OTTAWA, Nov 3 (LSN.ca) - Ottawa Bishop Marcel Gervais commented on the appearance by Prime Minister Jean Chretien at a Catholic high school in Barrie last week, where Chretien talked favourably about abortion. In a statement to LifeSite, Bishop Gervais said, “I was very disappointed in the Prime Minister’s statement. He was in a Catholic school. One would hope that he could have provided a better answer.” He continued, “Given everything we know today about the life of the child in the womb and given the prosperity of our country, it is a scandal that we still have about 100,000 abortions a year and that there is no law to protect the unborn.”
As LifeSite reported, speaking at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School on Oct 30, Chretien said, “For me, I’m a Roman Catholic. Personally, I don’t have to, you know, I’m not at the age anymore to have my wife have abortion, but the reality ... is that it is the choice of not the husband to decide in my judgment, it is the judgment of the woman according to the values that this person have.”
Bishop Gervais said, “We are called to respect life, that of our own and that of others. We are called to a greater dignity and a greater responsibility and this must be addressed by our politicians if our nation is to be truly great.” The Archbishop conceded that “our political leaders do not have an easy life. It’s hard.” But he added: “They need to make difficult choices if they really want a country which will be worth living in.”
Previously the archbishop has courageously gone on record criticizing the “Catholic” Prime Minister for promoting abortion at the Liberal Party Convention.
See LifeSite’s coverage of the Chretien talk at:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2000/nov/001107a.html
See the archbishop’s earlier criticism of Chretien:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2000/june/00060101.html