View topic - Peterborough bishop faces human rights complaint :: Free Dominion - Principled Conservative - Party and Canadian Politics

Peterborough Bishop Nicola De Angelis and 12 parishioners at St. Michael’s parish in Cobourg, Ont., face an Ontario Human Rights Commission complaint that could cost the parishioners $20,000 each and the diocese of Peterborough $25,000 plus legal fees.

Jim Corcoran brought the complaint after he was asked to give up his position as an altar server at Sunday Masses. Corcoran was dismissed from all duties on the altar after 12 parishioners wrote a letter to De Angelis questioning the presence of a gay man serving at the altar of St. Michael’s.

“There are laws in Ontario,” Corcoran told The Catholic Register. “Those laws say that it is unlawful to discriminate against people for a number of reasons, one of which is sexual orientation.”

“There’s no evidence at all to suggest that we were trying to be discriminatory or that we have some sort of distaste for people of same-sex orientation, or any of this,” said Gerry Lawless, one of the 12 who complained to De Angelis about Corcoran’s presence on the altar.

De Angelis has forwarded a copy of the complaint and the parishioners’ letter to his lawyer.

De Angelis and the 12 parishioners have until July 28 to respond to Corcoran’s complaint. Both sides have opted for mediation. Sixty-five to 70 per cent of Ontario Human Rights Commission complaints are resolved through mediation, avoiding the tribunal process. Only if mediation is unsuccessful will the complaint go on to a tribunal hearing.

Corcoran claims the 12 parishioners have misinterpreted entries on his blog (http://steannes.blogspot.com/) to draw false conclusions about him.

“I’m a chaste homosexual and practise my faith,” he said.

While Corcoran does live with another gay man, they are devout Catholics who refrain from sexual activity in accordance with church teaching, he said.

“Unless I’m actively flaunting my sexual preference in the Catholic Church to recruit other homosexuals or to promote homosexuality — I can see how people might take offence to that and how that might fly in the face of what the Pope is trying to do in terms of the priesthood — but just serving on the altar as a man?” said Corcoran.

By complaining to De Angelis about Corcoran the 12 parishioners had intended to express their unhappiness with St. Michael’s pastor Fr. Allan Hood, said Reg Ward, one of the authors of the letter to De Angelis. They blamed Hood for inviting Corcoran and his roommate to become altar servers.

“It was just one more way of Fr. Hood saying he’s boss and to hell with everybody else, like what the church is saying and everybody else,” said Ward.

Hood refused to speak with The Catholic Register on the record, citing diocesan policy against priests speaking to the media.

Ward and Lawless have written a series of letters to De Angelis complaining about Hood since he was appointed to St. Michael’s in July 2008. Ward claims the dissatisfaction with Hood runs deeper than just 12 parishioners in one of the Peterborough diocese’s larger parishes.

“Dorothy (Ward’s wife) and I know personally 25 or 30 who have left the church, are going to church elsewhere,” Ward said. “We know some of them who aren’t going to church at all.”

For Corcoran, his time as head altar server prior to Easter was spiritually enriching.

“For me spiritually, in terms of my spiritual development, I was just full of joy come Easter Sunday. Holy Thursday, I’ve never been so moved,” he said.

While Corcoran did have a brief conversation with De Angelis about the decision to remove him from the altar, he has not spoken to any of the 12 who complained about his presence.

The 12 parishioners did not consider speaking directly with Corcoran before complaining to De Angelis, said Lawless.

“We were simply responding to the situation. We didn’t know exactly what was the policy, or anything. We weren’t in a position to talk to him,” he said.

Corcoran said De Angelis urged him to take his dismissal from the altar in the spirit of Paul’s advice to the Romans on the issue of meat sacrificed to idols (Romans 14:13-23) — refraining from scandal. Instead the bishop should have confronted the 12 parishioners and their prejudice, as well as their attempts to get rid of their pastor, Corcoran said.

“This is a man (De Angelis) who needs some help in understanding how to deal with confrontation in his diocese. The Human Rights Commission helps people do that,” he said.

The monetary penalties aren’t the major issue, according to Corcoran, who employs 150 people as owner of St. Anne’s Spa in Grafton, Ont.

“I’m not in it for the money, but I think that if there weren’t some penalties then these people wouldn’t take it seriously,” he said. “I just think that the bishop has to make things right in this diocese. He has to stand up for his priests, and he has to stand up for all his parishioners.”

“We have not discriminated. We have simply asked the bishop to act on a situation which we had been informed on very good authority was in violation of church policy,” said Lawless.

The 12 will seek a dismissal of the complaint, he said.

http://www.catholicregister.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3256&Itemid=849
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Socon Or Bust: http://www.socon.ca/or_bust/

This triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it. - G. K. Chesterton (The Superstition of Divorce)

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 9:45 pm Post subject:

If this man is living a chaste life with his partner then I side with him.
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Did you pray for Roy today? Pray

http://tiny.cc/Gz84b
`There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with him.” Pope Benedict XV

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 9:48 pm Post subject:

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 9:56 pm Post subject:

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:00 pm Post subject:

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:02 pm Post subject:

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:20 pm Post subject:

To the parishoners,
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

To the OHRC,
If the mediation doesn't work, get out of the internal affairs of the church while you still can.
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Cod Father

Maritime and Newfoundland Ambassador to the Shadowy Group TM Boo hoo!

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:29 pm Post subject:

So the Ontario Human Rights Commission is going to drag this thing through their kangaroo kourt and cost the diocese and the 12 parishioners in Peterborough hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and fines, while the complainant doesn’t pay a dime. That’s a sweet deal.

And why? Because a homosexual thinks he can dictate how the Catholic Church should conduct its liturgy? Perhaps, the homosexualists would like to sue the Catholic Church for not permitting homosexuals into the priesthood too? Isn’t that the next step?

What do you suppose this does to the idea of freedom of association? What business is it of the State to tell a religious association who it can and cannot use in its religious functions?

Still, there might be a silver lining in this dark cloud. It could very well wake up complacent Catholics to vote for Tim Hudac in the next election who has promised to scrap these fraudulent star chambers. If the OHRC cares about its own skin, it will turn this complaint down in a hurry. It won’t be too smart to drag a Catholic bishop through their Kangaroo Kourt. You are not dealing with just one bishop but ALL bishops in Ontario (and even in Canada). If they all start squawking, it could be a very messy situation for McGuinty in the next election.

Can you imagine the optics of it? A Catholic bishop standing to answer questions about Catholic liturgy in front of some Kangaroo ”judge” who is going to lecture a Catholic bishop about “human rights”? This I have to see.

One more thing….back in 2005 when I was planning the March for Marriage, I had a conference call with two bishops. During that call, I told them that the fight over marriage was not about equality or marriage or human rights or anything like that. I told them that marriage was simply one hurdle in a string of hurdles towards the ultimate goal of desecrating the Eucharist.

If the bishops of the Catholic Church do not fully assent and cling to Humanae Vitae and do not start to teach it vigorously, unashamedly, and without compromise, the Catholic Church in this country will be crushed and forced to move underground.

If there is a bishop who is reading this, I beg you to have the foresight to understand what is going to happen, and to have the holy courage to act now to confront it.

http://www.socon.ca/or_bust/?p=1832
_________________
Socon Or Bust: http://www.socon.ca/or_bust/

This triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it. - G. K. Chesterton (The Superstition of Divorce)

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:29 pm Post subject:

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:32 pm Post subject:

I guess feminists will be suing next for not being able to be priests. Why the hell not? You can’t discriminate on the basis of gender, can you?
_________________
Socon Or Bust: http://www.socon.ca/or_bust/

This triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it. - G. K. Chesterton (The Superstition of Divorce)

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:36 pm Post subject:

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:36 pm Post subject:

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:40 pm Post subject:

Giving one individual the right to dictate to a whole group what they must accept is the very definition of tyranny.
_________________
Socon Or Bust: http://www.socon.ca/or_bust/

This triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it. - G. K. Chesterton (The Superstition of Divorce)

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:42 pm Post subject:

Posted: 07/ 09/ 09 10:46 pm Post subject:

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