News

By Steve Jalsevac

KITCHENER, Ontario, November 7, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Tomorrow, Kitchener’s Catholic Family Counselling Centre (CFCC) will hold its fundraising luncheon with keynote speaker former U.S. president Bill Clinton.Â987 tickets for the event have been sold at $500 per ticket. More evidence has come to light that CFCC is anything but Catholic yet is still able to use its “Catholic” name to attract donations, other support and undeserved credibility from Hamilton diocese Catholics.

LifeSiteNews previously reported that the homosexual activist tri-Pride organization has used the CFCCÂpremises for its meetings as recently as May 2006. These meetings continue to take place at the facility despite the group’s direct contradictionÂof serious Catholic moral beliefs. On its current webpage tri-Pride notes “The tri-Pride Community Association’s Annual General meeting is on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 7:00pm at the Catholic Family Counseling Centre”.

It has also been discovered that Catholic Family Counselling Centre is one of the sponsors of the gay activist organization’s magazine called Pride Pages. The March and May 2006 Pride Pages magazines included a back page ad from CFCC clearly implying the Catholic named organization’s endorsement and support for the gay activist group. LifeSiteNews had not seen other issues of the magazine which likely also contain the same ad.

  (See:
  Front cover of May Pride Pages https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006_docs/may2006pridepagescover.pdf
  Back cover with ads https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006_docs/may2006pridepagesback.pdf

Front cover of March Pride Pages https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006_docs/march2006pridepagescover.pdf
  Back cover with ads https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006_docs/march2006pridepagesbackpage.pdf
  The aboveÂare large pdf files that may take a while to load)

CFCC is also effectively “gay positive” in its approach to providing counseling services to homosexual youth and adults. A client was told that the Centre does “a lot of cross referring” for youth clients with Kitchener Waterloo Counselling Services’ OK2BME program for kids and teens. That program is strongly pro-gay and is linked to the wider gay activist movement.

CFCC itself has a “Men Making Connections” program that is promoted as a discussion group focusing on “helping men to build healthy relationships with partners, family and friends.” In-take worker Sue Coulter told a LifeSiteNews contact that the program accommodates “same-sex” couples.Â

CFCCCentre staff repeatedly tell enquirers that their service is completely non-denominational and oneÂperson was recently told that most CFCC counselors “would not make a judgment” as to whether homosexual activity was right or wrong.

  Catholic moral teachings are not a factor in any services provided by CFCC. Staff stress that the organization serves all denominations, there are no priests on staff and there are more non-Catholic than Catholic staff. Visitors to the facility report that, beyond the name “Catholic” on the sign outside and the on the CFCC’s literature, the impression of facilities and staff communications is that of a completely secular institution.

There is no information on CFCC’s response to clients that come to the Centre with abortion related issues.

Despite all of the above, the Catholic Family Counselling Centre receives $36,000 annually in funding from the Hamilton diocese—the diocese has also contributed large amounts of money for specific expansion projects in the recent past, including $100,000 in 1999 for the construction of the Centre’s current building, and $120,000 in a land grant in 1985.

The diocese has been considering withdrawal of all support from the Centre over its controversial decision to invite Mr. Clinton, who twice vetoed aÂpartial abortion ban and implemented many other pro-abortion policies while he was inÂoffice.ÂClinton is known by many as “the abortion president”.ÂHe hasÂalso been an active supporter of homosexual activism in the U.S. He appeared yesterday at a South Florida benefit for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in a “surprise appearance” according to one report, during a campaign for Democratic candidates.

Still, Bishop Bergie recently told the Kitchener Record, “To this point in time, it (CFCC) hasn’t broken the relationship, but it has strained the relationship”.ÂThe Record reports the bishop added that it would be ideal to maintain the relationship. Bergie continued, “However, ultimately the (centre’s) board has to determine whether they value their Catholicity” and“Their mission is very specific—it’s a Catholic mission.”

ConsideringÂseveral discussions by concerned citizens with the Centre’s staff that LifeSiteNews has been made aware of, in addition to our own investigations, it seems very unlikely that the CFCC has any value for authentic Catholicity. Instead, the Centre’s staff consistently go out of their way to ensureÂthey are seen as a purely secular organization with no obligation to uphold or evenÂsuggest Catholic moral principles or religious beliefs related to the work undertaken by the Centre.

  Spokemen for the organization appear to be oblivious to the fact that there is a serious problem with a Catholic named organization inviting former U.S. President Bill Clinton to speak at its fundraiser. The National Right to Life Committee included the following in its 2001 fact sheet on Bill Clinton’s record on abortion:
  – President Clinton urged the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade.
  – The Clinton Administration endorsed the so-called Freedom of Choice Act,” a bill that would have prohibited virtually any state restriction on abortion.
  – The Clinton Administration urged Congress to make abortion part of a mandatory national health insurance “benefits package,” forcing all taxpayers to pay for virtually all abortion.
  – President Clinton ordered US military facilities to provide abortions.
  – President Clinton ordered federally funded family planning clinics to counsel and refer for abortion.
  – The Clinton Administration ordered federal funding of experiments using tissue from aborted babies.
  – President Clinton ordered his appointees to facilitate the introduction of RU-486 in the US.
  – President Clinton ordered a resumption of funding to the pro-abortion UNFPA, which participates in the management of China’s forced abortion policy.
  – President Clinton restored US funding to pro-abortion organizations.
  – The Clinton Administration declared abortion to be a “fundamental right of all women,” and ordered US ambassadors to lobby foreign governments in support of abortion.

  Hamilton Bishop Anthony Tonnos and his auxiliary, Bishop Gerard Bergie,Âare attending an Ontario bishops’ meeting and were therefore unavailable for comment today.

The luncheon at Bingemans banquet hall will begin tomorrow at 12 noon and will conclude by 2:30 p.m. Guests will be admitted starting at 11:30 a.m.

LifeSiteNews has been advised that the event will be protested by local pro-life and Catholic citizens who are strongly opposed to the Catholic Centre,s invitation to Clinton to speak at its fundraiser.

Hall Location:
  1380 Victoria St. N. Kitchener, Ontario N2B 3E2
  Tel : (519) 744-1555 / Fax : (519) 744-1985
  WEBSITE : https://www.bingemans.com/info/location.html

  See tri-Pride website announcement of upcoming meeting at CFCC
https://www.tri-pride.ca/

OK2BME of Kitchener Waterloo Counselling Services
https://www.kwcounselling.com/lgbtq/home.html

SeeÂprevious LifeSiteNews articles:

Hamilton Bishop says No to Clinton Appearance at Catholic Counselling Centre
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06081802.html

Clinton-Inviting Catholic Family Centre Used For Gay Activist Meetings
  Calls self “Catholic” and “non-denominational”; unable to explain why Clinton invited
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082404.html

Former US President Clinton Speaking at Another Catholic Fundraiser in Canada
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06070406.html