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Openly "Pro-Choice" Priest Asks Catholics to Stop Funding LifeSiteNews Over Development and Peace

By John-Henry Westen

MONTREAL, April 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An article in the Quebec daily Le Devoir, covering the LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) exposé on the fact that the official international development arm of the Canadian bishops is supporting numerous abortion advocacy groups has caused Quebec's most controversial priest to defend the agency. 

Fr. Raymond Gravel, who was forced out of federal politics by the Vatican and has frequently criticized the Catholic Church's stands against abortion and homosexuality, called on Catholics to quit funding LSN over the issue.

Writing Monday, April 20, 2009, in a feedback post to the story in Le Devoir, Fr. Gravel said, "While reading your article this morning, it called to mind the painful events that I experienced during the time I was a federal MP because of Lifesitenews, which is made up of fundamentalists who call themselves Catholic, but whose statements are contrary to the Gospel.

"Unfortunately, these extremist Catholics have influence in Rome so that when my bishop received a letter from the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy which forced me to retire from political life, attached to it was a file almost exclusively in English made up of negative comments about me, denunciatory letters which came from those ultra-conservative media which have no fear of using lies and half-truths to discredit the bishops, priests, religious and devoted Christians that do not support Campaign Life Coalition, a movement founded in Toronto, but which has ramifications in Quebec and even in the United States."

Fr. Gravel, a priest in the Diocese of Joliette in Quebec is well known to LifeSiteNews readers.  A homosexual prostitute prior to joining the priesthood, he made a name for himself in 2003 when he openly slammed a Vatican document on homosexual unions as "discriminatory, hurtful and offensive, not only for homosexuals."  Later he led 19 Quebec priests in publicly condemning a document of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on same-sex "marriage."

In 2004 he commented on radio, saying, "I am pro-choice and there is not a bishop on earth that will prevent me from receiving Communion, not even the Pope."  While in Parliament, Gravel defended the award of the Order of Canada to the "father of abortion" in Canada, abortionist Henry Morgentaler.

Also while in Parliament, he opposed the Unborn Victims of Crime Act (UVCA), urging his fellow politicians to vote against the measure. The UVCA sought to recognize the right to life of unborn children whose mothers wish to have the child, but who are victims of violent crimes, in the course of which their child is injured or killed.

While he styles himself as "pro-choice" rather than "pro-abortion" Gravel was, during his stint in politics, rated as "pro-abortion" by the political arm of the pro-life movement in Canada - Campaign Life Coalition.

Gravel attacked LifeSiteNews's coverage on Development and Peace as "dubious," "hypocritical," and "a false report on the part of these fanatical pro-lifers."  He added: "And the worst of it is that a good number of believers let themselves be influenced by these defamations and fund these extremists who claim to defend the Christian values of life, family and morality."

Gravel concluded his piece in Le Devoir, saying, "We must denounce LifeSiteNews and stop funding it. We can believe in life, defend it and promote it, without supporting these fanatics who call themselves Catholics, but who never stop judging, condemning and excluding all those who do not think like them."

To support LifeSiteNews.com click here:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/donate/index.html

To present your concerns to Joliette Bishop Lussier:

Most Rev. Gilles Lussier
Bishop of Joliette
2, rue Saint-Charles-Borromée Nord
C.P. 470
Joliette, Québec
J6E 6H6

Tel:(450) 753-7596
Fax:(450) 759-0929
E-mail:

To contact Luigi Ventura,
the Apostolic Nuncio to Canada:
724 Manor Avenue
Ottawa, ON.
KIM OE3,
Phone: (613) 746-4914

To Rev. Gravel:

To see his feedback piece (in French) click here:
http://www.ledevoir.com/2009/04/20/commentaires/0904200944576.html

See related coverage:

Quebec Priests Bash Church on Homosexuality - Real Problem is the Bishops
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06022706.html

Controversial Catholic Priest/Politician Defends Award to Arch-Abortionist Morgentaler
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08070811.html

Catholic Priest/Politician About "Recriminalizing Abortion - I don't Ever Want to See that Happen"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/dec/07121305.html

Vatican Forces Pro-Abortion, Pro-Homosexual "Marriage" Catholic Priest From Canadian Politics
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08090309.html

"Pro-Choice", Pro-Gay Priest Given Permission from Bishop but not Vatican to Run for Politics
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06103002.html

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