martin s politics clash so severely with the Church’s teaching that the two cannot be reconciled.
As you know, Bishop Henry s approach is shared by at least a dozen bishops and archbishops in the United States (2004 election), by Cardinals Arinze and Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict), lately too by Cardinal Cipriani of Peru and, no doubt, others.
Meanwhile, Mr. Martin s ruse in claiming that S.S.M. is a right under the Charter of Rights, and that religious freedom is not threatened, are both blatantly false. Only yesterday Mr. Cotler, the Justice Minister, acknowledged that Ottawa cannot ensure religious protection.
The Catholic community cannot put up with the split Church personality the bishops now present. Priests, including myself, have to look after our own consciences. A number of us will not give those politicians Holy Communion.
There is a Synod on the Eucharist in October. One of the most important aspects to be resolved is the reception of Holy Communion by people who are not properly prepared, let alone those who publicly mock the Church teaching.
With kindest regards Yours in Christ,

Fr. Alphonse de Valk, c.s.b.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Traditional Ang:

I know I can quote Pope Benetict XVI’s letter about giving communion to Pro-Abortion Catholics. But, what are you quoting?

I ended up quoting my neighbour. My letter is far too scathing to reprint here. Scorched Earth Ani rides again!

 

[Traditional_Ang]

Ani:

I never got the music, but Fr. de Valk’s letter is good… Her’s all the information from the Diocesan Website -
ecclesia-ottawa.org/
ecclesia-ottawa.org/e-front-frame.html
Most Rev. Marcel Gervais
Archbishop of Ottawa
1247 Kilborn Place
Ottawa, ON K1H 6K9
Telephone number: (613) 738-5025 ext. 233
Fax number: (613) 738-0130
E-mail: diocese@ecclesia-ottawa.org
Archbishop’s E-Mail: rparent@ecclesia-ottawa.org
Gilles Ouellette, Executive Assistant to the Archbishop and Director of Communications gouellette@ecclesia-ottawa.org ext. 238
Rachel Parent, Administrative Assistant rparent@ecclesia-ottawa.org ext. 233
Ani Ibi:

Click here for a webpage on which you will find Archbishop Gervais’s address and a riproaring letter from Fr de Valk. Fasten your seatbelts. There is also some music on the page which is so beautiful it is making me cry.

There are three 3 E-mail addresses there. I would use all 3, so that Archbishop Gervais can’t say that he never got the message.

King Henry was no reformer. He was just some guy who wanted an annulment who couldn’t get one because of the politics of his age.

And Martin Luther found the movement he founded splintering right before his eyes because there was no authority, and, There was always the session with Calvin and Swingli where those two denied Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, and all Luther could say was, “This is my body, this is my blood.” He proposed "consubstantiation in an attempt to keep them in his his Church. They refused to accept, and he was stuck with a doctrine that was neither fish nor foul.
Ani Ibi:

I am in the mood to quote King Henry the VIII or maybe Martin Luther.

Better to look at St. Ignatius Loyola or St. Catherine of Sienna or any of the other Saints of the Counter Reformation.

Or at St. Francis of Assisi or at Pope St Gregory the Great who came to the Church when the Church was in far worse shape than it is today.

I’ll have to work at getting Cardinal Mahoney’s information just so we can do that.
Ani Ibi:

Oh yes, by all means go after both. In fact a copy to B16, Cardinal Arinze, Cardinal Levada, and the Prefect for Bishops.

I imagine they will all be busy dealing with our e-mails and other letters. I know we have Pope Benedict’s e-mail, but we still don’t have the other e-mails. Since the leters will have to go via air-mail, I’d suggest sending the corresdondence to both Bishops for each of them in one letter.

They can’t - They might try to keep us out of the Cathedrals and out of some of the parishes a la Cardinal Mahoney.
Ani Ibi:

I don’t. I believe they’ll burn us at the stake.

We can deal with that problem when we come to it, but e-mails to the Pope and to ORTHODOX Catholic Bishops should handle those situations.

I think we should open the case for Bishop Henry’s sainthood.

Ani, I know there are more out there, because I’ve known a couple of them, someone is supporting the work of Priests for Life and EWTN, and a bunch of them voted for Pope Benedict to the next Pope!

Blessed are they who act to save the Innocent. Michael

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Traditional Ang:

King Henry was no reformer. He was just some guy who wanted an annulment who couldn’t get one because of the politics of his age.

And Martin Luther found the movement he founded splintering right before his eyes because there was no authority, and, There was always the session with Calvin and Swingli where those two denied Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, and all Luther could say was, “This is my body, this is my blood.” He proposed "consubstantiation in an attempt to keep them in his his Church. They refused to accept, and he was stuck with a doctrine that was neither fish nor foul.

I was being sarcastic. Thanks for centralizing the contact information. I’ll send my scathing letter off tomorrow.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

Ani Ibi:

I was being sarcastic. Thanks for centralizing the contact information. I’ll send my scathing letter off tomorrow.

Ani:

But I also understood that you were upset which is why I suggested looking at a few saints who were confronted with the Church in worse times than these:

I think you might enjoy this - I’m sure the Archbishop will:

Most Rev. Marcel Gervais
Archbishop of Ottawa
1247 Kilborn Place
Ottawa, ON K1H 6K9

Your Excellency:

I understand what the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) had to say to the United States Catholic Council of Bishops (USCCB) about how politicians who publicly defy the Church’s teaching on Abortion should be dealt with and whether they should be allowed to receive the Eucharist (Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion. General Principles, byJoseph Ratzinger):
chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=7055&eng=y

I also understand the clear teaching contained in the new CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (Latin Text Copyright 1994, 1997) *Part Three - Abortion * Sections 2270-2275. And the Teaching of The church relating to Homosexuality and Marriage (Same Book) Sections 2357-2359 & 2360-Take your pick.

But, Your Excellency, I just can’t for the life of me see calling someone who pushed through legislation contrary to the church’s teaching on both of these “a faithful parishioner”. Not only is that contrary to the Vatican’s stated wishes in the letter sent by the then Cardinal Ratzinger to the USCCB, but it provides an example of equivocation and accommodation that can only confuse, befuddle and potentially scandalize the Faithful while provide NO protection to the Church as an Institution. At the same time, you knowingly facilitate and cause the priests under your authority to facilitate the “Eating and drinking Of Judgment on themselves” described by St. Paul the Apostle the 11th Chapter of his 1st Letter to the Corinthians (v. 27 - 34), and fail in your duty to warn of impending judgment as required in Ezekiel 3:17-21 and Ezekiel 33: 7-20.

I’m sorry, but this situation is unacceptable, because it not only allows the politicians who stand for policies that are contrary to the Church’s teaching to believe that they have the Church’s silent consent for their heresy, but it also causes the elect of God to be led astray as a result of your faithlessness and cowardice. I beg you to act like a shepherd and to stop doing this for the sake of Our Lord’s Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and the sheep who have been entrusted to your care.

In Christ Jesus Our Lord,
Name, Parish and Address in Original

You’re right. He’ll probably want to have me burned at the stake, AFTER he finds St. Mary’s on the LA Archfiocese Parish List.

Good Luck!

Blessed are they who act to save God’s Little Ones. Michael

PS: Ani, you can use mine if you can’t cool down enough.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Traditional Ang:

But I also understood that you were upset which is why I suggested looking at a few saints who were confronted with the Church in worse times than these.

OK. Thank you. I will look at them. As for your letter: ooowah! You don’t pull any punches, do you? And rightly so. The consequences of Archbishop Gervais’s decision are grave and extreme. I have been thinking of asking Pope Benedict to remove him and replace him with Bishop Henry.
Traditional Ang:

He’ll probably want to have me burned at the stake, AFTER he finds St. Mary’s on the LA Archfiocese Parish List.

Ha-ha! Looks like its barbecue season this summer for the good Archbishop.
Traditional Ang:

PS: Ani, you can use mine if you can’t cool down enough.

Yours is more scathing than mine, Scorched Earth TradAng! I think we should anoint the good Archbishop with every variety of firey rhetoric.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

Ani:

I think my spiritual gifts are those of intercession and correction. I know they both have to be done in love, but they also have to be done in truth.

Most people need just a gentle nudge, but I believe that’s already been tried several times with Archbishop Gervais, so that only left the altermatives of either talking to him as I did or pleading with Pope Benedict XVI for his removal.
Ani Ibi:

OK. Thank you. I will look at them. As for your letter: ooowah! You don’t pull any punches, do you? And rightly so. The consequences of Archbishop Gervais’s decision are grave and extreme. I have been thinking of asking Pope Benedict to remove him and replace him with Bishop Henry.

Although I pulled no punches, I hope that nothing wasn’t said that couldn’t be legitimately to have been said either out of concern for his soul or those of the sheep entrusted to his care. I have been to hell, and I don’t want anyone else making the trip who doesn’t have to or who hasn’t decided to.

Ani, first the Good Archbishop has to FIND St. Mary of the Angels Parish. I know that he wion’t find it in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, but that won’t stop him from making me Persona non Grata in his Archdiocese, esp. when he finds out that I was instrumental in getting one recalcitrant Parish in Northern California (which has MULTIPLE COMPLAINTS on one Traditionalists’ website) to fix SEVERAL Liturgical Abuses in its Sunday Masses.
Ani Ibi:

Ha-ha! Looks like its barbecue season this summer for the good Archbishop.

But, except for the rise in his “tempor-ature”, I’m afraid he’ll have to keep his Barbecue on hold.

Scathing, yes, but not one bit not based on Catholic Doctrine or on what a Bishop is supposed to do or concern for the souls of those entrusted to his care.

I am, however, having problems doing the same with Cardinal Mahony. There is not only the problem of what he did wiht our friends from Catholic Crusade and how he COWTOWED to the PRO-ABORTION Politician. There’s also the fact the he’s so insulated himself from the faithful that they must contact him through the PRESS OFFICE - That’s inexcusable! There’s also the absolutely abominable way he treated St. Mary’s when they tried to join the Catholic Church as a Parish, even after Pope John Paul II ordered him to allow the Parish in as an anglican Use parish. Then there’s the fact that the one ORTHODOX Parish that I know of has begged for their information to be kept private for fear of reprisal from him or his office (in the form of a punative transfer of their priest and his replacement by one who was HETERODOX).
Ani Ibi:

Yours is more scathing than mine, Scorched Earth TradAng! I think we should anoint the good Archbishop with every variety of firey rhetoric.

You see, I could go on and on, and because I can, it’s almost impossible to “speak the Truth in Love” to the man.

So I’m probably going to need some help, or at least some prayers, about the letter to Cardinal Mahony. I do not want to sound like a shrill madman who is angry at him for his very existence, and, yet, I want to let him know that forcing the faithful to go through the PRESS OFFICE to contact him is the action of a HIRELING and not that of a SHEPHERD and that it’s unacceptable for a Servant of the Servants of God to do that.

At the same time, I want to remind him that the whole world knows what his Cathedral security did to the young Catholic college students who were trying to do what he has refused to do, which was stand up for the faith in the face of Pro-Abortion politicians and clerics. I want to remind him that, even Bishops who have poor records in standing up for the faith on the issue of Abortion Blessed these dedicated and zealous Catholics, and that his curt refusal to do so was noted by the Church’s enemies and the enemies of human life who now believe the that church either doesn’t really believe in what she preaches or that, because of the actions of people such as Cardinal Mahony, there is real division in the Church about the Church’s Teaching on Abortion, and maybe a chance the Church will change its opposition to this Slaughter of the Innocents and Crime against Humanity.

If you think that’s there’s a letter there, please let me know.

I think I can say something like that without sounding like some avenging Fury.

I want this to be a work of grace and not of “man’s wrath” which “worketh not the righteousness of God”.

And, Yes, I do care about Cardinal Mahony’s eternal soul and those of the sheep entrusted to his care.

Blessed are they who act to save God’s Little Ones. Michael

 

[Rosalinda]

The London Free Press published the following letter about the actions of Bishop Fabbro.

"Moral low ground by Derek Groves, July 12.

Regarding the article, Bishop punishes same-sex advocate (July 9): So now Bishop Ronald Fabbro is blackmailing Joe Comartin for standing up for human rights by suspending his activities “until (he) has a change of mind.”

How immoral is that ?"

 

[Rosalinda]

London Free Press, July 12, Letter to the Editor

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Moral low ground
Regarding the article, Bishop punishes same-sex advocate (July 9): So now Bishop Ronald Fabbro is blackmailing Joe Comartin for standing up for human rights by suspending his activities “until (he) has a change of mind.”

How immoral is that ?

Derek Groves

 

[Rosalinda]

Here is the email address to send Bishop Fabbro a few encouraging words for taking such a brave stand: bketelaars@rec.london.on.ca

or The Diocese of London, 1070 Waterloo St., London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3Y2.

While I know a couple of parishes in my hometown which is in the London diocese did comply with the bishop’s wishes to instruct the faithful about his decision the largest parish choose to keep total silence last Sunday on this matter.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Supporters of Anti-Family MP Comartin Walk Out Of Church

lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071105.html

Comartin free to leave Church says prominent Canadian journalist and Catholic convert

WINDSOR, ON, July 11, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – According to today’s Windsor Star, at one of this past Sunday’s Masses approximate thirty parishioners and supporters of NDP Windsor-Tecumseh MP Joe Comartin stood up and walked out of Holy Rosary Catholic Church in the London Diocese. Comartin himself was not in attendance at Mass said the report.

The cause of the unusual protest was the recent disciplining of Comartin by diocesan Bishop Fabbro for the Catholic MP’s public support of same-sex marriage in complete defiance of Catholic moral teaching. Last week Bishop Fabbro issued a letter to all the priests in his diocese informing them of his decision to forbid Comartin from acting as a Catholic marriage counselor in his diocese, as well as from acting in any other public Church capacity.

“I have decided that Mr. Comartin is not to give marriage preparation sessions within this diocese, and that he is not to engage in any liturgical ministries, for example, minister of the Eucharist or reader,” read Fabbro’s letter.

The bishop also instructed his priests to make public the contents of his letter to their parishioners at Sunday Masses. The protestors walked out during a public reading of that letter.

Since being informed of Fabbro’s decision Comartin has expressed disappointment saying that “the actions of Bishop Fabbro have deeply hurt and saddened myself and my family.” He has not expressed any intention of honoring Catholic teaching by withdrawing his support for same-sex marriage in response to his bishop’s action.

“I hope Bishop Fabbro will reconsider his actions,” said Comartin.

However, David Warren, a prominent Canadian journalist and columnist, who recently became Roman Catholic, corresponded with LifeSiteNews.com, explaining the Church’s teaching on the matter, and pointing out that Comartin’s hope that Fabbro will “reconsider” is ill-informed.

“This is really simple stuff,” Warren explained. “[Comartin] was in open defiance of Church teaching, and he refused to be corrected, which left Bishop Fabbro with one, and only one choice, for what to do. Sack him as a Catholic Counsellor…The one thing [Comartin] can’t do is pretend to be speaking for the Catholic Church.”

The Catholic Catechism, which is the authoritative compilation of all of the fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church, states that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law…Under no circumstances can they be approved.” (CCC. 2357)

“That he wants it both ways does not surprise me,” continued Warren. “That he can’t have it both ways, is something he just had to be taught. If he gets all upset, and threatens to leave the Church entirely, he’s free to go. Should he later grow up, he’ll be welcomed back. This is all up to him, not up to Bishop Fabbro.”

JJ

 

[Rosalinda]

At least one brave priest who obediently read the bishop’s letter was accosted after the Sunday liturgy by an irate parishionner who felt the bishop had been judgemental. She described herself as shocked, disoriented and alienated. The priest defended the bishop as best he could and considering the hailstorm of emotion this woman was expressing he comported himself with dignity and restraint. Despite all her dire warnings to his credit he had the letter read during the following Mass too.

The bishop will surely receive a lot of negative response and we would do well to give support to any bishop who dares to draw a line in the sand during these difficult times. With so many ‘winds of change’ that line is constantly being obscured. With some praise and moral support from the faithful more bishops may decide to take public action against dissident Catholics who defy church teaching and authority in public.

 

[Rosalinda]

Supporters of Anti-Family MP Comartin Walk Out Of Church
Comartin free to leave Church says prominent Canadian journalist and Catholic convert

WINDSOR, ON, July 11, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – According to today’s Windsor Star, at one of this past Sunday’s Masses approximate thirty parishioners and supporters of NDP Windsor-Tecumseh MP Joe Comartin stood up and walked out of Holy Rosary Catholic Church in the London Diocese. Comartin himself was not in attendance at Mass said the report.

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/images/2005/Fabbro.jpgThe cause of the unusual protest was the recent disciplining of Comartin by diocesan Bishop Fabbro for the Catholic MP’s public support of same-sex marriage in complete defiance of Catholic moral teaching. Last week Bishop Fabbro issued a letter to all the priests in his diocese informing them of his decision to forbid Comartin from acting as a Catholic marriage counselor in his diocese, as well as from acting in any other public Church capacity.

“I have decided that Mr. Comartin is not to give marriage preparation sessions within this diocese, and that he is not to engage in any liturgical ministries, for example, minister of the Eucharist or reader,” read Fabbro’s letter.

The bishop also instructed his priests to make public the contents of his letter to their parishioners at Sunday Masses. The protestors walked out during a public reading of that letter.

Since being informed of Fabbro’s decision Comartin has expressed disappointment saying that “the actions of Bishop Fabbro have deeply hurt and saddened myself and my family.” He has not expressed any intention of honoring Catholic teaching by withdrawing his support for same-sex marriage in response to his bishop’s action.

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/images/2005/Comartin.jpg “I hope Bishop Fabbro will reconsider his actions,” said Comartin.

However, David Warren, a prominent Canadian journalist and columnist, who recently became Roman Catholic, corresponded with LifeSiteNews.com, explaining the Church’s teaching on the matter, and pointing out that Comartin’s hope that Fabbro will “reconsider” is ill-informed.

“This is really simple stuff,” Warren explained. “[Comartin] was in open defiance of Church teaching, and he refused to be corrected, which left Bishop Fabbro with one, and only one choice, for what to do. Sack him as a Catholic Counsellor…The one thing [Comartin] can’t do is pretend to be speaking for the Catholic Church.”

The Catholic Catechism, which is the authoritative compilation of all of the fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church, states that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law…Under no circumstances can they be approved.” (CCC. 2357)

“That he wants it both ways does not surprise me,” continued Warren. “That he can’t have it both ways, is something he just had to be taught. If he gets all upset, and threatens to leave the Church entirely, he’s free to go. Should he later grow up, he’ll be welcomed back. This is all up to him, not up to Bishop Fabbro.”

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Uh-oh! Duplicate post. Anyway, maybe an open letter to Comartin et al that walking out of church was the reasonable thing to do, although it could have been done with more charity. Staying out of church is also the reasonable thing to do, given that defending heresy is not Catholic. Let them find another church. Let our Church get smaller. I also think that Archbishop Gervais should be removed from the Ottawa archdiocese. Bishop Henry should replace him.