By Jenna Murphy
WHITEHORSE, May 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A former Canadian hostage in Iraq, James Loney, has been using his popularity to actively promote the homosexual lifestyle despite a residual affiliation to the Catholic Church. Loney was barred from a speaking engagement that was scheduled to take place last week at Sacred Heart Cathedral, a Catholic church in Whitehorse, Yukon.
Since his widely-acclaimed release from the Iraqi prison thanks to a multinational military rescue force, Loney has been invited – and often had the invitation revoked after intervention from church officials – to speak at several Roman Catholic events. Loney’s involvement in social-justice efforts, including the Christian Peacemaking team and One World Global Educational Program founded by the Basilian Fathers, makes his platform appealing to many left-wing Catholic social justice activists.
In October 2007, Loney’s speaking engagement at a conference with Catholic sponsorship was cancelled when, after an alleged phone call from Archbishop James Weisgerber (Archbishop of Winnipeg), Loney was asked not to speak at the diocesan conference despite having been welcomed by event organizers.
“He’s being excluded because he takes public opposition to an important teaching of the Church,” said the Archbishop. “I keep hearing more and more objections, and I began to do some research and I realized that he has taken very public and very clear opposition to the Church’s teachings in this area.”
Archbishop Weisgerber’s refusal follows a similar situation in Hamilton, Ontario in 2006 when funding from the Archdiocese was pulled from a local ecumenical conference where Mr.Loney was scheduled to speak.
Despite claiming to be a Roman Catholic, Loney explicitly writes in a 2005 article entitled “Confessions of a Spiritual Couch Potato” of his distaste for prayer, fasting and the mass.
“I avoid prayer like the plague—the kind where you stop, sit or kneel, do nothing but be, even if for only ten minutes. It’s agony-in-the-garden every time; the easiest thing is to let the cup pass. The thought of fasting nauseates me, and as for Sunday mass—that weekly spiritual reboot and virus check—well, let’s just say I’ve accumulated a significant inventory of mortal sins.”
To contact Bishop Gary Gordon, the Bishop of Whitehorse:
Mailing Address: 406 Steele St., Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 2C8
Telephone: (867)668-3826
Fax: (867)667-4713
Related LifeSiteNews.com articles:
Anti-Catholic Gay Activist James Loney to Speak at Winnipeg Catholic Social Justice Conference
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07101609.html
Hamilton Bishop Avoids Scandal, Won’t Fund Event With Homosexual Activist Speaker Loney
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06103004.html
Archbishop Cancels Homosexual Activist from Catholic Conference After Complaints
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07102903.html