Bishop's letter on same-sex marriage prompts furor across Canada

Published: 2005-01-21

CALGARY, Alberta (CNS) -- Calgary Bishop Frederick Henry's comparison of same-sex marriage to adultery, prostitution and pornography has prompted a furor across Canada. The bishop's pastoral letter, read in churches in the Calgary Diocese Jan. 15-16, also said the state should use its "coercive power" to curtail such activities. The letter was published in the Jan. 17 edition of the Western Catholic Reporter, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Edmonton, Alberta. One editorial in the Toronto-based newspaper The Globe and Mail called Bishop Henry's views "odious" and "noxious" and said the bishop was "a source of scandal and embarrassment." Bishop Henry said he received hundreds of letters in the week following the letter's release. "I would say probably the letters are running 8-to-1 in favor of what I'm saying," he said in a Jan. 19 interview with the Western Catholic Reporter. "However, those in the minority or dissenting camp are sometimes mean and vulgar and attempt to try and demonize me in order to kind of silence me."

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .