Making international news from Canada today is a letter signed by nineteen priests in Quebec denouncing the Catholic Church teaching on homosexuality. The nearly 1000 word missive rejects the recent submission by the Canadian Conference of Catholic bishops to Parliament on same sex marriage, and also the recent Vatican documents barring persons with deep seated homosexual tendencies from the priesthood.
Published in La Presse yesterday, under the headline “Enough is enough”, the letter takes issue with the Church’s official teaching that the homosexual tendency is disordered, suggesting that the teaching contributes to “homophobia”, and is grossly outdated… [In 2004] Fr. Gravel appeared on radio saying, “I am pro-choice and there is not a bishop on earth that will prevent me from receiving Communion, not even the Pope.”
After the incident a pro-life leader in the province publicly called on Bishop Lussier to intervene. Campagne Québec-Vie president Luc Gagnon asked the bishop to suspend the priest or “at the very least to publicly admonish him.” Gagnon told
LifeSiteNews.com, “By its silence in the face of such a scandal, the Catholic hierarchy gives the impression that it approves of the serious doctrinal errors of Father Gravel who continues obstinately to speak to the Quebec media”…
Canon Lawyer Peter Vere told
LifeSiteNews.com that the situation is now beyond local bishops and that the faithful should contact the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to express their concerns. Noting that the story on the dissent has made international news, Vere said, “It’s no longer just a scandal for a particular diocese. It is a scandal for lay people who are legitimately confused by the antics of these priests, who will likely mistake silence (on the part of the bishops) for consent.”
