Letter from Doug McManaman to Msgr Schonenbach.

I am writing to express my profound dissappointment at your lack of support for Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary.

I was delighted that a bishop of this country would finally speak out boldly and courageously and remind our anti-life Prime Minister-who has no understanding of the fundamentals of ethics--of his public duty to the common good and highlight the connection of that duty to his own personal salvation.

It seems to me that Canadians, on a personal level at least, have for a long time gone largely unchallenged by the Canadian Catholic hierarchy. We have had to sit through about thirty years of relatively indeterminate preaching in this country, preaching that would avoid anything remotely controversial or substantial. Consequently, many of our Catholic politicians as well as many of our Catholic elementarly teachers are, for the the most part, theologically illiterate....

It seems to me that the last thing we need at this point is to have a bold and courageous bishop publicly undermined by someone who should be completely on his side.

Bishop Henry's courage has been to me and to some of my colleagues in the Catholic school system a source of strength and support as we prepare to explain and defend the Church's teaching on this issue. This includes highlighting the grave duty that Catholic politicians, teachers, and administrators in particular have to think, act, and speak on this issue in accordance with the truth, which was clearly spelled out in the Vatican's latest document....

Toronto, ON

Editor: See also our ctiticism under Note, News in Brief, C.I., September 2003, pp. 29-30.