Vote Life, Canada! requests emergency session of Canadian bishops

Quebec City, Canada, Oct 9, 2007 / 08:17 am

As the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) prepares to convene next week for its annual Plenary Assembly, the organization, Vote Life, Canada!, is calling for an emergency session to investigate how priestly actions contrary to the Church, have impacted the Canadian people.

On one particular occasion, Father Raymond Gravel, a Catholic priest and politician, publicly showed his support for issues that are strictly opposed to the Church’s teachings.

According to Eric Alcock, the President of Vote Life, Canada!, “Just last week, Catholics in Canada were scandalized by the television appearance of Father Raymond Gravel, Catholic priest/politician, who once again unabashedly expressed his support for both homosexuality and abortion."

In this incident, reported by LifeSiteNews.com, after defending active homosexuality, Fr. Gravel stated, "I also support abortion although I have never had one!"

Priests are prohibited from entering into political office by the Vatican.  However, Gravel was given permission to run for and accept his federal position by Bishop Lussier, the Bishop of Joliette, Québec.

Alcock expressed his concerns with the priest’s views, "If so called Catholic priests may publicly flout the weightiest Church teachings with impunity what hope is there, that pro-abortion politicians will take seriously the directives of their Catholic faith to uphold the common good of society?”

He requested that the bishops re-evaluate how they are leading their flock because he believes that a change of direction is necessary for Canadians to “be ready to re-institute legal protections for the Unborn.”