OTTAWA (CCN)--Father Raymond Gravel, a Quebec Catholic priest who served as a Bloc Quebecois MP from 2006-8, is suing LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) for defamation.
“We’ve been online since 1997, but this could indeed shut us down,” said LSN editor John-Henry Westen.
Father Gravel, who is incardinated in the Diocese of Joliette, is seeking $300,000 for the attack on his reputation and consequent pain and suffering, and another $200,000 in punitive damages for what he calls a voluntary, intentional and malicious attack.
“I am against abortion but LifeSiteNews.com says always I am for abortion,” Father Gravel said. “The LifeSiteNews presents me, a priest, as pro-abortion.
Father Gravel added he does not think the best method to combat abortion is through the Criminal Law, but through education, and teaching young people to be responsible about sexuality.
“I am not pro-abortion,” he said. “I am against abortion.” He noted that he did research on countries where abortion is forbidden and said some 70,000 women died of illegal abortions. “It is horrible.”
“We must work with women, not against women,” he said.
(...)
In a 31-page statement filed with the Quebec Superior Court in Joliette, Father Gravel asserts that he has been a Catholic priest for 25 years and has always been faithful to the magisterium of the Church.
Fr. Gravel is labouring under some grave misconceptions.
He thinks his position on abortion (i.e. decriminalization) is consistent with Church teaching.
Is it?
From the Catechism:
2273 The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:
"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority.
...
When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined....
As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights."
Fr. Raymond Gravel has consistently spoken out against granting the right to life to unborn children.
Father Gravel also said he blamed LSN for his having to give up his job representing the Repentigny riding in the House of Commons.
“I was a member of Parliament,” he said. “I had to abandon this because of what they wrote.”
Or maybe you had to leave because of what YOU wrote.
Here's the problem folks.
When did the bishops correct him?
They didn't.
That's why he thinks what he believes is okay.
In the statement, Father Gravel contends in his statement that the smear campaign against him began in 2003 when he wrote an open letter criticizing a Vatican document that said respect for homosexual persons cannot lead to approval of homosexual behavior or legal recognition of homosexual union. Father Gravel disagreed, saying the position of the Church is discriminatory and hurtful.
But he's totally faithful to the Magisterium...
Gravel said he had informed his bishop about the lawsuit but that he was acting on his own. Joliette Bishop Gilles Lussier was away and a spokesman said the diocese had no comment.
WHAT???
Too scared to say anything?
