UPDATE: In response to this threat, John Pacheco has founded the Canadian Catholic Action League
I don't yet know if they will publish it or not, since I just finished it, but here's a sneak peak of the latest piece I just submitted to the Wanderer:
O Canada!
Our Homosexualist Land?
Pete Vere, JCL
As a Canadian living in the United States, a number of things make me homesick for the Great White North. Off the top of my head, I can think of St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, French-Canadian culture in Quebec and moose-meat in Northern Ontario. There are also my buddies among the Catholic apologetics scene in Ottawa, where I first cut my teeth as a Catholic writer while studying canon law.
So while surfing the internet the other day, I dropped by Catholic-Legate.com to check in on the gang back home. Rather than make me feel homesick, however, what I read at the website simply made me feel sick. I now live in America and the majority of The Wanderer’s readership is American. Under the present circumstances, this is a good thing since it affords me the protection of the First Amendment. Yet as one of Canada’s most popular websites of Catholic apologetics, Catholic-Legate enjoys no such protection. For if Canada’s political institutions get their way, Catholic-Legate could soon become one of many religious websites targeted under new hate crime legislation being railroaded through the Canadian legislature. How I long for the religious sensibility and moral self-restraint of the Clinton administration in comparison to those who have hijacked the Canadian political system!
Let me explain a little. This is the same political regime that recently ordered the Saskatoon StarPhoenix newspaper and Hugh Owens of Regina to pay $1,500 to three homosexual activists. Their crime? Publishing an advertisement quoting verses from Holy Scripture. According to LifeSiteNews.com: “The purpose of the ad was to indicate that the Bible says no to homosexual behaviour. The advertisement displayed references to four Bible passages: Romans 1, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 [...]”
Svend Robinson, a member of the Canadian parliament, is now following up on this ruling that criminalizes the Natural Law. He has introduced Bill C-250 before the Canadian legislature, which potentially makes speaking out against “sexual orientation” a hate crime. Mr. Robinson, for our American audience, is Canada’s first openly homosexual member of parliament. Not surprisingly, he also belongs to Canada’s openly socialist party. Even Monica Lewinsky would blush in modest embarrassment with some of Mr. Robinson’s past reported shenanigans.
Perhaps this is why the Canadian federal government will not be appealing a recent judicial decision of Ontario’s highest court – a decision legalizing so-called marriage for homosexual couples. "The existing common law definition of marriage violates the couple's equality rights on the basis of sexual orientation under [the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms]," this ruling stated.
And what about the proposed definition of “sexual orientation”? According to Catholic-Legate, “It was reported that Beth Phinney, Liberal MP for Hamilton Mountain, was in a meeting with a constituent concerning the implications of C-250. Ms. Phinney was asked if the term ‘sexual orientation’ included heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, trisexual, bestiality, pedophilia, incest, polygamy, sadomasochism, etc? The constituent was quite disturbed when this Liberal MP confirmed that ‘all of these sexual behaviours would be included under the category of sexual orientation’.” Within the context of the Natural Law this strikes me more as a practical definition of sexual disorientation.
Fortunately, I now live in America. The First Amendment protects my religious freedom to express my opinion in the media – even from the long wrist of Svend Robinson. North of the boarder, however, my friend Chris Beneteau may not find himself so lucky in the future.
“Whether or not homosexuality is a choice is irrelevant,” Chris writes in one particularly pointed Catholic-Legate commentary. “Homosexuals as well as heterosexuals can both choose to avoid sexual behaviours (such as sodomy) which the weight of scientific evidence suggest are dangerous and potentially fatal. [...] It is one thing for people to do whatever they want behind closed doors, yet it is another thing to force the rest of society to embrace the behaviours. While I agree that the government does not belong in the bedrooms of the nation, I also do not think that they should open the doors and force us to peek in.”
I fear even more for John Pacheco, both the founder of Catholic-Legate and the Godfather to my daughter Angela. “Over the past few years,” John writes, “religious freedom in this country has come under increasing attack by a wicked and perverse judiciary with an anti-life, anti-religious political agenda. All people of Faith need to band together, and fight this menace head on [...] To our Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish counterparts, please help us protect the sanctity of the human family and the dignity of marriage!
“Bill C-250 would add ‘sexual orientation’ to the list of protected classes in the hate propaganda sections of the Criminal Code which could criminalize any criticisms of homosexuality or homosexual activity. This could be used to threaten with prosecution [...] any church that holds homosexual activities to be disordered and immoral; or any citizen who simply philosophically disagrees with the legal, financial or employment ‘rights’ being sought by gay lobbying group (e.g. adoption, spousal benefits, marriage status, etc.). It could lead to parts of the Bible being labeled ‘hate literature’ and references made to them in church statements or homilies as propagating hate.
“As a Roman Catholic Apologist, I consider this legislation to be a direct assault on my freedom of speech and my Constitutional right to practice my religion. The persons who are propagating such insidious legislation are engaging in religious persecution. What is the government going to do? Ban the Bible from the country? How about the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Is the government going to start arresting Catholic priests who cite the Catechism in rejecting the homosexual lifestyle?”
Love the sinner, but hate the sin. As Catholics, Christ calls us to love our homosexual neighbor and seek the salvation of his soul. We accomplish this task in exhorting those affected by this disorder to live chastely within the boundaries of the Natural Law. Unfortunately, this new piece of proposed Canadian legislation fails to take this distinction into account. Which is not surprising when, in the process of accommodating an ivory-basement judiciary that dissents from our traditional Judeo-Christian morality, our Canadian politicians confuse the boundaries between decriminalization, legalization, and the criminalization of the Natural Law.
Just remember to love the sinner Peter...I know what you're saying, but remember to love the sinner. We knew them at Laurentian :-)
LOL! Steve, what are you doing up this late? I couldn't agree with you more, on both counts. It is unfortunate that Svend appears to want to turn this into a "hate crime".
Excellent post, Pete, and a good warning for Americans, too. I will add Canadian Catholics (and all Canadians) to my list of intentions.
Does this mean that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms establishes a right to marry anybody, even of the same sex, but does not protect the right of Catholics to declare their moral teaching in public? It looks like the Charter's priorities aren't quite right.
RC,
You are absolutely right, Catholics in Canada ARE NOT allowed to enfore their moral teachings, even in Catholic schools, where last year a Catholic school was FORCED to allow a young homosexual man bring his "date" to the prom at school. There is something perversely wrong with our Charter's priorities. It seems to me that nothing short of God's direct intervention will turn this tide.
Saint Jospeh, patron of Canada, pray for us.
Peter,
Thank you.
I'm so very disheartened by this matter. I have been depressed for the past few days. Seriously. I have not felt this bad since the flurry of clergy sexual abuse stories hit the press in the first six months of last year. For those who do not know me, I'm a Canadian who lives in Canada and works for a diocese in the U.S.
It appears that in this democratic state the majority of the citizens are opposed to redefining marriage to include people of the same gender. A www.ctv.ca unscientific poll reported that 65+% surveyed wanted the federal government to appeal the Ontario Court of Appeals ruling. And just now, I checked the same website which asked, “Do you think schools should teach books which portray families with same-sex parents?” Again, 65% out of 4000 voters are reporting “No”. Nevertheless, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the decision of judges seem to have gained the upper hand over the voice of the people! How can this be? How was it that in 1999 the House of Commons voted 216-55 (approx. 80% affirmative) to maintain the definition of marriage as being established between one man and one woman? It just doesn’t make any sense? From where is all this lobby and lack of moral resolve coming? There is a huge void in Christian moral leadership in Canadian Christian politicians and judges. They appear scared to make a Christian moral stance on issues. Neuter is better. Neuter gets you re-elected, at least in this life. Gone are most of the "God-fearing" women and men in the House of Commons and our provincial legislatures. And to make matters worse, in conversations that I have had recently with Sunday Catholics on this issue, it is evident that they are not aware of the significance of these recent developments.
Don't wait for the religious leaders to do something. They have been cowed by religious feminists. They want to be liked. They do not want to rock the boat.
It's up to the laypeople. Be a problem! I am an ex-Canadian, but I must admit I don't know the Canadian constitution. However, if it's a child of England and the Magna Charta, Abp. Stephen Langdon put religious freedom in the Magna Charta. The state cannot tell the churches what to do. They can't force the church to pay for abortions in their employee health plans, hire homosexuals or antichristians, and they certainly cannot tell them to shut up. Is there freedom of speech and of association in the Canadian constitution? Then why aren't people standing up and fighting these awful developments? If the Canadian government starts oppressing faithful Christians, Jews, and Muslims, then they can expect their finest citizens to emigrate to where they can worship freely, without fear, holy and righteous in His sight all the days of their lives. (citing the Canticle of Zechariah.)
Does Canada have a legal association to defend the rights of Christians? The USA has the ACLJ and the Thomas More Foundation.
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us.
St. Joan of Arc, lead us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
This is indeed an interesting storie. And it offers some deeper look of what could happen to other country Germany as well.
But to answer Steven: I don't think that the political agenda of the Homo Lobby Groups solves the problems of one homosexual. After lending a helping hand to a friend who thought he was gay and wanted to commit suicide I think I can say that.
The elites of Canada are just a few steps ahead of the elites of the US.
Don't gloat about the First Amendment. It means what our electorally irresponsible and life tenured Supremes say it means.
Note the current battle between Senate and White House about judicial appointments, and the centrality of the fictitious woman's right to kill her unborn children pretty much at will.
The court matters because it weilds truly supreme power in the US. On anything at all. And we all know it.
Pete, have you seen this?
http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/2003/06/18/samesex030618
I think we should be writing Klein and his cabinet letters of support!
Kate
A fellow canuck
Thanks Kate, I agree that Alberta is our best political hope -- Christ always remaining our best hop. Here's another excellent piece: http://www.townhall.com/news/politics/200306/CUL20030613b.shtml#
I'm studying in the U.S. now, and it makes my decision even harder - should I stay in the U.S. rather than live in such a hostile society? or go home and fight for a return to family values? In the meantime I am praying, and taking comfort that my true home is not in this world.
Some years ago, an (American) friend gave me a copy of "Modern Saints: Book Two" by Ann Ball (ironically like myself a Catholic convert). It wasn't until this June that i finally got around to reading to reading it in toto, but when it did, it blew my mind as they say in the States.
I had long thought myself, much like the "great unwashed" of the Catholic laity was incapable generically of sainthood largely by virtue of being "ordinary" people, that striving for sanctity was for priests or religious, but when i discovered that according to Church teaching, all of the faithful are encouraged to strive for it, I began to be very excited.
I made the decision to start saying the Rosary after Saturday morning mass, fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays as Our Lady urged the children at Medjugorge in 1981, and following the suggestion of a confessor have begun to read the Bible (the first time I have done so- so few Catholics do so- despite urgings from at least one Pope- St. Pius X).
The type of saints I most like are the down to earth ones such as Pierre Toussaint, A Haitian freedman who lived and worked in 19th Century New York, Venerable Matt Talbot, a Dublin alcoholic who turned to God, and Eve Lavalliere, a French stage actress who renounced her career to become a Franciscan third order sister, the ones who prove decisively that holiness is not for some rarefied elite living in monasteries or convents, but for all members of the Church, men or women, black or white, clerical or lay.
Stumbled across you postings by accident, trying to find out if Roseanne Skokes the Liberal MP who seems to have started the whole "homosexualist agenda" conspiracy. Have any of you folks actually sat down and talked at length to a homosexual. I think not. For some strange reason I've noticed over the years when I meet some folks who refer to themselves as "Christian" they somehow turn off the ability to ask question, collect all the facts for balanced input and then make a judment. It seems that as soon as something comes up that they either don't know squat about, or haven't even made the effort to educate themselves on, the easy most often heard response is "God will guide me to do the right thing." It's almost like a mantra. Speaking of "Natural law" Check out the discovery channel sometime and educate yourself the facts that we're not the only species to have homosexualilty. For some insight on religion and homosexuality try reading John Boswell's excellent historial look at "Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality" - Gay people in Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era to the fourteenth Century. It was winner of the 1981 American Book Awards for history and at the time it was written John Boswell was an assistant professor of history at Yale University. It's researched extensively with a wealth of footnotes. I'm slowly getting thru it...it's a long indepth read. For the record, John Boswell died of AIDS sometime in the early 1990's. Many of my friends gay and straight can quote biblical scripture because they've actually read the Bible. Here's your chance as good christians to educate yourself with another viewpoint,. I'm not saying you have to agree with it, but at least research it a bit before you. Please don't get me going on the "same-sex marriage" and really don't get me started on hate crimes legislation unless I'm not the only person on this board to have his best friend savagely beaten with a baseball bat or pool cue and have them die in your arms moments later after coming across this gruesome discovery of homophobia.
Your thoughts?