BISHOP FLABERGASTED BY CHOICE OF PRO-ABORTION CLARK TO SPEAK AT TORONTO CATHOLIC EVENT

CALGARY, July 19, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Calgary Bishop Fred Henry criticized the selection of pro-abortion former Prime Minister Joe Clark as the keynote speaker at the Red Mass reception in Toronto September 19.  Bishop Henry, who presides over Clark’s diocese, told LifeSite “I don’t know why he has been chosen.  He has been disappointment, as a Catholic.  He has taken positions contrary to the teaching of the Church. I am surprised he would be invited to speak at the Red Mass dinner.”  St. Thomas More Lawyers’ Guild President Todd McCarthy told LifeSite that Clark was selected “not because of his views on any particular issue but because of his stature as a former Prime Minister.”  Asked about the inappropriateness of the selection, McCarthy said it was following in the tradition of the St. Thomas More Lawyers’ Guild of Toronto which invited former Liberal Prime Minister John Turner to give the keynote address in 1992.  Turner, like Clark, is a pro-abortion ‘Catholic’ politician.  Toronto priest Fr. Ted Colleton, who has written on St. Thomas More told LifeSite: “I am astonished that the St. Thomas More Lawyers’ Guild would invite Mr. Clark to be speaker at the Red Mass reception.  I could give many reasons for this response but I will confine myself to this: Mr. Clark was interviewed on CBC and replied to a question ‘I am a Roman Catholic. I am pro-choice’ . Compare that to the last words of St Thomas More as he laid his head on the block – ‘I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.’  Need I say more?”  Bishop Henry, perhaps as a suggestion to his wayward church member Clark, said, “Wouldn’t it be great if he (Clark) recanted” his stances against Church teaching at the Red Mass.  See related LifeSite coverage:  PRO-ABORTION FORMER PRIME MINISTER TO ADDRESS TORONTO CATHOLIC LAWYERS GUILD https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/jul/02071801.html