Tuesday October 10, 2000
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Archbishop Exner Releases Funds For Development And Peace
Was Erroneously Assured that Objectionable Demands were Removed
VANCOUVER, Oct 10 (LSN.ca) – Vancouver’s Archbishop Adam Exner announced last week that the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace Share Lent collection, which was withheld last June pending a review of CCODP’s support of the World March of Women 2000, has been released to the organization’s national office. The archdiocesan newspaper, the BC Catholic, reports this week that the decision was first revealed in a meeting the archbishop had with CCODP on Sept 30.
In a statement, the archbishop said his decision last June to delay transfer of the funds “has had some good effects and accomplished much of what we set out to do. I understand that two of the objectionable demands of the march have been removed.” (https://www.rcav.bc.ca/bcc/00-10-09/fp.htm) Unfortunately the archbishop has received false information. The pro-abortion and pro-homosexual lobbying demands of both the International and Canadian contingent of the march remain firmly in place, as do the demands for unquestioning support for controversial UN documents, and funding of radical feminist groups and goals.
LifeSite interviewed Mary Corkery, spokesperson for CCODP, who helped draft a letter to archbishop Exner assuring him that CCODP would not be giving further monies to the march. Corkery told LifeSite there was “no change to the demands as a result of Archbishop Exner.” She said he might think he is “powerful enough to have made people sit down and change the demands” by his actions. However, she noted that the International demands have not changed, and it was the International contingent of the march that CCODP funded. She noted the confusion may have resulted from the Canadian demand list and its new list of “13 immediate demands for change.”
A press release issued today by the Canadian March Committee indicates that the list of 13 demands will be presented at Parliament Hill on October 15 but that participants in the March will “strategize about lobbying and implementation of the proposals contained in the CWMC demands document, ‘It’s Time For Change.’ This backbone of their aggressive lobbying strategy is comprised of 68 proposals for legislative and policy reform.” (https://www.canada.marchofwomen.org/en/media_oct10.html)
The 68 demands, which are thus confirmed as still firmly in place include: #68 – “Develop and enforce national standards related to the provision of quality, publicly funded abortion services in all regions and communities across Canada.”
#38 – “Ensure the amendment of all federal statutes and policies that continue to discriminate against lesbians, and bring lesbians into full legal and substantive equality.”
(https://www.canada.marchofwomen.org/en/demands/demands_eng.ht…)
The list of 13 demands (a “feminist dozen”) first presented itself last summer when Catholic Women’s League President Sheilah Pellerin rejoiced over the new demands. The 13, while not including a demand for abortion, do however include the demand for “funding a national meeting of lesbians to discuss and prioritize areas for legislative and public policy reform” And the demand for implementation of “immigration reform to include persecution on the basis of gender and sexual orientation as groups for claiming refugee status.” Corkery told LifeSite that CCODP “did not object to these demands” since Catholics are in support of basic human rights and would not exclude such rights on the basis of sexual orientation. While her argument is true, supporting such efforts is more than a little naïve given the fact that the March organizers spell out that their agenda for the lesbian rights as follows:
“Despite recent victories recognizing same-sex couples, lesbians have not yet achieved legal equality. Because of hatred and prejudice, lesbian mothers can still lose custody of our children, despite overwhelming proof that children in lesbian homes grow up healthy. Lesbians still do not have the right to bring partners to Canada under the Immigration Act. Lesbians of colour face a toxic mix of racial and homophobic prejudice. . . Women’s right to sexual autonomy must be respected as well as our freedom to choose and celebrate our sexuality.”
It is suspected that Archbishop Exner has been under great pressure to depart from his strong stand against the feminist march. Included in his statement on the release of funds, the archbishop wrote that there should be no “question about our firm support for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, which remains the best Canadian Catholic organization we have to promote development throughout the world.”
For the most complete coverage of the March of Women see:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/clc/womens_march/
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