Dialogue halted.

Hamilton, ON -- Ecumenical dialogue among Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans took a different direction in this southern Ontario cityof 500,000.

On December 7, Bishop Anthony Tonnos of Hamilton sent a letter to Canon George Ferris, the Anglican chairman of LARC (the Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic ecumenical group) saying that the Diocese of Hamilton would not participate in the forthcoming mid-January 2005 common renewal of baptismal vows with the Anglican and Lutheran churches in the area. The December 7, 2004, letter was also distributed to all Catholic parishes.Bishop Tonnos stated the following:

"As you may be aware the Catholic Church has been very involved in the question of same-sex couples. Our church is strongly opposed to the proposed 'marriages' of same-sex people. We have, with other dioceses in Ontario, encouraged our people to petition the government against the proposal and have been pro-active in other ways as well, including before the Supreme Court of Canada. I realize that some Christian churches have different views on this question. Another position was strongly supported at the most recent Anglican Synod of the Diocese of Niagara. This fact received very extensive coverage in the media and is widely known in our Roman Catholic community.

In the light of these two very clearly different ways in which we live out our faith, I did not feel at ease, nor did I believe it was proper to ask the Catholics of our diocese to join in the common renewal of baptismal vows at this time. I wish the position of the Roman Catholic church on marriage to be very clear. I am concerned lest some of our people misinterpret the common renewal of vows as agreement with, or acceptance of another position on marriage, or perhaps a softening of our stated position. This is the background to the choice which I have made."

Bishop Tonnos added that he was grateful for the good work LARC has done and that in making this decision he did not intend to declare the demise of the LARC committee.

The halt in the ecumenical 2005 get-together because of Anglican support for same--sex 'marriage' was noted by the local daily, the Hamilton Spectator ("Same--sex rift divides local churches," Dec. 11, 2004). The paper observed that, in the previous month of November, the local Anglican Synod of 300 clergy and laity had supported same-sex blessings by a 67 percent majority.

Comment

We welcome Bishop Tonnos' stand. proceed with dialogue as if there is not a cloud in the sky--as the bishops in Ottawa did--is dangerous and even dishonest. The main Anglican community has steadily removed itself from unchangeable Christian moral principles towards the acceptance of a flighty political correctness over the last 40 years, following their initial acceptance of contraception in 1930. Bishop Tonnos has drawn a line in the sand beyond which Catholics cannot go. Enough is enough.

While the Holy Father, John Paul II, has recently (Nov. 3, 2004) restated that the Catholic Church's commitment to ecumenism is irrevocable, this does not mean that Catholics should be played for fools. Ecumenism, the Pope stated, is the search for truth. To support sodomatrimony is turning away from the truth.