Cardinal (Jean-Claude) Turcotte on Quebec independence.Montreal - Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte, 61, is the other active cardinal in Canada. (There are also three retired ones, Louis-Albert Vachon, 86, in Quebec; Eduoard Gagnon, 80, in Rome; and Gerald Emmett Carter Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter, CC (March 1, 1912 - April 6, 2003) was the Archbishop of Toronto. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he was ordained as a priest in Montreal in 1937. He was Bishop of London, Ontario from 1964 to 1978, when he was appointed Archbishop of Toronto. , 86, in Toronto). On December 29, 1997, Cardinal Turcotte, interviewed by the Montreal daily Le Devoir Le Devoir is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and the rest of Canada. It was founded by journalist, politician and nationalist Henri Bourassa in 1910. It is a respected, intellectual, newspaper of record of sorts in Quebec. , affirmed af·firm v. af·firmed, af·firm·ing, af·firms v.tr. 1. To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true. 2. To support or uphold the validity of; confirm. v.intr. the Quebec bishops' view that Quebeckers are a sovereign people Sovereign People (Pueblo Soberano) is a political party in Curaçao, the Netherlands Antilles. Pueblo Soberano has a progressive and anti-establishment slant and is headed by controversial leader Helmin Wiels. . With reference to the Supreme Court's examination of whether Quebec can separate on its own, the Cardinal said: "The Supreme Court can say what it wants. Even if it says that (Quebeckers) don't have the right to do it, if the people decide to do it, it's the people who are sovereign. I am a democrat." The Cardinal received hundreds of phone calls and letters. Some people objected to clergymen uttering political opinions. This the Cardinal rejected in a January 7 news conference on the grounds that bishops, too, should facilitate the "climate of exchange." He did apologize a·pol·o·gize intr.v. a·pol·o·gized, a·pol·o·giz·ing, a·pol·o·giz·es 1. To make excuse for or regretful acknowledgment of a fault or offense. 2. To make a formal defense or justification in speech or writing. , however, for leaving the impression that he was taking sides. This is not so, he said. Much more importantly, as pointed out on January 9 by William Johnson William Johnson may be:
Despite the apologies, in his January 7 televised press conference Cardinal Turcotte reiterated his stance that Quebeckers alone (now only 23% of the Canadian people) have the right to decide what their constitutional future will be. The idea that Quebeckers are "a distinct people" has been accepted by Quebec bishops for over 30 years. On two occasions, in 1967 and in 1995, the French-speaking bishops also succeeded in getting the national bishops' conference (CCCB CCCB Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops CCCB Central Christian College of the Bible (Missouri) CCCB Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain) CCCB Child Care Choices of Boston ), consisting of all the Canadian bishops both French and English, to accept a statement affirming Quebec to be a people with the right of self-determination. But in neither case did English-Canadian Catholics pay much attention. The bishops, too, never looked closely at what is meant by "people," nor at the "how" of self-determination. |
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