Reached in Caraquet on Wednesday afternoon, Gionet declined an interview. He did, however, provide a written statement.
In a letter in French he provided to the The Daily Gleaner, Gionet wrote the sermon was about the destruction of the church and the need to seek forgiveness for past sins:
"I said: ... 'Today, it is we Catholics who are destroying our Catholic Church. We need only look at the number of abortions among Catholics, look at the homosexuals, and ourselves.' (That's when I pointed at my chest - through that action I wanted to say, we the priests) and I continued saying: We are destroying our church ourselves. And that's when I said that those were the words expressed by Pope John Paul II. At that point, in the St-Leolin church only, I added: We can add to that the practice of watching 'gay' parades, we are encouraging this evil ... What would you think of someone who seeing what was happening on (Sept.) 11, 2001, the crumbling of the towers, had begun clapping? We must not encourage evil, whatever form it takes."
Fr. Gionet, let your words ring out through the whole world! Let your suspension be the occasion of this prophetic message reaching ever corner of the Earth!
Oh yeah:
Lanteigne said the parish's regular priest, Rev. Rejean Landry, has apologized to him and to parishioners and he doesn't see the church as being as closed as it once was.
"We're not in 1920 anymore; the church has to be more open. And I think that based on the actions of the diocese, that shows the church is more open," he said.
Open to sin.
I encourage all Catholic bloggers to repost Fr. Gionet's words. If his words raise a furor in the blogosphere and make an impact around the world, this will be the work of the Holy Spirit: to bring truth to light even if it was stated in a remote corner of Canada. This truth should be out in the open for ALL to know and contemplate.
