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Priest Columnist to Liberal Cabinet On Gay Marriage - Emulate Example of St Thomas More

OTTAWA, June 23, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Roman Catholic priest has challenged Liberal Cabinet Ministers ordered by Prime Minister Martin to toe the party line on same-sex “marriage” to not yield in the “battle between ambition and principle.”

Rev. Raymond J. de Souza, in a captivating editorial appearing in the National Post today, encouraged lawmakers to follow the example of St Thomas More, whose feast day was celebrated by the Catholic Church Wednesday. De Souza explained that St Sir Thomas More – the 16th century Lord Chancellor of England beheaded for his opposition to King Henry VIII’s illegal divorce from his first wife – is a perfect example of the kind of courage a statesman of today should imitate.

De Souza contrasts the courage of More, who preferred death rather than a compromise of his principles and faith, to a character from Robert Bolt’s adaptation of the St. Thomas More story, A Man for All Seasons. Richard Rich, More’s “one-time friend and protégé” betrays More. “After Rich offers his perjured testimony at the trial, More notices that he is wearing a chain of office, and inquires of Rich what it signifies,” de Souza illustrates. “Informed that Rich is now Attorney General for Wales, More delivers a devastating blow: ‘Richard, the Lord said that it did not profit a man to gain the whole world if he lost his soul. The whole world, Richard ... but for Wales?’”

“For Wales indeed,” de Souza continued. “Imagine what the shocked and saddened Thomas More would have said to, say, Albina Guarnieri. But for Veterans Affairs? Or to John Efford. For Natural Resources? Or to Joe McGuire. For the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency? Or, heaven help us all, to Joe Comuzzi. For the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario?”

“In point of fact, sacrificing an office on principle is about the greatest accomplishment most politicians could ever achieve,” de Souza emphasized, “despite whatever happens to be the pressing business over at the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario.” De Souza adds the names of Tony Valeri, Joe Volpe, and Joe Fontana – other Cabinet Ministers “who have wrestled their conscience to the ground on this one, convincing themselves that staying in Cabinet is the greater good.” He added, “Those in office always convince themselves that whatever good they think they are doing is worth the cost of going along to get along.”

“To be sacked from Cabinet for voting one's conscience is not the worst thing that can happen to an MP,” he wrote. “The worst thing is to stay in Cabinet by sacking one's conscience.” De Souza explained that if even a handful of ministers told the Prime Minister that they were opposing his demand to vote in favour of the legislation, it is unlikely any repercussions would result, because of the Liberal’s tenuous hold they now have on power. Added to that is the fact that “Paul Martin, the weakest prime minister in memory . . . willing to go to any lengths to preserve his government, is no Henry VIII.”

“Nobody remembers what Richard Rich did as Attorney General of Wales; only what he did to remain Attorney General of Wales,” De Souza wrote, emphasizing that the politicians of today would be remembered for their efforts to either save or destroy marriage. “Whether [St. Thomas More] has any followers worthy of his example remains to be seen.”

See the editorial at: http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=78540...

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