By John-Henry Westen
MONTREAL, March 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - For the first time Quebec Cardinals Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal and Marc Ouellet of Quebec City have responded to the Feb. 26 letter of 19 Quebec priests dissentingÂto the church’s teaching on homosexuality and on the letter of the Canadian religious Conference dissenting on a host of Church teachings including homosexuality, contraception and assisted suicide.
In a press conference today Cardinal Turcotte downplayed the open letter signed by 19 priests, some of them in prominent positions, in the province of Quebec. (see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/06022706.html ). The letter was published in the La PresseÂnewspaper. “In the 60s there was a book published entitled ‘The Church is going to the devil’. We are used to a certain amount of disagreement,” said Turcotte.
Referring to both the letter from the 19 priests and another dissident open letter issued by the Canadian Religious Conference (see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06030801.html ), the Montreal Cardinal said, “We will bring to Rome the concerns that our people have here but we have to take into account the reality of the other (Catholic) churches (in other parts of the world).” The reference was to other national churches which have a far more faithful approach to the teaching of the Church.“We will never separate ourselves from the other churches,” he added.
Cardinal Ouellet, was less dismissive about the dissent. He noted that while the CRC may proclaim to speak for all religious, it in fact does not.“The majority of the 4000 members of religious orders in my diocese would not approve what is written in the document of the CRC,” he said.