Canadian Bishops to Convene, emergency session requested, cite Abp. Burke

The Organization "Vote Life, Canda!" is calling upon next week's plenary assembly of Canadian Bishops to do something decisive about the recent string of priestly public scandals:

As the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) prepares to convene next week for its annual Plenary Assembly, the organization, Vote Life, Canada!, is calling for an emergency session to investigate how priestly actions contrary to the Church, have impacted the Canadian people.

On one particular occasion, Father Raymond Gravel, a Catholic priest and politician, publicly showed his support for issues that are strictly opposed to the Church’s teachings.

According to Eric Alcock, the President of Vote Life, Canada!, “Just last week, Catholics in Canada were scandalized by the television appearance of Father Raymond Gravel, Catholic priest/politician, who once again unabashedly expressed his support for both homosexuality and abortion."

In this incident, reported by LifeSiteNews.com, after defending active homosexuality, Fr. Gravel stated, "I also support abortion although I have never had one!" [CNA]

You can read the Vote, Canada!'s press release here. They are calling on the CCCB to have an emergency session to address, as they describe it "ongoing scandal and devastation caused in Canada by renegade Catholic priests and politicians."

Having covered of few of these stories as they were transpiring, I join them in their call.

Notably, the Vote, Canada! press release cites the example of Abp. Burke as a model for dealing with these sorts of issues:

Alcock strongly recommends the Canadian Bishops follow the lead of St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke who insists the consistent position of the church has been that both priests and bishops are morally obligated to deny Holy Communion to wayward Catholics, particularly politicians. Burke is one of the sharpest legal minds in the Catholic Church and a sitting member of the Vatican's highest judicial authority. Just this past week a national association of 600 priests & deacons publicly endorsed Burke's campaign to have fellow US Bishops create new guidelines for Holy Communion at the upcoming annual conference.

"Burke's insistence that such guidelines protect the sacredness of the Eucharist, safeguard the salvation of the individual's soul as well as protect the Catholic faithful from scandal are echoed in the Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops issued by Vote Life, Canada! in June past," noted Alcock.

"Only when the Bishops of Canada provide spiritual leadership of a genuinely Catholic caliber will this nation be ready to re-institute legal protections for the Unborn." Alcock urged, "Let that leadership start next week."

I'll be watching the CCCB meeting to see if anything actually happens.

Update: More from LifeNews.