By John-Henry Westen

TORONTO, July 6, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a letter made public today, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development & Peace (D&P), the official development arm of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued an apology to Campaign Life Coalition (CLC). The letter comes in response to an April 20 CLC lawyer’s letter noting slanderous statements in a document produced by D&P and threatening legal action. D&P has now retracted the statements in question and apologized.

The letter, signed by D&P executive director Michael Casey, acknowledges the two most flagrantly slanderous statements in its Q&A document, which was obtained by LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) in mid March.

Those slanderous statements were:

– “These groups are part of the far right wing fringe element of North American society and have themselves been associated with groups and individuals who have resorted to violence to publicize their cause and achieve their objectives.”

– “These single-issue militant advocacy groups, particularly those focusing on anti-abortion advocacy, continuously misrepresent facts and distort reality to serve their purpose.”

Responding to these statements, the new D&P letter states: “DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE acknowledges that any inferred or implied references to Campaign Life Coalition in these quotations are false, and we unreservedly retract these comments. We extend our sincere apologies to Campaign Life Coalition for any embarrassment that this document may have caused.”

The apology letter claims, however, that LSN published the “internal” Q&A document without their prior knowledge or consent. In fact, LSN did contact the D&P representative that distributed the document and attempted to contact Casey for comment; but D&P has refused to speak with LSN since our first investigative reports about the organization, which published evidence that they are funding numerous groups involved in abortion advocacy throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Moreover, the letter makes no mention of apology or retraction to LifeSiteNews.com which was similarly slandered in the Q&A document. An attempt by LSN to reach D&P to view the altered Q&A document or to get comment from D&P was unsuccessful.

As of this date, the problems with D&P’s funding practices remain unresolved. Numerous groups in receipt of D&P funding continue to advocate for abortion.

D&P has rejected dialogue with LSN over the matter and only engaged in dialogue with CLC after CLC threatened legal action over the slanderous statements in the Q&A document.

LSN has thus far decided not to pursue legal action against D&P.

As from the beginning of the matter, LSN continues to hope that D&P, as the official development arm of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, will adhere to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church and refuse to fund groups which advocate abortion, contraception, homosexuality and the like.

To see all the LSN coverage of the D&P controversy click here.

Read the full apology letter here.