OTTAWA, Oct 10 (LifeSiteNews.com) – LifeSite has learned that Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Gervais, Calgary Bishop Fred Henry, and London Bishop John Sherlock will celebrate a Mass in Ottawa on Sunday October 15 for the World March of Women at the Notre Dame Cathedral at noon. Many of the participants at the mass are expected to join the March to Parliament Hill organized by the Canadian contingent of the World March of Women (CWMW). The CWMW organizers have urged all participants to lobby their Members of Parliament with a list of 13 demands.
Catholic participation in the lobbying effort is problematic since even the pared down list of 13 “immediate” demands includes the promotion of homosexuality. Moreover, of the 13 demands listed, only one demand, number 9 of 13, asks for “elimination of poverty”. The remaining demands request political action items of a radical feminist agenda including $2 billion for a “national child-care fund”, “$50 million to front-line independent, feminist, women-controlled groups”, asking to “ban workfare”, and “proactive pay equity legislation”. Regardless of the merit of these particular demands they remain “political” and definitely outside the realm of promotion by religious organizations.
Jakki Jeffs, a life member of the Catholic Women’s League (CWL), told LifeSite that the CWL leadership, in agreeing to support the March of Women, has foisted upon CWL members a complete political action agenda. “Even when the overtly anti-Catholic elements of the March demands are removed, the vast majority of the remaining demands remains a feminist political action agenda, an agenda which has no business being promoted in a religious organization,” said Jeffs. “This political agenda comes to us from the March committee through the CWL without any consultation whatsoever of the CWL membership.”