By John-Henry Westen
TORONTO, November 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Some of the voters in today’s Toronto municipal electionsÂwere informed aboutÂone of the candidates for Catholic School Board Trustee from the pulpits of their churches on Sunday.ÂÂ
Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, the Archbishop of Toronto sent a letter to all parishes in the zone where renegade priest Karl Clemens is running for election to the Toronto Catholic school board.ÂÂ The letter which was read at Sunday Masses at all parishes in Toronto’s Ward 9 over the weekend reminded Catholics that “in order to run for an elective office, a priest must have the permission from the local Bishop.”
Rev. Clemens caused a stir last year as the first Catholic priest to identify himself as “gay” on television. Clemens made his announcement saying, “I’m a Roman Catholic priest and I’m gay”. (see coverage: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05102402.html )Â
The letter from the Cardinal noted that Clemens was a priest who has had his right to say Mass in public removed.“Karl Clemens, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kingston residing in Toronto, whose right to function as a priest in public has been taken away, has presented himself as a candidate for the Toronto Catholic District School Board,” said the letter signed by Cardinal Ambrozic.Â
“I wish to let you know that he has no permission to run for the Office of Trustee,” concluded the letter.