By Tim Waggoner
WINNIPEG, August 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A month and a half after the Order of Canada was awarded to prolific abortionist Dr. Henry Morgentaler, Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg has issued a statement to Governor General Michelle Jean condemning the decision.
The nomination of Morgentaler, slated as an attempt to label the abortion issue as non-existent in Canada, backfired on abortion activists after it stirred up a heated national discussion on abortion. In releasing his statement Archbishop Weisgerber joins numerous MPs, bishops and Canadians who have already fervently protested the July 1st decision. Several members of the prestigious Order of Canada have already returned their awards, not wishing to be honoured alongside a man who has admitted to killing over 100,000 babies.
“I wish to add my name to the long list of people who have been shocked and outraged by the awarding of the Order of Canada to Dr. Henry Morgentaler,” said the archbishop. “It is utterly abhorrent to so many of us that a person who has done so much to promote and facilitate abortion should be given the highest honor of our country.”
“I assume that the purpose of creating the Order of Canada was to draw us together as a nation by honoring those whose life and work promote the values and ideals that unite us,” he said. “I can assure you that awarding the Order of Canada to Dr. Henry Morgentaler is having the exact opposite result.”
The archbishop concluded by requesting that the Governor General reverse the decision and initiate a full “revision of the selection procedures so that this important symbol of Canada can be salvaged.”
The list of individual bishops known to have publicly criticized the Morgentaler appointment:
Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto
Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa
Bishop James Wingle of St. Catharines
Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary
Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton
Bishop Ronald Fabbro of London
Bishop Nicola De Angelis of Peterborough
Archbishop Raymond Roussin of Vancouver
Bishop Valéry Vienneau of Bathurst
Bishop Vernon Fougere of Charlottetown
Archbishop Brendan M. O’Brien of Kingston
Bishop Albert LeGatt of Saskatoon
Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg