Quebec’s leading pro-life organization, Campagne Québec-Vie (Quebec Life Coalition) has created a new award to honor members of the clergy who make an exceptional contribution to the pro-life cause – and the first recipient will be the Archbishop of Montreal, Christian Lépine.
Campagne Québec-Vie’s (CQV) said it is awarding its “Defensor Vitae” award to Archbishop Lépine for showing himself to be an “exceptional defender of the human person from conception to natural death.”
The six-inch crystal award, shaped like a shield, will have tiny footprints engraved at the top, the archbishop’s name, and a message of recognition. The award will be bestowed on September 15.
The award’s inauguration comes on the 25th anniversary of CQV’s founding.
Appointed by then-Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 to head the Archdiocese of Montreal, Lépine was already known as a strong advocate for life and family, a reputation he has lived up to since taking over the diocese.
Only days after his appointment, Lépine was already facing attacks from the province’s abortion movement for his pro-life and pro-family stance. Despite biting criticism, Lépine did not shy away in one of his first press conferences from bluntly answering a question about abortion, stating “God is the author of life” and “the first right is the right to life.”
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In 2013, Lépine denounced the Parti Quebecois’ proposed Charter of Values that would ban conspicuous religious symbols worn by public workers, calling it a “violation of the right to have a religion.”
Lépine was also outspoken against Quebec’s push to legalize euthanasia with Bill 52 as “medical aid in dying.” Not only did he make numerous media appearances condemning the proposal, but his diocese also ran newspaper and radio ads against it.
While the bill eventually passed in June, Lépine did not mince words about what Bill 52 would condone. “In hastening a person's death, … we are not helping them in dying, we are directly ending their life. It is to give our doctors the authority to kill patients who are vulnerable in certain circumstances,” he said in February.
CQV president Georges Buscemi told LifeSiteNews that leaders like Archbishop Lepine who openly advocate for life often do not have it easy.
“These people are often persecuted for their pro-life stance and it’s good to have moral support from a community to hold up the person and to confirm them in their fight,” he said.
An open letter of support for the archbishop will accompany the award. QCV is encouraging Canadian pro-life activists to sign the letter.
“We very much appreciate your generous presence among your flock; your numerous visits to our parishes; your evenings of catechesis at the Montreal cathedral; your concern for the family and for the Catholic education of our youth as well as your support for the various adoration chapels throughout the diocese,” the letter states.
“We finally remain united with you in your show of faith and confidence, manifested particularly by your consecration of the diocese to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on the Solemnity of Christ the King (2013).”
A second award newly inaugurated by CQV for a layperson who has made an exceptional contribution to the cause of life and family in Quebec will be bestowed on André Morais, founder of the “Front Commun pour le Respect de la Vie” and board member of the Catholic Parents' Association of Quebec. The award is named after “Gilles Grondin,” CQV’s founder.
CQV was founded by Campaign Life Coalition one year after the 1988 Morgentaler decision — which originated in Quebec — in which the Supreme Court struck down the few remaining protections still afforded the pre-born by the 1969 Liberal government’s “Omnibus Bill.” Then, in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled in the Tremblay v. Daigle case — also originating in Quebec — that the pre-born had no legal status as a person.
Buscemi said it was “really kind of obvious that since both court cases emanated from Quebec there had to be a Quebec [pro-life] presence. Offering the awards to pro-life heroes is an appropriate way to mark the 25 years of QCV’s work in Quebec.”
Editor’s note: A PDF of the open letter of support to Archbishop Lépine can be downloaded to be signed here.