From Fr. Albert Lalonde, O.M.I. re "sickness unto death: dissent on Vatican document in Canada".

(C.I. May 2006, Editorial) I am an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, a member of the Lacombe province which covers all of Western Canada. I have read the Canadian Religious Conference's document To our Brother Bishops, and have some serious questions about it.

Whom does this document represent?

I. The CRC's home page on their web site states: "There are more than 22,000 religious in Canada belonging to 213 member congregations." In the section A glance at our Church, the document claims: "Between April and June 2005, the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) distributed a comprehensive survey to 230 religious congregations throughout the country." Can someone, please, explain the anomaly between 213 "member congregations" of the CRC and the "230 religious congregations throughout the country" surveyed by the CRC?

II. In his January 10, 2006 letter to all member of the CRC, President Alain Ambeault, C.S.V., states that the response received by the survey upon which this document is based gives the authors "the firm conviction that this message reflects the thinking of the leadership of religious communities in Canada as well as the majority of the men and women religious throughout the country." The document states: "More than 60% of congregations responded to the survey" (page 3). There was no numerical presentation of the survey results. Consequently, It is impossible to judge how many said what. In addition to that, the "CRC selected the perceptions that were mentioned with the most frequency or insistence or that reflected deep convictions ..." (page 3). This kind of editing on their part has made it even more difficult to know who said what and to evaluate the content. A case in point is the emphasis on the participation of women in pastoral ministry and decisionmaking roles in Church. Since there was no breakdown of the results as to how many women responded and how many men responded, a critical component in judging this input is missing.

III. My superiors informed me that the Lacombe province of Mary Immaculate was not consulted for this survey. I am told that the Ukrainian Rite Redemptorists of Canada were not consulted. The Basilian Fathers were not consulted. The Jesuit province in the Maritimes was not consulted. So who was consulted? Whom does this survey represent?

Bishops

In the view of the authors of this document, the Canadian bishops are not standing up to the Holy See when it comes to representing Canadian interests. When it comes to doctrine, the norm is: "What is the teaching held in the universal Church;" it is not: "What is currently being taught in Canada?" Personally, if I were one of the Canadian bishops, I would not take kindly to being lectured in this way. Another important point is: did the participants in this survey give their permission to have their input used to lobby the Canadian bishops? If they did not explicitly give this permission, then the authors of the document abused their position to use the input in a manner the participants never intended.

Women

The document specifically urges re-opening the discussion on the ordination of women. This constitutes a call to the Canadian Church to publicly dissent against a solemn teaching from the Holy Father himself. We, as religious, have pastoral responsibilities. But we, too, are pastored by our bishops, just as the Holy Father is pastor of the bishops. If we, who have pastoral responsibilities, refuse to take pastoral direction from our pastors, how can we give pastoral direction to those in our care and expect them to accept our leadership?

I do not question the sincerity of those who wrote this document. The questions they raise are of genuine pastoral concern. I do question the document's inference that a change in doctrine on the part of the Holy See is the solution.

This document is flawed on many levels. For the executive of the CRC to claim to represent the majority of the religious in Canada and, in consequence, to lecture the Canadian bishops in not an exercise in humility; it smacks of arrogance. Since the results of the survey are presented in such a way that it makes it impossible to judge and assess their value, it raises the question of whether this is straightforward information-sharing or a biased manoeuver on the part of the authors.

The claim of being prophetic rings especially hollow. Being prophetic means to speak for God. For many reasons too long to list I do not consider this document to be the voice of God. This document is so flawed the only sound course of action is to withdraw it. If the present leadership in the CRC refuses to do this, they should be called upon to resign. If they refuse to do anything, the member religious should cancel their membership.

I am confident the CRC executive will not find my comments unwelcome. They wanted to stimulate discussion and I have done my best to oblige.

Winnipeg, MB

Editor: We sent a copy of our May editorial to all English-speaking bishops in Canada, with a French translation for the bishops in Quebec. With the exception of Archbishop Andre Gaumond, President of the CCCB, we have received no acknowledgement of receiving same and no comments.

We did the same for the dozen or so executive members of the CRC, with a similar lack of results except for one letter from a Superior-General in Western Canada who vigorously defended the original CRC letter. We thank her for her reply.