* Cardinal Ouellet of Quebec Says “We are very concerned, very concerned with the future”
In an interview with Catholic News Service Cardinal Marc Ouellet said same-sex marriage discards the basic fact “that a man is a man and a woman is a woman, and their union is marriage.” He warned that the state is advocating something that is contrary to the natural order of things, and in doing so its leaders are falling into “subjectivism” and “everything becomes arbitrary and you have no foundations for civil rights or civil marriage.”
“If the words can be twisted in this way” he said, “so religious freedom, too, or any other thing can be twisted in any way according to the arbitrary power of pressure groups”. “It will put religious freedom under attack in the very near future,” he said.
“If they bring me to the court because I am teaching against homosexuality as part of the doctrine of the Catholic Church, I will be accused of homophobia,” he said. “Those things are very serious, and it’s on the way…” Ottawa Citizen Newspaper Comes Out in Favour of Same-Sex ‘Marriage’.
An editorial in the paper Friday says: “And although the Citizen’s editorial board, like many Canadians, is divided on the issue, we believe that gays and lesbians should have the legal right to marry in Canada, provided religious freedoms not to perform same-sex marriages are protected.”
* Cotler Insists Conservative Amendment Requires Notwithstanding Clause Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler is still insisting that Opposition Leader Stephen Harper’s amendment to the legislation requires use of the notwithstanding clause, despite the fact that Harper during his response to the legislation clearly demonstrated that that is not the case. (CBC)
* defendMARRIAGE Fundraiser in B.C. defendMARRIAGE has scheduled another fundraiser, this time in Abbottsford, BC on March 2 at 6:30PM at the Ramada Inn, 36035 N. Parallel Road. Guest speaker is Conservative MP Randy White.
* defendMARRIAGE Newspaper ad Campaign The organization placed a full page ad in the Feb. 16 National Post and has another one scheduled for tomorrow in the same paper. The ad, with a large paper of an fist showing Paul Martin says “It seems Paul Martin’s definition of a free vote is to vote his way or he will free you from the Cabinet”. The ad lists three promises by Martin and then lists items showing the falseness of his problems. Finally, the ad concludes with “It appears Paul Martin does not respect the religious convictions of his own friends in Cabinet… Is it reasonable to expect that he will protect the religious freedoms of ordinary Canadians?”