Radio priest Fr. Walsh rejects Catholic teaching.

Montreal -- Fr. John Walsh, Prime Minister Paul Martin's occasional parish priest at St. Jean de Brebeuf parish in Montreal, is another priest who continues to do his own thing and thereby mock his fellow Catholics. He hosts a weekly radio program on Montreal station CJAD. Speculating over a possible formal denial of Holy Communion to politicians who publicly contradict Church precepts, Fr. Walsh said he disagreed with such a proposal. He added that Mr. Martin, who has both vociferously supported same; sex "marriage" and made it the law in Canada, would always be welcome to receive Communion "no matter what the Vatican says." Mr. Martin supports the spectrum of modern permissive immorality, including abortion.

Fr. Walsh also remarked that the Eucharist "can't be used as a time ... to judge a persons conscience by refusing them Communion ... I think that we must look at the situation and say, Are we respecting a person's conscience?'" (CBC, Oct. 2, 2005).

In June 2004, Pope Benedict XVI, then still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, presented a different view of conscience. He wrote: "Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person's formal co-operation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church's teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist ("Worthiness to receive Holy Communion," C.I., Sept. 2004, p. 23).

Last year, Fr. Walsh told CTV News that Martin is "a tremendous man of faith. He is a spiritual person ... He has a deep sense of who (he) is in relationship to his God" (May 24, 2004). He had also told the Globe and Mail, as recounted in the Hill Times newspaper of March 7, 2005, that the Catholic Church should open its arms to gays and lesbians. "I open my heart and my church to them. We have to find a way so that these people never feel rejected." [All Christians are called to be charitable to homosexuals; however, this does not mean we endorse a sinful lifestyle.]

Needless to say, Fr. Walsh's opinions have made him a darling of the mainstream media. Macleans magazine gave him a full-page interview in its February 14, 2005 edition. There, he said he was having difficulties in coming down on one side of the debate over same-sex "marriage." He coyly suggested that Vatican II "opened us to new meanings of marriage," hinting that he would consider marrying" homosexual partners. He commended Martin for his "integrity" on the same-sex matter.

On other subjects, too, Fr. Walsh has his own views. In a homily given on the 2005 Feast of Mary, the Mother of God, and posted on his church's website, he characterized the Catholic Church's doctrines on the Virgin Mary as "unreasonable."

What puzzles many is why his bishop has not corrected or sanctioned Fr. Walsh. CBC TV quoted Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal as saying, "We do not interfere in parochial matters" (C.I., June 2005, p. 39). LifeSite News reported that, in February 2005, the Montreal diocese would only offer a terse "no comment" regarding Fr. Walsh's statements (Oct. 5, 2005). The bishop for English-speaking Montrealers is Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Mancini, Vicar General (tel. [phone]; fax [phone]); the Director for English pastoral services is Msgr. Sean Harty, CSS (2000 Sherbrooke St., West, Montreal, QC H3H lG4; tel. [phone]; fax [phone]).

It was left to media columnist Michael Coren, of the Toronto Sun, to say what Montreal Church officials would not. "Nobody has to be Catholic, but if they claim to be so, we should expect them to follow Catholic teaching" ("Conscience communion," Oct. 8, 2005). Of Fr. Walsh, Coren said, "There are priests and there are priests ... I would have thought that a person's conscience was precisely relevant to whether they should receive Communion ... The jewels of sexuality, life and papal authority cannot be ignored because of the whim of political fashion or the convenience of the latest government position."