Priests Challenge Vatican On Gays
by Jean-Pierre O'Brien, 365Gay.com Montreal Bureau
February 27, 2006 - 8:00 am ET

(Montreal, Quebec) Nineteen priests in Quebec have issued a stinging public rebuke of the Vatican position of gays and same-sex marriage.

In an open letter published in La Presse, the largest circulation newspaper in the province, they called on other Catholic clergy to join them in opposing the Vatican ban on gays in seminaries and same-sex marriage.

Under the headline "Enough is enough," the priests charge that by pronouncing homosexuality a "disorder," the church is fuelling homophobia.

The 980-word letter notes the church has been wrong before on "the mysteries of political, social, family and sexual life."

The letter also criticizes the Canadian bishops' conference which fought legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in Canada.

The bishops made a presentation before a Parliamentary committee studying the legislation and told MPs that allowing same-sex marriage weakened families and endangered children.

"Was there any trace of the compassion that marked Jesus's passage on Earth?" the letter asks.

"Not a paragraph, not a sentence in your brief that takes into account the historical discrimination against homosexuals and the tragedy of their social and ecclesial exclusion."

Religious scholars in Quebec where most people consider themselves Catholic but where attendance at mass is lower than most other regions of Canada, called the letter and its tone surprising and suggested it could set a precedent.

The church has not responded to the letter.

www.365Gay.com 2006