Bishops and Western Report.

The July 7 cover of Western Report (W.R.), the weekly news magazine out of Edmonton, portrayed a snoozing bishop with the words: "See no evil: Canada's somnolent Catholic bishops capitulate on gay rights to cover up a same-sex spousal benefits deal with the victims of their homosexual priests." The four-page feature story was headed: "The treason of the clerics. Gay apostasy subverts and paralyzes the Canadian Catholic Church."

The deal in question was a 1992 agreement between, on the one side, the Archbishops of Ottawa and Toronto, the Brothers of the St. Joseph's Training School in Alfred, ON, and the Ontario government; and, on the other, the victims of abuse in two training schools for delinquents united under the title Helpline.

Its key paragraph provides benefits to victims, their family members, and those "in a close personal relationship that others recognize is of primary importance in both persons' lives."

Journalist Michael Harris, author of Unholy Orders, an account of the Mount Cashel Orphanage scandal, told W.R. this constitutes the Canadian Catholic Church's recognition of gay spousal benefits. He is quoted as saying: "If you want to know why the bishops didn't fight Bill C-33 and argue the case against gay marriages, check out the reform school agreement."

Main accusation inaccurate

Several facts demonstrate that the feature story is incorrect in its major point, namely, that Canada's bishops have capitulated on battling same-sex spouses and same-sex benefits.

1. The 1992 agreement is not by the Conference of Bishops but by a private group in Ontario in which the Archbishops of Ottawa and Toronto were represented. Neither Archbishop may have been personally aware of the clause.

2. The Ontario Bishops put up a strong (and successful) fight against the same-sex legislation of the Ontario NDP government in 1994. Earlier, in 1986, the Ontario bishops also opposed adding sexual orientation to the Ontario Human Rights Act.

3. At least eight bishops throughout English-speaking Canada so strongly objected to Bill C-33 that they issued pastoral letters of their own at the time of the vote while two others, Ottawa and Toronto, used the CCCB Brief in their letters.

4. There is no proof that even one Canadian bishop approves of same-sex spousal benefits, the 1992 agreement notwithstanding.

5. The April 16, 1996, brief of CCCB president Archbishop Francis Spence to the Prime Minister leaves no doubt that the bishops uphold the traditional teaching (marriage and family are of primary importance, homosexual acts are unnatural and immoral, while human rights must be protected). Therefore, they opposed adding sexual orientation to the Human Rights Bill.

Still one must acknowledge that all is not well and this for two reasons: false teaching and political ineptness.

False teaching

Resistance to sodomy has been undermined first by the propaganda mills of the activist homosexual community itself, including dropping the word sodomy. Some Catholics now believe that homosexual activity is simply platonic love between two men holding hands on a park bench (for the reality, see the article on AIDS in this issue).

Resistance has also been weakend by Catholics. Among them are former priest-theologian Gregory Baum in Toronto and the late Oblate theologian from Ottawa, Fr. Andre Guindon. W.R. mentions Baum and Guindon but not that Baum's views were publicly denounced at the time (1974) by his superior, Archbishop Philip Pocock of Toronto. Fr. Guindon's publications praising homosexuality were challenged and found in error by the Vatican, but, alas, without help from Canada and that only after 15 years of teaching (for Baum, see also News in Brief; for Guindon, see C.I., August 1993, pp. 9-11). This has had its effect inside and outside of seminaries. Even the CCCB's current Internet entry on homosexuality is inadequate.

Political accomodation

False compassion and erroneous teaching influence political behaviour. W.R. mentions both Fr. Doug Crosby's background of supporting Dignity members (who reject Catholic teaching), and his performance at the Bill C-33 hearings. One can only agree that his performance was pathetic (it's all on tape). Later on, in a letter to the Ottawa Citizen, fellow CCCB staffer Bede Hubbard downgraded the Vatican's 1992 statement on the legitimacy of discrimination under certain circumstances, as if it were not really important. Even the April 16, 1996, letter, after a strong beginning, tapers off to a weak ending, seeking to accommodate a proposal for allowing spousal benefits outside of marriage.

In the last few years there has been annoying compliance with the drive for "gay equality" in Saskatchewan (bishops backing the Human Rights amendment in 1993); in Montreal (the HLI incident in April 1994); CCCB silence on the Hate Crimes Bill in January 1995 and on Senator Kinsella's bill in February 1996.

Neverthless, however much we may regret the CCCB's political naivete or its not so naive plea bargaining, this does not add up to "treason" or a secret "cover-up." W.R. carries its criticism too far.