Six Canadian Catholic bishops, and counting, have come out strongly against Justin Trudeau’s dictatorial edict that all Liberal Party MPs must vote in favour of dismembering children in the womb.
The Liberal Party leader who portrays himself publicly as a “practising” and “faithful” Catholic, unveiled a new Liberal Party policy that would ban all future Liberal candidates from being pro-life, or at least force them to vote in favour of abortion should any pro-life bills arise.
This is a significant development given a component in Trudeau’s strategy to become Prime Minister in 2015 involves fooling Catholic voters, including clergy and laity, into believing he is a Catholic in good standing. This could not be farther from the truth. In publicly promoting abortion, Justin Trudeau is directly attacking a core moral teaching of the Catholic Church. Potentially, he may also be leading Catholics into scandal by causing them to believe that they also can support abortion and still consider themselves “Catholics in good standing”.
The first Catholic leader to slam Trudeau’s policy of intolerance was the past President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishop, His Grace, Archbishop Richard Smith of the Diocese of Edmonton on May 8th, the day after Trudeau’s announcement.
“I would speak first of all as a citizen of the country and it angers me,” said Archbishop Richard Smith.
“This is an outrage for a man who hopes to be Prime Minister some day, to stand up on the eve of a day when thousands of people are coming out to speak in favour of the vulnerable, to speak in favour of the protection of life in the womb, to come out and slap them all in the face. I just find that absolutely outrageous.”
Bishop Fred Henry, Diocese of Calgary was the second bishop to repudiate Justin Trudeau’s freedom of conscience destroying policy, referring to him sharply as “Tweedledum-dumb”:
“Now we have a new player, I call “tweedledum-dumb”, our want-a-be Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau with his own brand of bilingualism. He pledges open nomination races and at the same time: “I have made it clear that future candidates need to be completely understanding that they will be expected to vote pro-choice on any bills.”
Apparently, logic isn’t his strong suit.
All of our current political leaders need to study a bit more history, medicine, law and philosophy. Canadians do not possess a constitutional right to abortion.”
The third Catholic prelate to blast Justin Trudeau was Cardinal Thomas Collins in Toronto. On May 14th he wrote an open letter to the Liberal Leader in which he stated:
“Political authority is not limitless: it does not extend to matters of conscience and religious faith. It does not govern all aspects of life. Political leaders in our day should not exclude such people of integrity, no matter how challenging they find their views”.
The Cardinal concluded his letter with a pointed request to Trudeau: “I urge you to reconsider your position”.
On May 16th, Ottawa’s Archbishop published a statement in response to Trudeau’s edict entitled, “Being in Communion with the Catholic Church on Moral Issues”. In a stinging rebuke of Justin Trudeau, the letter states unequivocally, “One may not dissent from these core teachings on life issues and be considered a Catholic in good standing.” Archbishop Prendergast instructed all parish priests in his diocese to make the letter available to parishioners on the upcoming Sunday.
“The position of the Catholic Church in favour of life at all stages is clear and unchanging,” wrote Archbishop Prendergast. “A person who takes a position in contradiction to the teaching of the Catholic Church on the value and dignity of human life from the moment of conception to the moment of a natural death, and persists in this belief, is not in communion with the Church’s values and teaching, which we believe faithfully transmit for today the teachings of Christ.”
Denying holy communion to Justin Trudeau?
The fifth bishop to speak out was Ottawa’s Auxiliary Bishop Christian Riesbeck. He spoke in the strongest terms yet, pointing to the possible enforcement of Canon Law 915 against Justin Trudeau. Canon 915 states that those who are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.” Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus Christ and reserve the sacrament only for Catholics who are in communion with the beliefs of the Church.
“Out of concern for safeguarding the reverence that is due Our Lord in the Eucharist, and to avoid scandal, one could possibly apply this norm even in the case of a pro-abortion Catholic politician who is extremely vocal about his position.”
Trudeau’s bishop while in Ottawa is the Most Rev. Terence Prendergast, who told the Catholic Register he wants to have a meeting with Trudeau to discuss the matter, before any move to enact Canon Law 915: “I don’t think you can make a judgment about someone’s faith position simply by what is said in the public,” he said. “There needs to be a meeting with myself, or with his parish priest, a priest who is in harmony with the Church’s teachings.”
Continuing the stream of Catholic shepperds to rebuke Trudeau, a spokesperson for Quebec Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the province’s highest ranking prelate, told the Journal de Quebec: “it is certain that Cardinal Lacroix agrees with Cardinal Collins and the spirit of his letter.”
Campaign Life Coalition thanks these 6 bishops. We hope to see more Catholic bishops across the country join them in condemning Trudeau’s assault on freedom of conscience & religion, and his championing of injustice against preborn children. If you would like to respectfully encourage the rest of Canada’s Catholic bishops to join in solidarity with their brother bishops, a list with contact information is available here.
Since Cardinal Collins published his open letter to Justin Trudeau, he has received an outpouring of gratitude from inside and outside of the Catholic Church. The archdiocese has been flooded with hundreds of congratulatory phone calls, letters and emails. According to the archdiocesan spokesperson, the Cardinal’s letter received a massive 100,000 views on Facebook. Campaign Life Coalition has always told its supporters to thank their spiritual leaders when they take positive action in defense of life and family.
In that vein, please take a moment to thank these 5 bishops for having shown leadership on this issue:
1. Archbishop Richard Smith, email by form submission, Tel: (780) 469-1010
2. Bishop Fred Henry, email by form submission, Tel: (403) 218-5500
3. Cardinal Thomas Collins, email: [email protected], Tel: (416) 934-0606, ext. 609
4. Archbishop Terence Prendergast, email: [email protected], Tel: 613-738-5025 ext. 238
5. Auxiliary Bishop Christian Riesbeck, email: [email protected], Tel: 613-738-5025 ext. 256
Non-Catholic spiritual leaders join in condemning Trudeau’s assault on liberty
It is not only Catholic bishops who are rebuking Trudeau’s anti-democratic policy. Prominent clergy from other faiths are also speaking out. For example, Rev. Elmer Manzo, Senior Pastor at the Kipling Avenue Baptist Church who leads a predominantly Filipino congregation in Toronto, offered a stinging rebuke of Trudeau Jr.
“His edict will force other Liberals to compromise their beliefs in order to remain in the party. At the same token, if they are elected, they will cease to represent the electorate whose beliefs are in consonance with PRO-LIFE”, explained Rev. Manxzo. “The Party Leader becomes a dictator overruling any opposition that does not comply to his dictum. Let us unite to defeat Justin Trudeau’s agenda”, added the Baptist leader.
In the coming days, we will be updating this article with comments from more non-Catholic and non-Christian religious leaders, as well as more Catholic bishops who come on line.
LifeNews Note: Written by the Campaign Life Coalition
