CALGARY, May 23 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The public support for the International March of Women by Calgary Bishop Frederick Henry has caused a stir among faithful in his diocese, some of whom are boycotting the Annual Bishop’s Appeal, a fundraising dinner. Former Calgary mayor Rod Sykes, a Catholic told the Calgary Herald Saturday “My wife and a great many of her friends are now refusing to support his appeal. They’re simply not satisfied he’ll use donations in ways they would approve. Bishop Henry has made it plain he’ll give money to organizations that support abortion, if they support other causes he likes.”
The paper also interviewed Sue Fryer, a natural family planning activist, who has worked as a pro-family lobbyist at United Nations conferences at Cairo, Beijing and Istanbul. Bishop Henry “simply doesn’t understand how important it is that the Canadian bishops not be seen to march alongside Catholics for Free Choice,” said Fryer. “It doesn’t matter if the bishops register their objection to abortion,” she said.
“For over a decade an organized feminist lobby has been trying to enshrine abortion as a fundamental right under international law. So now when the feminists lobby the UN delegation from some Third World country, they’ll point to the Women’s March’s demand for reproductive control, and they’ll point to the support of the Canadian bishops, and they’ll never mention the bishops’ reservations about abortion.”
(Joe Woodard, Calgary Herald, May 20, 2000)