What follows is part 1 of my argument.
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Note: Links to further postings on this subject can be found as follows:
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Part 1: The matter of history
Part 1: The matter of history
Seven years ago, back in
March of 2008, after certain public statements by Archbishop Prendergast,
I wrote a blog posting entitled “Archbishop Prendergast Must
Go the Whole Nine Yards” in which I said:
I don’t rate the Archbishop‘s comments as very newsworthy
really. His carefully worded statements might have sounded tough but there were
no teeth in them at all. In fact, in a very important sense, his words
misrepresented the teaching of the Catholic faith, which insists that the
Minister of Holy Communion has a solemn obligation to deny the Eucharist to
those "Catholics" who continue to obstinately reject Church
teachings.
Several days later the
Archbishop was interviewed on CFRA radio about his statements of the previous
week. This generated another flurry of media attention, as well as another posting from me, wherein I hoped for some clarification:
We should try to get assurance from him that he will tackle the
problem of pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians in accordance with Church
teaching, i.e. following the example of Archbishop Raymond Burke, as I touched upon
a few days ago. Anything less simply won’t be effective.
If the Archbishop won’t agree to stand in full accord with the
instruction of the Magisterium on this matter, you can expect this whole
incident to blow over in a week or two and not a thing will change.
One week later, amidst the
inevitable dust up that followed, the Archbishop’s rhetoric appeared
reminiscent of that of a giant among faithful Bishops, the Pope-grade Cardinal
(then an Archbishop) Raymond Burke. So much so that I remarked in a posting
entitled “Archbishop Prendergast Following in the Footsteps of Archbishop
Raymond Burke?”:
It will soon be
time for the Archbishop of Canada’s capital city “to do or to die.” A showdown
of sorts is coming. Will the Archbishop act, or will his words soon vanish into
fresh Canadian air as he settles into the politically correct chair of
his predecessor?
Yet a few days later I
posted again on some of the reaction from Canadian religious leaders. My core thoughts were these:
I do think that Archbishop Prendergast has planted some
rare and hopeful signs of change in his recent outline of Catholic teaching
concerning pro-abortion politicians who call themselves “Catholic” but he will
have to quite literally move some of the gates of hell which have been
positioned in Canadian society over the last forty or fifty years.
Is he up to it? I really don’t know but I have complete confidence
that if he moves forward step by step, does not waver in his responsibilities
as Bishop, and if he
holds complete fidelity to the Magisterium of
the Church, God Himself will move those gates. I think it’s very important for
Christians, especially Catholics, to do whatever they can to encourage the
Archbishop in the monumental task which he seems to be considering.
The March 2008 controversy died down shortly
thereafter. At no time did we hear the mention of Justin Trudeau's name. We didn’t hear anything else from Ottawa’s Archbishop until a
couple months later when he splashed across the headlines of LifeSiteNews again
with powerful comments made
at a private Catholic college in Barry’s Bay, ON related to the papal
encyclical Humanae Vitae. Subsequent events in his Archdiocese have
revealed though that this Bishop has gained no ground in “preaching about the
moral evil of contraception” or the perversions springing from it. No pastoral document on Humanae Vitae emerged. In fact no
news reports can be found to indicate that he undertook any diocesan-wide campaigns
to win Catholic allegiance to the papal directive, amongst either clergy or
laity.
Fast forward about six years to January 2014
which is the next time the Archbishop draws a spotlight due to controversy. My
blog posting entitled Ottawa Archbishop Prendergast: Why Is Pseudo-Catholicism Flourishing
In Your Archdiocese? outlines the
scandalous character of St. Basil’s parish in Ottawa which surfaced around the
end of 2013. In my posting I could only say what was obvious to so many
faithful Catholics:
Clearly, this Archbishop is all talk and no action, to the detriment
of the souls under his charge. When will he rise up with God given courage and
set his own house in order? Honestly, I’m heartsick over cowardly (or
incompetent) Bishops who, when push comes to shove, fail to exercise their full
God-given authority in defense of the Catholic faith. By their actions they
show themselves ashamed of the Holy Faith and not worthy of their posts and
will face the wrath of God for the loss of souls to Hell under their watch. I
hope Archbishop Prendergast does not prove himself to be one of these. Let us pray
that he picks up the pieces and recovers his Archdiocese from the clutches of
the Devil while he still can.
In all this time since Archbishop Prendergast’s
initial comments in 2008 regarding the denial of Holy Communion to pro-abortion
Catholic politicians we heard absolutely nothing to my knowledge from the Archbishop
about Justin Trudeau, even though Justin was an MP living in Ottawa since June
2013, two months after he became the leader of the Liberal Party and on the
fast track to running for Canada’s Prime Minister. Yet the record of scandal centered in
Trudeau’s rhetoric had been heaping up for years. As far back
as 2001 the handwriting was on the
wall. In a speech for the papal World Youth Day promo, the Toronto Star reported, "Trudeau recounted his struggles with
the strict tenets of Catholicism." Indeed, Justin Trudeau was his father’s
twin on Catholic
social teachings pertaining to abortion, divorce, homosexuality and same sex
“marriage.”
He has since advocated for expanded abortion access
in Canada, specifically in PEI, as well as for funding abortion internationally
to “reduce poverty.” He is also in favour of advancing transgender rights, permissive euthanasia and easy access to drugs.
In 2009
Trudeau himself openly acknowledged that his
views are contrary to Catholic teaching in an interview with CBC. “As a politician I have political positions
on gay marriage and on abortion that don’t at all resemble those of the
Catholic Church,”
In a
LifeSite news article from 2012 entitled Trudeau’s last stand:
unrestricted abortion or he’s gone Patrick Craine asks:
My question
out of all of this is: in light of the growing evidence of the younger
Trudeau’s extreme pro-abortion views, how long will Catholic leaders continue
to prop up his leadership prospects?
During the last fifteen years what were Canada’s Catholic Bishops
saying and doing in regard to Justin Trudeau’s renegade behavior? What were
they doing to deal with his soul? Apparently because Trudeau wasn’t making too
much noise and faithful Catholics who were calling for action were few and far
between the Bishops calculated that no action was required. But does any
thinking Catholic really suppose that Justin Trudeau, who has always claimed to
take his faith seriously, hasn’t also been receiving Holy Communion at Mass and
committing long standing sacrilege?
Only when Trudeau made the outrageous
ruling in May of 2014 that all Liberal MP`s had to tow
the party line on a “woman`s right to choose” did he get some pushback from a handful of Bishops. However, it was relatively timid correction
in light of Trudeau`s long history of fierce defiance of Catholic teaching. Yet
still, no Catholic Bishop was taking concrete steps to do battle with Goliath
in accord with the provisions of Canon
915 and to dissipate the scandal and put the matter to rest. As a result I
blogged on May 15, 2014 under the title “What
Catholic Bishop Is Watching Over Justin Trudeau’s Soul?” and proposed the
application of Canon law as per the instruction and example of Corpus Christi’s
Bishop Emeritus
Rene Henry Gracida.
If you follow my argument thus far, perhaps you’ll take a few minutes
and read this document to
see how respectful, loving, orderly and effective the process can be to restore
public sinners to repentance or at least curb the scandal, maintain a virtuous
Church and keep our children safe from conception through to birth.
Again, news reports by July of 2014 gave no
indication that Catholic Bishops were yet taking the concrete steps necessary. In
reaction to Trudeau’s suppression of the (pro-life) conscience rights of fellow MP’s Archbishop
Prendergast had issued a pastoral
letter on May 16 entitled “Being
in Communion with the Catholic Church on Moral Issues”(nowhere to be found on Archdiocesan site). However, once again
he did not address Trudeau personally and took no definitive action to censure
him in accordance with official Roman Catholic Canon law. Furthermore there was no indication up to that point that a meeting
between Archbishop Prendergast and Justin Trudeau had even taken place.
In a post entitled Canada’s
Bishops Fiddle While Justin’s Star Rises and dated July 1, 2014 my first
observation was:
Some pundits laugh when the suggestion is made
that Justin Trudeau might one day be Prime Minister of Canada. He’s just too
much of a pretty boy, not ready for prime time.
And finished with this one,
And for the good of Canada’s future, saving
Trudeau’s soul ought to be a top priority with the Bishops.
Between July 2014 and the election of Justin Trudeau
in October past, there is no record of any action taken by Archbishop
Prendergast to deal with the scandal and outrage of this pseudo-catholic
renegade or to assist him in the salvation of his soul.
Now that Justin Trudeau is Canada’s new Prime
Minister the scandal has taken on nuclear dimensions, metaphorically speaking,
with a resultant huge mushroom cloud beginning to form over Canada. Whereas the
Bishops of Canada had years to deal with a renegade MP with very minimal
political clout and influence, they now have to face a very powerful—even
untouchable—national leader who has shown great disdain for the Catholic faith
and its entire leadership. Thanks to a majority government he is now capable of
extreme and longstanding damage to the common good of Canada, much as his
father similarly demonstrated.
How terrible will be the judgement of God upon
these shepherds for their inaction to date. The only question that remains is, “Will
Archbishop Prendergast yet satisfy the demands of Christ, redress the pressing scandal
and put the matter to rest according to Church law?” Perhaps another question
ought to be asked: “How much more time will God grant the Archbishop to follow
through on his duty?”
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