When Man Wants "To Be Like God"

Dear Faithful,

The demolition of our society and country continues. After divorce and abortion, the planned new legislation on same sex unions (I refuse to call it marriage) will accelerate the destruction of the basic and fundamental unit of society: the family, on which both the Church and civil society depend. And just like in the case of the legislation on abortion, it is being done by a so-called Catholic Prime Minister and a Catholic Justice Minister. But I guess we should not be surprised at the agenda of a Prime Minister who wrote: "My family has always been rouge (red), Liberal in the free-thinking, anticlerical, anti-establishment tradition of the 19th century," in his best-selling book, "Straight from the Heart".

Despite Mr. Martin Cauchon's, the Justice Minister, repeated assertions this is an attack on the family and the sanctity of marriage. Obviously nearly half the Liberal caucus doesn't believe him nor do they believe the PM or the incoming PM, Mr. Paul Martin. How can they equate a divine institution like marriage with an unnatural union? It is original sin all over again: "You will be as God, knowing good and evil." It is again man declaring his independence from God in the free-thinking, anticlerical, anti-establishment tradition. It is man's insane dream of making his own rules and God just has to go along with it. As thought there is no objective true or false, objective good or bad, objective right and wrong. No matter what law is passed, no matter what ruling is issued by the Supreme Court of Canada, these unions will never be marriages; they will always remain unnatural unions. It is not that these things haven't been going on. What is scandalous about this is that the government will now make it socially acceptable.

They tell us it is not a matter of religion but a matter of equality of rights. Rights are founded on the man's duties towards his God, Creator and Lord. This is what we call religion. It is because man has duties to God that he has to be religious, that he has rights. He has a right to fulfill his duties.

As to Mr. Cauchon's, Mr. Chretien's and Mr. Martin's reassurances "that there will be protection for religious freedom", for how long? Until the liberal Supreme Court of Canada decides that churches discriminate against the "fundamental rights" of gays by refusing to marry them? If this legislation goes through it is only a matter of time before the "rights" of a well-organized and very determined minority supersede the "rights" of the very silent and sleepy majority. This is how democracy works: the vocal minority influences the silent majority through public opinion, and the corruption grows. This is not the will of Canadians but the will of liberal freethinking, anti-clerical anti establishment liberals imposing their corruption on society. This matter should not even be brought before Parliament to be voted on because it is not the will of the people, but the will of a few persons having an agenda. And even if it were the will of the people it would still be wrong because the will of the people does not replace the Will and the commandments of God and His Church.

It is not even a question of Catholic versus non-Catholic. It is a question of the basic natural law. The natural law follows the nature of things, their purpose. What is marriage if not: "the conjugal union of man and woman, contracted in front of two qualified witnesses, which obliges them to live together throughout life.'" (Catechism of the Council of Trent)? This is the nature of marriage, its purpose. God Himself, not the government of Canada, instituted marriage in the beginning of the world for the procreation of the human race and for the mutual assistance of husband and wife. So since it has God for its author it follows that God alone can alter the nature of marriage. The Canadian government has no power or authority to change the nature of marriage. This is nothing else than an attempt to desecrate marriage and turn it from its purpose.

The responsibility of the politicians before Almighty God is great. The scandal they will give will be even greater and there will be hell to pay. Whether they believe it or not doesn't matter. They may not be afraid of God, they may laugh at His ministers who remind them of their duty, and threaten them with ecclesiastical sanctions, but He will not go away or change for that reason. God does not cease to exist because someone denies His existence. It is not a matter, which will be fixed by a simple confession either. The scandal will have to be repaired.

Then you have the politicians like Mr. Paul Martin, presented by the newspapers as a "staunch" Catholic who put politics before their faith, reelection before God. Claiming that his responsibilities as a legislator must take a "wider perspective" he is placing his faith on the level of a mere religious opinion. This is equivalent to denying the faith. For him, his faith cannot be a supernatural faith, the true faith revealed by Our Lord.

Thank God there are two bishops who, at least to my knowledge, have taken a public stand: H. G. Archbishop Marcel Gervais of Ottawa and H. E. Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary. Both warned Mr. Chrétien that he would not be a good Catholic if he supports this law and for even putting it before Parliament. It does take courage to go against public opinion. Let us pray they persevere in the good fight. Blessed are they if they suffer persecution for the Rights of God and His Church. Even if no one listens, they will have done their duty before God. Please God all the bishops would be publicly united on this. They have the God given authority and power to defend the law of God and to protect us. History is filled with the battles of courageous bishops opposing corrupt civil authorities who abuse their authority. I would hope they would go one step further by threatening with excommunication all Catholic politicians who vote in favour of this law. Prayer and penance should be organized asking God to avert this and also to make reparation. Either we make reparation voluntarily or God will impose it on us. Need we be surprised at the fierce forest fires that raged in B.C., floods in Quebec or SARS and West Nile virus. It will only get worse. Let us also pray the government of Alberta does not cave in. It seems to be the only government where there is some common sense left.

On the brighter side here is a bit of good news from our Society: June is ordination month in our seminaries. June 21^st Bishop de Galarreta ordained 2 priests and 4 deacons in St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona. On the 27^th Bishop Williamson ordained 11 priests and 9 deacons in St. Pius X Seminary in Ecône while on the 28^th Bishop Fellay ordained 2 priests in Sacred Heart of Jesus Seminary in Zaitzkofen Germany. So we now have 15 new priests bringing the number of SSPX priests to 455. God willing 2 more will be added in December at Our Lady Co-Redemptrix Seminary in La Reja Argentina. Please pray for their perseverance.

Now back to the doom and gloom: in Campos the fall continues. It seems that Bishop Rifan received communion at the novus ordo requiem Mass, celebrated by the nuncio, for Bishop Navarro, former bishop of Niteroi who died last February. It is now just a matter of time before he too, like Dom Gerard, concelebrates the new mass.

Thank you for your continued prayerful and financial support. As usual the monthly Mass for all or friends and benefactors both living and deceased will be on the last Sunday of the month. Be assured of our daily prayers for you and your families. ←

With my blessing,
Father Jean Violette