Politics
Friday January 14, 2005
Catholic Sault Ste Marie MP Announces Support for Same Sex Marriage
Met With Controversial Priest Before Making Announcment
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SAULT STE. MARIE, ON, January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Tony Martin: he is a Member of Parliament, a Catholic who attends Mass weekly, a member of the Knights of Columbus, and a lector at his parish. In a press release Tuesday, Martin announced he will support the same-sex ‘marriage’ legislation which is set to come before Parliament this February.
In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com Martin said, “It took me a while to work through this very important public business and I certainly considered very seriously and at some length my own personal faith journey and my being a member of the Roman Catholic Church and certainly all of the signposts and touchstones that I was able to reach and get direction from indicated that this was the decision that was most in keeping with that."
One of those signposts Martin got direction from was his pastor, Fr. George LaPierre of St. Gerard Majella church in Sault Ste. Marie. Martin revealed to LifeSiteNews.com, “I did have a confidential conversation with my pastor before I made any announcement.” However, Martin would not divulge the content of the conversation noting it was a “very confidential thing I won’t comment on.”
Numerous calls to Fr. LaPierre were not returned.
Long-time LifeSiteNews.com readers may be familiar with Fr. LaPierre. Prior to his assignment to St. Gerard’s he was the pastor of St. Basil’s Church in Toronto. In November 2000 LifeSiteNews.com notified Fr. LaPierre that Canada's leading advocate of pedophilia was to be part of a Christmas concert at the church. The priest responded in a hostile manner indicating that the LifeSiteNews.com reporter was "the only person who's complained about it" and that he had "no intention of being swayed by one complaint." (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/nov/001102a.html )
In his release, Martin said, "I respect the strong views on both sides but I have yet to hear a convincing, compelling argument to have me vote against this."
LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Sault St. Marie Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe about Martin’s situation. Bishop Plouffe said Martin is a practicing Catholic who attends Mass regularly. The Bishop admitted, “I have work to do to try to put across my position in this diocese, particularly with MPs.” He also said he planned to write to Martin and several other Catholic politicians in his diocese who support same-sex ‘marriage’.
Asked if he would be warning such politicians not to present themselves for communion, Bishop Plouffe told LifeSiteNews.com, “I personally think we ought to be very sensitive, I don’t like to ostracize or excommunicate people in public. I don’t think its up to me to ban people from communion, I think my job is to try to convince them that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman.”
Martin called his decision a “huge” one. Asked if he was concerned about loss of relationship with the Catholic community he said, “It’s a concern. I don’t know how that will play out. I get a lot out of my weekly participation at Mass on Sunday morning with my family.”
Asked if he were told he could no longer receive communion if it would change his decision, Martin responded, reflecting the flawed theology of the Canadian bishops’ 1968 Winnipeg Statement, “No, it wouldn’t. I’ve taken this position after careful thought and consideration and I wanted to live with and work through whatever consequences come.”
Bishop Plouffe stressed, “I hope I would not be interpreted as being against homosexuals. I feel that if the homosexual community feels, that they are being deprived unjustly in the present system, or reality that we live now, I think the government could make an effort to address this without changing the definition of marriage.”
Canada already has one of the world’s most aggressive pro-gay ‘rights’ legal environments. In addition to receiving most of the benefits of married couples, homosexual couples also have adoption rights and lesbians the right to have children through artificial procreation. Anti-discrimination laws have barred ads in newspapers citing bible versus against homosexuality, and have resulted in Christian mayors being fined thousands of dollars for refusing to proclaim Gay Pride days.
See related article
Bishops' infamous 1968 Winnipeg Statement seen by many as main source of problem
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/apr/04042705.html
jhw
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