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BISHOP EXPLAINS LIMITS OF CCCB ENDORSEMENT OF MARCH OF WOMEN

Ontario CWL spiritual director critical of march and asks that will of grassroots be heeded.

TORONTO, June 28 (LSN.ca) - Bishop Nicola De Angelis, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Toronto and Spiritual Advisor for the Catholic Women's League (CWL) of Ontario, has issued a letter on the March of Women. It clarifies the endorsement of the March by the executive of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) pointing out that "the CCCB Executive and the Conferences of Bishops, as stated in Canon Law, are purely administrative bodies. They have no canonical power to issue decrees on any matters related to faith and morals. Indeed theirs was a personal statement which was not meant to, and could not speak on behalf of all the Bishops of Canada."

The bishop's letter comes in response to a CWL package containing the agenda and background information on the upcoming Provincial CWL Convention in Waterloo. The package, sent out by the CWL Ontario executive includes the letters of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and individual bishops supporting the March, but excludes those of bishops who oppose it. The Ontario CWL Spiritual Advisor says in his letter to CWL Ontario President Betty Anne Brown, "in all fairness, I would suggest that you circulate as well the official statements of other Bishops" opposed to the March.

In his official capacity as its Spiritual Advisor the bishop "invit(ed) the CWL of Ontario to disassociate itself from the March of Women 2000." Explaining his objection to the March he notes that "it is my firm conviction that we cannot mix good and bad objectives in the hope that good results might be achieved." The Bishop also notes that such is the "firm conviction of the Church as expressed in this classic principle of Catholic moral theology: 'Bonum ex integra causa, malum ex quocumque difectu' (Good comes out of the whole of the cause, evil comes out of any defect within it)."

The bishop's letter notes that a sizeable majority of grassroots CWL members has rejected participation in the March but says that "their ability to express their disagreement with the March has been suppressed and that they are intimidated." He suggests there are other more edifying ways to help women in need.

The letter points out that the March was initiated in 1995 under the name Bread and Roses March by a federally funded lobby group called the National Action Committee for the Status of Women (NAC) - a group which "is officially on record for promoting abortion on demand and homosexual rights" The letter notes that "too often secular organizations such as NAC offer 'bread and roses' to desperate women on condition that they support their agenda i.e. contraception, sterilization, abortion and homosexual rights. This is nothing short of raw
exploitation of the poorest of the poor." Through this, he says, "we promote the harm of women through cooperation with intrinsic evil."

For the entire letter see:
http://lifesite.net/clc/womens_march/deangelisstatement.html

For all the LifeSite coverage on the March see:
http://lifesite.net/clc/womens_march/

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