Secular Songs That Could be Heard With a Catholic Interpretation

By Ann Barnhardt at Barnhardt.biz

Funny story. Back in 2008 I taught a cattle marketing school in Brandon, Manitoba. I flew into Winnepeg, rented an SUV and drove the Trans-Canada Highway due west to Brandon. As I recall, it was approximately 6 degrees above . . . Kelvin. Chilly. A little nippy.

Anyway, the SUV had Sirius satellite radio, and I turned it on and it just happened to turn on to the Catholic station, which I had never heard before. Even better, the show that was on was a talk show hosted by a guy and a girl, and the topic of the day was secular songs that could be heard with a Catholic interpretation.

People would call in, they would play the song, and then talk about it. Well, the calls were okay but not great, and naturally I was all over this topic, so I whipped out my phone, saw that I had bars, and proceeded to dial the toll-free number.

Long story short, I blew their minds with this song, did a little preachin', had a few laughs, called the guy host "baby" in some benign context as was my tendency to do ("rock on, baby" or something like that - I can't exactly remember) and hung up. Knowing that radio is done on a tape delay, I turned up the speakers in the SUV to listen to the end of the conversation on the delay.

Er, it turned out that the "guy host" was er, FATHER guy host, whom I had just called "baby" on satellite radio. Oh, they got quite a kick out of that.

I didn't know. Had I known, I would have called him "Father Baby." Yikes.

So, not only did I call a priest "baby", but I also did it UNVEILED. (Shout out to kooky dude who obsesses about my head coverage!)

The song that I killed 'em with on the Trans-Canada Highway?

"Walk Right Back"

"I want you to tell Me why you walked out on Me"
{This is God calling us to confession. I want you to TELL ME.}

"I'm so lonesome every day"
{God mourns lost souls personally}

"I want you to know that since you walked out on Me"
{The "walking out" was the Fall, and our personal sin}

"Nothing seems to be the same old way"
{Hence God's plan to send His Son to restore and redeem mankind so that we could be together in the "same old way"}

"Think about the love that burns within My Heart for you"
{The Sacred Heart of Jesus}

"The good times we had before you went away, oh, Me"
{The time before the Fall and the times we have been in a state of grace personally. When humans sigh, they say, "Oh, God." When God sighs He says, "Oh, Me." Wink.}

"Walk right back to Me this minute, bring your love to Me don't send it"
{The call to the Eucharist, wherein we literally walk down the aisle to Him and personally, physically present ourselves to Him in nuptial union and adoration}

"I'm so lonesome everyday"
{He's BEGGING you}

The only thing wrong with this is that the Everlys sing in high, lonesome Kentucky two-part harmony, and everyone knows that God Almighty sings in three-part harmony. Wink.

Link:

• Everly Excellence Week - 5 of 5

Government-funded ‘registry of homophobic acts’ launched today in Quebec

By John-Henry Westen

QUEBEC, June 18, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In what they are touting as a “world first,” a Quebec homosexual activist group has launched a “registry of homophobic acts” with support and funding from the Quebec Government’s Justice Department.  Standing alongside Montreal Police Chief Johanne Paquin and Commander Alain Gagnon, the leadership of the group Gai Ecoute launched the anonymous tipster registry at a press conference today. 

Included in the definition of actions classified as “homophobic” and deemed worthy of reporting to the registry are: “any negative word or act toward a homosexual or homosexuality in general: physical abuse, verbal abuse, intimidation, harassment, offensive graffiti, abuse, injurious mockery, inappropriate media coverage and discrimination.”

A press release from the group says that anyone who has experienced or witnessed an act of homophobia “must” report it to the registry of homophobic acts.

Funding and support for the venture comes from the Quebec Justice Ministry’s department of “The Fight Against Homophobia.” The Justice Ministry was tasked with fighting homophobia in 2008 and last year pledged $7 million to ‘anti-homophobia’ activities.

LifeSiteNews spoke briefly with Roger Noël, the coordinator of The Office of the Fight against Homophobia in the Department of Justice. Noël refused to answer questions about the registry and directed calls to Gai Ecoute or else to the Communications department of the Quebec Government.  Calls to the Communications department were not returned by press time.

Laurent McCutcheon, President of Gai Ecoute, boasted that the registry was the first of its kind in the world. “We created it to know the real situation of homophobia,” he said. “The compilation and analysis of these data will better identify the problem and will enable us to act at the level of prevention.”

Georges Buscemi President of the Montreal-based pro-life and pro-family group Campagne Quebec Vie told LifeSiteNews he saw the registry as a “means to instill a climate of oppression and fear to anyone who disagrees with any of the opinions of the homosexualist movement in Quebec.”

“Anyone who might believe that a homosexual act is unacceptable at a moral level” is being sent a warning “that they will end up on a list,” he said. “A list to be used for a future purpose which in my opinion is to punish.”

Buscemi gave examples of possible reprisals being the loss of charitable status for churches or teaching positions for professors.  “It’s the beginning of a soft persecution,” he said. “It is really about inciting a climate of fear using the media, especially with the presence of the police. Any criticism will be interpreted as homophobia and eventually down the road there will be consequences.”

Link:

• Government-funded ‘registry of homophobic acts’ launched today in Quebec

Michael Voris in Edmonton, Canada: Spiritual Warfare Part One

Michael Voris presents a talk on spiritual warfare from Edmonton, Canada. This talk is the first of a four-part series - the other parts are available online on our premium service at http://www.realcatholictv.com or you can purchase them on DVD here http://www.realcatholictv.com/store/?product=227&tag=38

If You Can’t Beat The Truth, Silence It

By Benjamin Bull

(Townhall.com) A gut-wrenching example of the lengths to which men will go to silence the voices of conscience recently played out in an Ontario Court of Justice. There, Judge S. Ford Clements sentenced pro-life advocate Mary Wagner to 92 more days in jail, on top of the 88 days she’d already spent behind bars, all because she has been walking into the waiting rooms in Canadian abortion clinics and sharing hope with the women who are waiting to have their babies killed.

And the story gets worse. Clements was so outraged by Wagner’s passion for life that he lashed out at her in front of the court:

You don’t get it, do you? What’s the rule of law? You’re required to abide by it … You’ve lost the right as a citizen to be anywhere near an abortion clinic or to speak to an employee.

You’re wrong and your God’s wrong. You have complete contempt … There is a right to (abortion) in this country … You don’t have a right to cause (abortion-seeking women) extra pain and grief the way you do.

There are many ironies in Clements’ angry words, not the least of which was the fact that he equated Wagner’s message of Christian hope with “extra pain and grief” for women preparing to have an abortion. Yet Wagner has not been going into the waiting rooms to cause extra pain and grief but to impart good news which may, God willing, lead some women to walk out of the waiting room instead of having an abortion: thereby sparing a child’s life.

Note, too, Clements’ bombastic proclamation of “Your God’s wrong.” Most obvious is the fact that it’s not a judge’s business to make such a pronouncement. But ever since Adam and Eve stood in the Garden of Eden, man has been trying to prove God a liar or a heavenly miscreant. This judge in Canada is no different.

The good news is that Wagner was not intimated by Clements’ verbal outbreak, nor was she swayed by his low opinion of God’s judgment on matters of life and death. Rather, when asked whether she would stop going to abortion clinic waiting rooms and ministering to women for a period of three years—three years being the length of probation for having gone to the waiting rooms in the first place—Wagner said she would not stop going.

So Clements has tucked Wagner back into a cell for 92 more days.

I guess the message is: If you can’t beat the truth, silence it.

• If You Can’t Beat The Truth, Silence It

Catholic News Roundup: German Bishops' Porn Publisher Corrects the Media: "It's Erotica."

Today's Edition of Catholic News Roundup! DOMA Repeal hits the Senate ... "Occupy the Vatican" attacks Canadian cathedral during Mass ... German Bishops' porn publisher corrects the media; "It's erotica."

• "The proposed law would essentially allow the federal government to issue the same benefits to homosexual couples that truly married couples receive for the sake of bringing children into the world."

• "Bishop Cordileone of Oakland, Chairman of the USCCB's Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, says the law violates justice and basic human rights because it 'transforms marriage from a child-centered to an adult-centered status to the detriment of children."

• Devil in the DNA: A USCCB staff member's article that says homosexuality originates with Satan is being pulled from publication...

• The SSPX is squashing any rumors regarding their answer to the Vatican's offer of reunion made in September...

• It's not porn.   It's erotica.  So says the German media company recently exposed in the media as completely owned by the country's Catholic bishops.   And they're serious...

Links:

• Real Catholic TV
• Real Catholic TV Facebook Page

Related:

• Catholic Journal (Archdiocese of Boston - The Pilot) Withdraws Column that Suggests Devil Responsible for Homosexuality
• USCCB staff member retracts column linking Satan to origins of homosexuality
• Father George David Byers: Update on burning at the stake the German bishops responsible for this hell of porn

What did the Church ever do to them?

National Post

On May 27, Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe tried to set a political persecution in motion by "outing" several completely innocent people: "Mr. Speaker, Ottawa's bishop stated yesterday that a sizeable pro-life caucus is working behind the scenes within the government. The Prime Minister, who controls everything, must know about this caucus." With McCarthyite melodrama, Mr. Duceppe then intoned the names and positions in the Conservative party of three practising Catholics, as if that were proof of the ominous "caucus."

These Catholics are all members of Opus Dei, a prelature of the Catholic Church. In Latin, Opus Dei means "God's Work." Members of "the Work" believe that holiness is something to be strived for in one's daily life: in one's job, however important or however humble; in one's friendships; and in one's family life and civic obligations.

Opus Dei does good works all over the planet, punching far above its demographic weight. Few in number--about 85,000 worldwide and only a few thousand in all of Canada -- they are immersed in public life in the most positive and benign ways. And of the more than 100,000 members of the Conservative party, why yes, a handful probably are also members of Opus Dei.

But the back story to Mr. Duceppe's naming (and by implication shaming) of these three people is not his apparently high-minded upholding of the division of church and state. It is his loathing for the Catholic Church, a loathing he is at small pains to conceal. In this he is representative of the media and political elites that dominate Quebec's public discourse. And that is the real story here.

Look at the reaction to Cardinal Marc Ouellet's call for public debate on the morality of abortion. He did not call for legislative change. He called abortion a "moral crime." In response the francophone media went ballistic. It is unthinkable that any Canadian pundit would say of an imam, as La Presse's Patrick Lagace did of Cardinal Ouellet : "We must all die. We are all going to die. Cardinal Ouellet is going to die one day. I hope he will die of a long and painful sickness...Yes, the paragraph I have just written is vicious. But [Cardinal] Marc Ouellet is an extremist. And in this debate, all blows are permitted against religious extremists... the Cardinal is a fundamentalist. This is a known fact. From there on, whoever agrees to share a political podium with him should be treated like an accomplice to the fanaticism of Kazem Ouellet."

Similarly, would any Canadian journalist call for the dissolution of Islam because parts of shariah law run counter to Canadian gender values? Yet on May 28 Le Devoir published an op-ed calling for the dissolution of the Church and its transformation in Quebec into a network of cooperatives: "This co-operative network, based on modern values of equality and non-segregation of the sexes, of anti-racism and the rejection of homophobia, would permit us to experience together, socially and ceremoniously, the great moments of life between birth and death. This project of modernization of the Catholic institution seems to me, moreover, completely compatible with the fundamental secularity of the state which is indispensable to social peace."

Christian Rioux of Le Devoir, one of the very few journalists in the French media to offer a balanced and fair perspective, responded to his colleagues' venom on May 28: "The virulent anti-clericalism expressed in the last two weeks would be unimaginable in most European countries, where a speech like that of Msgr. Ouellet would have been received with calm and due measure, if not indifference. With all the more reason since [Cardinal Ouellet] himself admits that 'the ultimate responsibility for the moral decision [of abortion] arises from personal conscience.'"

The old adage "familiarity breeds contempt" was never so fulsomely displayed in this country as it has been by Quebec's elites in the last few weeks. Shame on them. Gilles Duceppe owes a public apology to the people whose good name he has tarnished and to the prelature of Opus Dei. Others should do a little soul-searching as well. If anti-clerical public figures want to retain their credibility with ordinary citizens, they would do well to curb their personal animosity toward an institution that, in stating its Charter-protected beliefs, expresses no animosity to them.

• Link

Calgary Bishop Suspends TLM

h/t to Robert Krumpel and Fr. Z.

From WDTPRS:

"Apparently, the local bishop, His Excellency Most. Rev.Frederick Henry is having a fight with the local presence of the FSSP over the distribution of Communion on the tongue. The bishop issued "norms" for the Diocese of Calgary which forbid Communion on the tongue because of H1N1. The FSSP and the people frequenting their Masses are not conforming to his wishes.
Bishop Henry issued the directive to cease distribution of Communion on the tongue following the recommendation from the Medical Officer of Health, whom I assume is a government official."

When Bishop learned that at the FSSP parish people were still receiving Holy Communion on the tongue, he ordered that they not celebrate Mass at all. He suspended the Extraordinary Form Masses. --- more

• CALGARY BISHOP ILLICITLY SUSPENDS LATIN MASS
• The Calgary Communion Show Down
  

Case of Gender-Confused Teacher against Catholic School Board Accepted by HRC

By Patrick B. Craine

EDMONTON, Alberta, October 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Alberta Human Rights Commission has accepted a complaint brought against an Edmonton-area Catholic school board by a substitute teacher who was let go after she announced she was 'becoming' a man.

Janet Buterman, 39, had been employed by the Greater St. Albert Catholic School Board for about four months when, in June 2008, she informed deputy superintendent Steve Bayus that she was undergoing a 'sex change' and now wished to be treated as a man.

The following October, Mr. Bayus responded with a letter indicating that Buterman had been removed from the substitute teacher list because the procedures she was undergoing were in conflict with the Catholic teaching upheld by the school board.

"In discussions with the Archbishop of the Edmonton Diocese, the teaching of the Catholic Church is that persons cannot change their gender," he wrote. "One's gender is considered what God created us to be."

"Your gender change is not aligned with the teachings of the Church," he continued, "and would create confusion and complexity with students and parents as a model and witness to Catholic faith values."

Buterman maintains that she has a legitimate medical condition - gender identity disorder - and that the board has discriminated against her because of it...

More

PM lauds Pope's leadership after meeting at Vatican

TAZIANA FABI/REUTERS

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a private audience and exchanged gifts with Pope Benedict XVI July 11, 2009 at the Vatican.

Jul 12, 2009 04:30 AM

Tonda MacCharles
OTTAWA BUREAU

VATICAN CITY – Prime Minister Stephen Harper praised Pope Benedict XVI as a moral and humanitarian leader after a private audience at the Vatican yesterday.

"It was an honour to meet Pope Benedict and hear his perspective on a number of important issues, including human rights and an ethical response to the global economic crisis," Harper said in a written release.

"I expressed my deep appreciation for the Holy Father's moral and humanitarian leadership as an advocate of human dignity, peace and religious liberty, and for the spiritual leadership he provides to Catholics in Canada and throughout the world."

Harper's wife, Laureen, and his children Ben and Rachel joined the Prime Minister and the pontiff after the private audience. The family later viewed the tomb of John Paul II and the ancient tomb of St. Peter.

• Link
  

Homosexual Adult Altar-Server Files Human Rights Complaint against Bishop for Dismissal

By John-Henry Westen

PETERBOROUGH, ON, July 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Jim Corcoran, the owner of one of Canada's largest and most lavish spas, has launched a human rights complaint against the Bishop of Peterborough Ontario for refusing him permission to continue to serve as an altar server.

Corcoran admits that he is homosexual and lives with another homosexual man, but says that he follows the Church's teaching and lives a chaste lifestyle. According to the Catholic Register, Bishop Nicola De Angelis asked Corcoran to accept his decision that he not serve on the altar based upon the bishops' desire to avoid public scandal.

Corcoran is seeking monetary damages of $25,000 from the bishop and $20,000 each from 12 parishioners who complained to the bishop about Corcoran and his roommate having been invited by the local priest to serve on the altar at Masses.

That priest, Fr. Allan Hood, of St. Michael the Archangel Parish, was not available to speak with LifeSiteNews.com.

Corcoran spoke with Michael Swan of The Catholic Register but Bishop De Angelis has not commented on the matter publicly. LifeSiteNews.com called the chancery office for more information, but there was no answer.

Developing …

• Link
  

Magazine cleared of 'bigotry,' now facing 2nd hearing

Homosexual activist alleges reports on 'gay' issues are discriminatory

A Christian publication already cleared by the Canadian Human Rights Commission on claims its reporting on issues involving homosexuality stem from "bigotry, discrimination and hate" will have to defend itself – again – from the same charges.

Officials with Catholic Insight have confirmed homosexual activist Rob Wells, whose earlier allegations against the publication were rejected, has appealed to the Federal Court in Canada.

"On Aug. 12, Toronto-based Catholic Insight and its editor Father Alphonse de Valk received notification that Wells had filed an appeal … with the Federal Court of Canada. Wells is requesting that the appeal be heard in Edmonton," the magazine said in an announcement.

It had been only a month earlier that the Canadian Human Rights Commission notified Catholic lnsight the charges of "bigotry, discrimination and hate" raised by Wells had been dismissed.

The reason given was that Catholic Insight's reporting was determined not "likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt based on sexual orientation."

"Catholic Insight and its editor will be required to defend themselves in yet another proceeding. We will be obliged, once again, to engage more of our time and finances to defend against what can be seen as harassment by a person or persons unhappy with Catholic Insight's editorial stance in opposition to same-sex 'marriage' and the resulting drive for equality of the homosexual lifestyle in schools and elsewhere. It is frankly astonishing that more Canadians do not recognize the negative impact such complainants have on what should be the expression of ideas in our current culture," the magazine said in its announcement...

More

Build a civilization of love in the face of a culture of death, Cardinal Ouellet tells Knights

Quebec City, Aug 5, 2008 / 10:14 am (CNA).- As he opened the Knights of Columbus’ annual convention on Tuesday morning, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Archbishop of Québec, called on the fraternal organization to react to the increasing secularization of society by more strongly promoting “a culture of life and a civilization of love.”

Two thousand five hundred delegates and their families joined Cardinal Ouellet to celebrate the opening Mass of the Knights of Columbus convention in Québec City, Canada with some 80 bishops from around the world.

Cardinal Ouellet began his homily by welcoming the congregation to “the city of Champlain and Laval, a city of explorers and saints, the cradle of Evangelization in North America, a Eucharistic city which has hosted some weeks ago the 49th International Eucharistic Congress.”

In their midst, the cardinal informed the congregation, was a work of art meant evoke the arks of the Old Testament, which traveled throughout Canada in preparation for the International Eucharistic Congress.

“The presence of the Ark of the New Covenant in our midst symbolizes the renewed Eucharistic commitment we are invited to promote in the life of the Church. The great success of the Congress was due to the prayer and involvement of many actors and benefactors, among which -- I tell you sincerely -- the Knights of Columbus were the most committed organization at all levels.”

Cardinal Ouellet then turned to the challenge being witnesses to the Catholics faith in a society that is becoming increasingly dominated by a culture of death.

“Against violence, hatred, addictions, despair,” the Primate of Canada said, “the love stemming from the Eucharist is able to foster hope, reconciliation and peace.”

Examples of this loving witness can be found in the examples of Jean Vanier, Nicolas Buttet, Marguerite Barankitse and Bl. Father Frederic Janssoone for inspiration to live out this love, he added.

The Knights are called to play a unique part in this mission, Cardinal Ouellet pointed out. “As an international Catholic Fraternity, the Knights of Columbus have a special role to play in witnessing the love of Christ in today’s world under the wise leadership of Pope Benedict the XVI.”

This witness is not always popular, he said, pointing to the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which “despite the cultural opposition to this Church teaching, we are called to revisit this document and to realize how prophetic it was and still is.”

Giving this witness requires Catholics to grow “in holiness on the personal level and to be present as a social body on the public scene, particularly by promoting the values of the family, among which the sacredness of human life from the moment of conception to the last breath of natural death.”

Cardinal Ouellet admitted that, “It is not easy to embody those values in today’s context, especially in Canada where the culture of death is making further steps of domination by rewarding publicly an activist of abortion,” he said, referring to the recent granting of Canada’s highest honor, the Order of Canada, to Henry Morgentaler.

In times such as these, Catholics must “wake up and to hear the word of the Lord: ‘Do not be afraid’ when the storm hits the boat, ‘come to me’ and ‘hold firm my hand,’ the hand of the Church.”

When we hear of sad events in the world, Cardinal Ouellet encouraged the congregation, don’t be of “‘little faith’ but of a new faith commitment to hold firmly the Church teaching on human life and love and to engage with courage the cultural challenges by promoting more strongly a culture of life and a civilization of love.”

• Build a civilization of love in the face of a culture of death, Cardinal Ouellet tells Knight
• Knights of Columbus must help change society with ‘new politics,’ says Carl Anderson
  

Catholicism - A Hate Crime in Canada?

June 4th, 2008 by Pete Vere, JCL

“If one, because of one’s sincerely held moral beliefs, whether it be Jew, Muslim, Christian, Catholic, opposes the idea of same-sex marriage in Canada, is that considered ‘hate’?”

The question was not rhetorical. Nor was it theoretical. Fr. Alphonse de Valk, a Basilian priest and pro-life activist known throughout Canada for his orthodoxy, is currently being investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) — a quasi-judicial investigative body with the power of the Canadian government behind it. The CHRC is using section 13 of Canada’s Human Rights Act to investigate the priest. This is a section under which no defendant has ever won once the allegation has gone to tribunal — the next stage of the process.

Most defendants end up paying thousands of dollars in fines and compensation. This is in addition to various court costs. Moreover, defendants are responsible for their own legal defense. In contrast, the commission provides free legal assistance to the complainant.

What was Father de Valk’s alleged ‘hate act’?

Father defended the Church’s teaching on marriage during Canada’s same-sex ‘marriage’ debate, quoting extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. And like millions of other people throughout the world and the ages - many of who are non-Catholics and non-Christians — Father believes that marriage is an exclusive union between a man and a woman.

The response from Mark van Dusen, a media consultant and spokesperson for CHRC, shocked me. I have interviewed van Dusen in the past and he has always struck me as an honest person willing to field tough questions on behalf of the commission. If he feels an accusation against the commission is hogwash, he states so plainly. If he feels the CHRC and its personnel are being unfairly tainted, he states so boldly.

Yet van Dusen did not dismiss the question out-of-hand as I thought he would. “We investigate complaints, Mr. Vere,” he said, “we don’t set public policy or moral standards. We investigate complaints based on the circumstances and the details outlined in the complaint. And …if…upon investigation, deem that there is sufficient evidence, then we may forward the complaint to the tribunal, but the hate is defined in the Human Rights Act under section 13-1.”

In other words, individual Jews, Muslims, Catholics and other Christians who, for reasons of conscience, hold to their faith’s traditional teaching concerning marriage, could very well be guilty of promoting hate in Canada. The same is true of any faith community in Canada that does not embrace this modern redefinition of one of the world’s oldest institutions — a redefinition that even the highly-secularist France rejects.

“Our job is to look at it, compare it to the act, to accumulated case law, tribunal and court decisions that have reflected on hate and decide whether to advance the complaint, dismiss it or whether there is room for a settlement between parties,” van Dusen continued. The truth of the CHRC considering adherence to Catholicism or Islam a possible hate crime was made real by van Dusen’s implicit admission that the commission could dismiss the complaint against Fr. De Valk. Over six months have passed since the commission first notified Father of the complaint. There has been no hint of the commission dropping the complaint.

Father de Valk publishes Catholic Insight, a Canadian magazine that “bases itself on the Church’s teaching and applies it to various circumstances in our time.” He is being accused by a homosexual activist of promoting “extreme hatred and contempt” against homosexuals.

Yet following the example of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XV, Father has stated on several occasions that we must love homosexuals and treat them with the dignity due every human person. “The basic view of the Church is that homosexual acts are a sin, but we love the sinner,” Father told me during an interview. “Opposing same-sex marriage is not the same as rejecting homosexuals as persons.” This is the deeply-held belief of orthodox Christians that is now considered a possible hate act warranting state intervention. This is what happens when government agencies broadly define homophobia as opposition to any homosexual act.

Yet the complaint against Father de Valk is just one of several in recent years that has been pursued against Christians by Canada’s human rights commissions. In 2005, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal fined a Knights of Columbus council over $1,000 dollars for declining to rent their hall to a couple for a lesbian marriage ceremony.

Five years previous, the Ontario Human Rights Commission fined Protestant printer Scott Brockie $5,000 for declining to print homosexual-themed stationary. The Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal fined Hugh Owens thousands of dollars for quoting a couple of Bible verses in a letter to the local newspaper. And Mayor Diane Haskett in London, Ontario, was fined $10,000 plus interest for declining to proclaim a gay pride day.

Nor have Canada’s bishops been spared. Bishop Fred Henry, one of Canada’s most outspoken defenders of the sanctity of life and marriage, was brought before a human rights commission for upholding Catholic moral teaching. While the complaint was ultimately withdrawn — not by the commission, but by the individual who originally filed the complaint — Bishop Henry incurred thousands of dollars of legal costs.

Thus Bishop Henry sympathizes with Father de Valk, who the bishop praises as a model of Catholic orthodoxy and fidelity to Christian teaching. “The social climate right now is that we’re into a new form of censorship and thought control, and the commissions are being used as thought police,” His Excellency states.

Additionally, a message posted to a popular Catholic internet forum has reportedly made its way before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. The alleged poster, who is an American writing from America, was commenting on an article written by Mark Steyn — a Canadian author who now lives in New Hampshire. The tribunal accepted this posting as evidence that Steyn promoted “hatred”. While the website is never mentioned by name in news reports - referred to only as “a Catholic website” — a source at the tribunal told me, off-the-record, that the website was Catholic Answers.

While the claim is unconfirmed as of this writing, the controversial Mark Steyn article, over which the British Columbia hearing is being held, was posted to the Catholic Answers message forum. Moreoever, popular Jewish-Canadian blogger Ezra Levant, who is blogging live from the hearing, and who is the subject of his own human rights commission complaint, published a description of the unnamed Catholic forum. Several details match, including the screen names of two participants to the Catholic Answers forum discussion of Steyn’s article.

Imagine that! Canada’s human rights tribunals are now attempting to prosecute a case against an American resident, based upon what an American citizen allegedly posted to a mainstream American Catholic website. What passes for mainstream Catholic discussion in America is now the basis for a hate complaint in Canada.

Moreover, Christians in America are not immune from what is happening to their co-religionists across the border. This past April, the New Mexico Human Rights Commission ordered Elaine Huguenin, a self-employed Christian photographer, to pay a lesbian couple $6,600 for having declined to photograph their same-sex commitment ceremony. This fine and stress from the legal proceedings come at a time when Huguenin and her husband are expecting their first child.

The New Mexico commission ignored the fact that photography is a form of artistic expression. The state commission ignored the fact that the First Amendment protects individuals from compelled speech — that is, coercion from the state to give artistic expression that violates one’s most deeply held beliefs. The commission’s one-page ruling simply stated that Huguenin had “discriminated against [the lesbian complainant] because of sexual orientation.” As this New Mexico Human Rights Commission ruling shows, Americans are in grave danger of having their religious liberty ripped away from them by Canadian-style human rights commissions.

Pete Vere, JCL, is a canon lawyer and Catholic journalist. He writes from Sault Ste. Marie, a twin city in Northern Ontario and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He is the co-author of Surprised by Canon Law, volumes one and two.

• Link

Priest Investigated for Quoting Bible

Targeted under human rights law where no defendant ever cleared
Posted: June 05, 2008
12:00 am Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A priest is being investigated as a potential criminal under a federal "hate crimes" law for quoting from the Bible, and he's being targeted using a Canadian provision under which no defendant ever has been acquitted, according to a new report.

Pete Vere, a canon lawyer and Catholic journalist, has reported on the prosecution of Father Alphonse de Valk, a pro-life activist known across Canada, by the Canadian Human Rights Commission – "a quasi-judicial investigative body with the power of the Canadian government behind it" – at CatholicExchange.com.

"What was Father de Valk's alleged 'hate act'?" Vere wrote.

"Father defended the [Catholic] Church's teaching on marriage during Canada's same-sex 'marriage' debate, quoting extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II's encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. And like millions of other people throughout the world and the ages – many of whom are non-Catholics and non-Christians — Father believes that marriage is an exclusive union between a man and a woman," he wrote.

The new case comes just as columnist and author Mark Steyn, and Maclean's magazine which published an excerpt from his "America Alone" book, are on trial before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal for similar "offenses."

"We know under the Supreme Court of Canada [and] under tribunals of this country that there are reasonable limits [to freedom of expression,]" Faisal Joseph, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the Steyn dispute, said in a LifeSiteNew.com report.

That case revolves around Joseph's claims the defendants depicted Muslims as "a violent people" with a religion that is "violent."

In the new case, Vere raised the question that Canada now considers morality a "hate crime."

"If one, because of one's sincerely held moral beliefs, whether it be Jew, Muslim, Christian, Catholic, opposes the idea of same-sex marriage in Canada, is that considered 'hate'?" he asked.

Vere wrote that the response he got from Mark van Dusen, a spokesman for the federal human rights prosecution office, shocked him.

"We investigate complaints," Vere reported van Dusen told him. "We don't set public policy or moral standards. We investigate complaints based on the circumstances and the details outlined in the complaint. And … if … upon investigation, deem that there is sufficient evidence, then we may forward the complaint to the tribunal, but the hate is defined in the Human Rights Act under section 13-1.

"Our job is to look at it, compare it to the act, to accumulate case law, tribunal and court decisions that have reflected on hate and decide whether to advance the complaint, dismiss it or whether there is room for a settlement between parties," van Dusen told Vere.

What is shocking about that, Vere wrote, is the admission that unjustified complaints can be dismissed, yet the case against de Valk has continued now for more than six months.

An extended audio recording between Vere and van Dusen is posted on YouTube:

A second part of the interview also is posted.

"In other words, individual Jews, Muslims, Catholics and other Christians who, for reasons of conscience, hold to their faith's traditional teaching concerning marriage, could very well be guilty of promoting hate in Canada. The same is true of any faith community in Canada that does not embrace this modern redefinition of one of the world's oldest institutions – a redefinition that even the highly secularist France rejects," Vere wrote.

De Valk, who publishes the "Catholic Insight" magazine that "bases itself on the Church's teaching and applies it to various circumstances in our time," is accused by a homosexual of promoting "extreme hatred and contempt" against homosexuals.

Vere said, however, the priest is simply following the teachings of the Bible and the examples of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XV by stating that Christians must love homosexuals and treat them with dignity due humans.

Besides the complaints against the priest and Steyn, other cases already have substantiated the Canadian precedent that Christian beliefs can be evidence for convictions.

In 2005, a Knights of Columbus council was fined more than $1,000 for refusing to allow its facility to be used for a lesbian "wedding," and before that printer Scott Brockie was fined $5,000 for declining to print homosexual-themed stationery. Also, in Saskatechewan, Hugh Owens was fined thousands of dollars for quoting Bible verses in a newspaper and London, Ontario, mayor Diane Haskett was fined $10,000 for refusing to proclaim a homosexual pride day, Vere enumerated.

Bishop Fred Henry has described the situation as "a new form of censorhip and thought control." Those are the same words leading Christians in the United States have used to describe the most recent "hate crimes" plan before the U.S. Congress, which specifically targeted for elimination criticism of alternative sexual lifestyles.

Vere also warned that in the Steyn case, the bottom line is that a Canadian human rights tribunal now is "attempting to prosecute a case against an American resident, based upon what an American citizen allegedly posted to a mainstream American Catholic website. What passes for mainstream Catholic discussion in America is now the basis for a hate complaint in Canada."

But the United States is not immune to such work, either, he noted, citing the New Mexico photographer fined $6,600 for refusing to meet the demands of a lesbian to take pictures at a "wedding."

Also, California has set in state law a ban on introducing anything but "positive" information about alternative sexual lifestyles, including homosexuality, in its public school.

And WND reported just days earlier when a verbal spat between two men on a street in Champaign, Ill., left the self-proclaimed homosexual facing no charges, and the other, an 18-year-old Christian student, facing felony "hate crimes" counts.

Vere's warnings were followed by one from Grace Harman, who noted on the website's forum: "It would appear that Canadian law is discriminating against people on the basis of their religious faith, or perhaps discriminating against God himself, who gave us the laws of nature and purpose of life."

• Priest Investigated for Quoting Bible