The Dialog

By Simon Caldwell

Catholic News Service

MANCHESTER, England — A day before the House of Commons was to vote on a bill on same-sex marriage, the new archbishop of Canterbury restated his opposition.

Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby became the archbishop of Canterbury during an hourlong legal “ceremony of confirmation” at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral Feb. 4. The rite, which included an oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II, marked the point in which he stepped aside as bishop of Durham and became the leader of the Church of England and spiritual head of 77 million Anglicans in sister churches around the world.

Speaking to reporters afterward, he said that he stood with his brother Anglican bishops in strongly opposing plans by the British government to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples.

“I stand, as I have always stood over the last few months, with the statement I made at the announcement of my appointment, which is that I support the Church of England’s position on this,” he said.

“I am very much with the House of Bishops on this, and they have made their views clear,” said Archbishop Welby.

The Church of England is the established national church in England and has a constitutional role in defining England as a Christian country rather than a secular state. Some Anglican bishops also hold political office as “lords spiritual” in the House of Lords, Britain’s second political chamber.

The office of the archbishop of Canterbury is effectively a political appointment because candidates are chosen by the prime minister, acting in the name of the queen. As a result, conflicts between the Anglican church and the state seldom occur.

The Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, mainstream Protestant denominations, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders are united in their opposition to the legislation.

The Catholic bishops have said it would pose a threat to religious liberty and the ability of the church to function effectively in civil society.

In January, the bishops distributed a million postcards throughout thousands of parishes in England and Wales to ask the faithful to urge their elected representatives to vote against the proposals.

They also issued a briefing paper to politicians, warning them that the bill, for the first time in British legal history, “fundamentally seeks to break the existing legal link between the institution of marriage and sexual exclusivity, loyalty and responsibility for the children of the marriage.”

The bishops said the redefinition of marriage would lead to more fundamental changes and predicted that proposed safeguards would be inadequate.

Many members of Prime Minister David Cameron’s own Conservative Party oppose the legislation; as many as 200 of the 303 Conservative members of Parliament are expected to either vote against the government’s bill or abstain from the vote.

The bill would have to pass through the House of Lords as well as the House of Commons before it could become law later this year.

By Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Retired Cardinal Jozef Glemp of Warsaw, who served as primate of the Catholic Church in Poland during the final years of communism and during the restoration of democracy, died Jan. 23 at the age of 83.

Offering his condolences to Polish Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI said Cardinal Glemp had a “profound love for God and for man, which was his light, inspiration and strength in the difficult ministry of guiding the church at a time when significant social and political transformations were taking place in Poland and Europe.”

Retired Cardinal Jozef Glemp of Warsaw, who served as primate of the Catholic Church in Poland during the final years of communism and during the restoration of democracy, died Jan. 23 in Warsaw at age 83. He is pictured celebrating Mass in 2009 at the Katyn Memorial Monument at St. Adalbert’s Cemetery in Niles, Ill. (CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World)

Vatican Radio reported that Cardinal Glemp died in a Warsaw hospital; he had undergone surgery almost a year ago as part of his treatment for lung cancer.

In a telegram released by the Vatican Jan. 24, Pope Benedict said the cardinal’s last days were “marked by a suffering that he endured with a serenity of spirit.”

“Personally, I always appreciated his sincere goodness, his simplicity, his openness and his dedication to the cause of the church in Poland and in the world,” the pope wrote. “That is how he will remain in my memory and in my prayer.”

The cardinal was a controversial figure in Poland during the communist regime’s imposition of martial law in the early 1980s. While he had urged Catholics not to resist the clampdown, he continued to support the right of priests to speak out in defense of freedom and respect for human rights.

The cardinal was just a young boy when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 and sent him as a forced laborer to the wheat fields of the German Reich.

The dual experience of Nazism and communism bred in him a deep-seated wariness toward both West and East. It contributed to Cardinal Glemp’s vision of the Catholic Church as protector of the common man against the powerful.

Born Dec. 18, 1929, in the western town of Inowroclaw, he enrolled at the seminary in Gniezno in 1950 and was ordained a priest six years later. He was sent to study in Rome, where he earned civil and canon law degrees from the Pontifical Lateran and Gregorian universities during the Second Vatican Council.

In 1967, he became secretary to Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski of Warsaw. Ordained bishop of Warmia in 1979, he held the post for just two years until, to the surprise of many, he was named to succeed Cardinal Wyszynski in the Archdioceses of Warsaw and Gniezno.

By his September 1981 installation, Poland was strike-bound, with the Communist Party and Solidarity labor movement bracing themselves for a showdown.

His meetings with Poland’s communist strongman, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, fueled accusations that he was too ready to accept the regime’s promises. The verb “to glemp,” meaning to please both sides, was coined.

At the same time, throughout the 1980s, his 500-member aid committee provided shelter for harassed opposition members and their families; and he was known for frequent hard-hitting sermons, as well as for allowing Catholic churches to host independent groups and activities forbidden under the communist regime.

After communist rule collapsed, he was at the forefront of struggles to ensure the church and its teachings remained prominent in a democratic Poland. Yet he also provoked controversy.

In August 1989, he angered Jewish groups by defending a Carmelite convent at the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. In 1992, he offended AIDS victims by branding the disease a moral evil. In 1998, striking farmers threatened to sue when he accused them of resorting to terrorism.

Yet the cardinal showed a readiness to confront thorny issues, actively encouraging Catholic-Jewish contacts and taking the lead to highlight the plight of those with HIV/AIDS.

In the telegram, Pope Benedict wrote that “love of God and love for the church, concern for the life and dignity of every person made him an apostle of unity in the face of division, of harmony in the face of conflict and of the need for the joint building of a happy future” that recognized both the richness and the painful experiences of Polish history.

Cardinal Glemp resigned as archbishop of Gniezno in 1992, when the Vatican restructured the Polish church, but he continued as archbishop of Warsaw until 2006 and as administrator of the archdiocese until 2007.

During his 25 years as Warsaw archbishop, he ordained more than 1,200 priests, created 118 parishes and consecrated 59 new churches. He hosted visits by Blessed John Paul II multiple times and by Pope Benedict in 2006.

His death left the College of Cardinals with 210 members, 119 of whom were under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave.

By Sarah MacDonald

Catholic News Service

DUBLIN — In the wake of the largest pro-life demonstration ever to have taken place in Ireland, cracks have begun to emerge in the coalition government over its plans to legislate for abortion.

More than 25,000 people converged on Dublin Jan. 19, braving bitterly cold weather, to attend the Unite for Life vigil in the capital’s Merrion Square, opposite the Irish parliament.

More than 25,000 people gather for a pro-life vigil outside the Irish parliament in Dublin Jan. 19. The massive turnout appeared to take politicians and the mainstream media by surprise. (CNS photo/John Mc Elroy)

Before the vigil, Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin joined more than 1,500 priests, religious and laity at a prayer service at St. Andrew’s Church in the city center to pray for the child in the womb.

The Unite for Life rally was organized by a coalition of pro-life groups opposed to the government’s plans to introduce legislation to allow for restricted abortion when there is a risk to a woman’s life, including a threat of suicide.

The massive turnout appeared to take politicians and the mainstream media by surprise, and by Jan. 21, Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton revealed that she was working on an alternative abortion bill that would exclude the threat of suicide as a reason to allow the procedure.

Speaking on RTE Radio, Creighton said she had “grave reservations” about accepting the risk of suicide as a ground for abortion “because I think it is very, very difficult to identify a system that would allow for that while also ensuring we don’t open the floodgates.”

She said she and many of her colleagues in the Fine Gael party had “deep concerns” over abortion, and she said the government needed to ensure that whatever legislation it introduced was restrictive.

Vigil organizers included groups such as the Pro Life Campaign, Family and Life, Youth Defence and the Life Institute. Leaders urged the crowd to become citizen journalists and tweet images from the rally, and #unite4life trended on Twitter.

A separate pro-abortion rally held just around the corner attracted about 200 supporters.

One of the speakers who addressed the Unite for Life vigil was lawyer and Pro Life Campaign spokeswoman Caroline Simons. She told the crowd, some of whom had spent up to four hours traveling by bus to be there, that the recent parliamentary hearings on abortion had “completely demolished” claims by the government that abortion was needed to treat threatened suicide.

“The psychiatrists who addressed the hearings were unanimous that abortion is not a treatment for suicidal ideation,” she told the crowd, who held up placards saying, “Fine Gael: Keep your pro-life promise,” a reference to the major party in the coalition’s pledge ahead of the last election not to introduce abortion legislation. Other placards urged people to “Love them both,” a reference to the equal right to life of mother and baby as recognized by the Irish Constitution.

“We are here to oppose the unjust targeting of even one unborn child’s life in circumstances that have nothing to do with genuine life-saving medical interventions,” said Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte of Tyrone.

Harte said there was “a groundswell of opinion to maintain the status quo in Ireland and not make abortion legal.” He urged the Irish government to “listen very intently” to what the people were saying to them. “There are so many people the length and breadth of this country who never get a chance to mobilize their voice — people want the status quo to remain and to keep Ireland a safe place for a pregnant mother and her unborn baby.”

By Francis X Rocca

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI named Msgr. Eamon Martin as coadjutor archbishop of Armagh, Northern Ireland, making him the designated successor to Cardinal Sean Brady as the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

The Vatican announced the appointment Jan. 18.

After serving as vicar general of the Diocese of Derry, Northern Ireland, last year Archbishop-designate Martin became its diocesan administrator upon the retirement of Bishop Seamus Hegarty.

Msgr. Eamon Martin has been named as the new coadjutor archbishop of Armagh, Northern Ireland. He eventually will succeed Cardinal Sean Brady. (CNS photo/courtesy of Irish Bishops’ Conference)

In brief remarks to the media in Armagh, Archbishop-designate Martin said, “There is need for renewal in the church, so that the message of Christ, in all its richness, is presented in ways which engage a new generation.

“There is a need for a mature relationship between church and society, in both parts of this island, and people of faith have a vital role to play.

“It would hugely impoverish our faith if we were expected to ‘leave it at home’ or ‘keep it for Sundays,’ excluding it from our conversations and actions in daily life,” he said.

He also said one of the biggest challenges facing the Catholic Church “is to acknowledge, live with, and learn from the past, including the terrible trauma caused by abuse.”

Cardinal Brady, 73, has served as primate of all Ireland and president of the Irish Episcopal Conference since 1996, and his tenure has been marked by controversy over clerical sex abuse. Advocates for abuse victims have called for his resignation since 2010, when it emerged that he had failed to inform civil authorities about an abusive priest who went on to molest children in several countries.

The cardinal will turn 75, the age at which a bishop must submit his resignation to the pope, in August 2014. As coadjutor, Archbishop-designate Martin will help run the Armagh Archdiocese until the cardinal’s retirement.

The archbishop-designate, 51, was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and attended the seminary at the Pontifical University at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He holds a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Cambridge, England.

Archbishop-designate Martin has served as president of St. Columb’s College in the Diocese of Derry, and executive secretary of the Irish bishops’ conference.

According to a statement from the bishops’ conference, the archbishop-designate has made frequent appearances on devotional television programs and has a “particular interest in sacred music, especially Gregorian chant.”

By Simon Caldwell

Catholic News Service

MANCHESTER, England — The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the British government violated the rights of an airline flight attendant by failing to protect her right to conscience and religion.

It found that Nadia Eweida, 60, a Coptic Christian, suffered discrimination when she was told by British Airways, her employer, to stop wearing a cross on her uniform.

Her case was one of four claims of religious discrimination against English Christians heard by the court, but the only one to succeed.

A Jan. 15 ruling dismissed the cases brought by Gary McFarlane, a relationships counselor fired after he said he had a moral objection to offering therapy to same-sex couples; Lillian Ladele, a registrar who objected to presiding over civil partnership ceremonies for same-sex couples; and Shirley Chaplin, 57, a nurse who said she was forced from her job for wearing a cross in breach of uniform policy.

McFarlane and Chaplin said they would appeal the judgment at the court’s Grand Chamber.

The court decided that in the case of Eweida there had been a violation of Articles 9 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protect freedom of thought, conscience and religion and prohibit unjust discrimination. It awarded her $2,670 in compensation and a further $40,000 in costs.

The four took their fight to Europe after the highest British courts defended their former employers.

Speaking after the Jan. 15 judgment, McFarlane said, “I simply wanted to do my job in light of my Christian identity, but I was policed and punished for my thoughts, for my beliefs.”

McFarlane added: “Recent equality legislation has not led to greater respect for difference but to the punishment of difference of opinion.”

By Catholic News Service

PARIS — A French bishops’ spokesman urged politicians to “listen to the streets” after hundreds of thousands of people rallied against same-sex marriage.

“We’re facing questions about society —what the family is, what marriage is, and whether there’s a difference between men and women,” Msgr. Bernard Podvin, spokesman for the French bishops’ conference, told France’s Metro daily.

Thousands of demonstrators march in Paris Jan. 13 to protest against France’s planned legalization of same-sex marriage. (CNS photo/Charles Platiau, Reuters)

“I’m not one who says the street must decide, because this is always dangerous, and political responsibility rests with those elected. But the street is expressing a great frustration today, those holding political responsibility can’t expect to govern without listening to what it’s saying,” he said.

The Jan. 13 demonstration was organized by a coalition of 30 family groups. Organizers said 800,000 people participated, although French police put the number at 340,000.

Msgr. Podvin said the Catholic Church believed homosexuals “must be respected,” but was against the same-sex bill, which was introduced in November by the government of President Francois Hollande under the slogan, “Marriage for All.” In addition to legalizing same-sex marriage, it would allow adoption by same-sex couples.

“In our eyes, there’s nothing contradictory between fighting firmly against homophobia and saying no to a radical transformation of the family model,” Msgr. Podvin said.

At the conclusion of the demonstration, protesters in Paris’ Champ de Mars called on Hollande to “hear and understand the people of France,” adding that the bill had “deeply divided” the population and provoked opposition “from right and left and the unaffiliated.”

They said the legislation “means inscribing in our law a fundamental discrimination: between those who will be born from a father and mother, and those who will be legally ‘born’ from two fathers or two mothers.”

France’s Le Figaro daily said several Catholic bishops, including Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, joined the rally privately with diocesan groups.

In a brief address to protesters in Place Denfert-Rochereau, the bishops’ conference president, Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, said he had not participated because his “mode of communication” with the government was “not the demonstration, but direct dialogue.”

However, he praised protesters for the “quality of their message” and for taking part “peacefully, without aggression, distrust or personal hatred.”

“It must be understood that the defense of parentage, paternity and maternity over children isn’t an act of aggression against homosexuals, but a recognition that a child born from a man and woman has a right to be raised by a man and woman,” he said.

Supporters of the proposed legislation plan a rally in Paris Jan. 27, two days before debate is scheduled to begin in France’s National Assembly.

About 500 people, mostly French citizens, also gathered in front of the French Embassy in Rome Jan. 13 as a show of support for the Paris protesters.

Along with pink, baby blue and white balloons, they also held signs, some of which said “Father + Mother = nothing better for a child.”

Organizers said they gave the embassy a letter addressed to the French president asking him to not promote the proposed laws. Similar protests were held by French citizens in London, Brussels, Madrid, Washington, D.C., Jerusalem, Moscow and Tokyo, organizers said.

Pope Benedict XVI did not mention the pro-family protests in his Angelus address Jan. 13. However, he did call for greater care and concern for immigrants and their families.

Noting the church’s celebration of World Day of Migrants and Refugees, the pope asked, in French, that newcomers be “accommodated and supported” in such a way they and their families may be assured a “dignified existence.”

A small demonstration by four women broke out in St. Peter’s Square just as the pope began his weekly address. Four young women removed their shirts to reveal slogans painted on their naked backs and chests, such as “In Gay We Trust,” and “Shut Up.”

The pope did not appear to notice the protesters, and they were quickly taken away by Italian police.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told Vatican Radio the church supports cultural and social progress, but not “at the expense of nature.”

He said he wondered why so many people were so committed to protecting the environment from manipulation, but “not very concerned about manipulation against the inner workings of anthropology.”

Allowing same-sex couples to adopt “leads to the child becoming a kind of merchandise,” he said, adding that a child must be born and raised “the ordinary way, that is with a father and a mother.”

In England and Wales, more than a thousand Catholic priests signed an open letter warning British politicians that a bill to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples would erode religious liberty.

The letter, published Jan. 12 in the London-based Daily Telegraph newspaper, urged lawmakers “not to be afraid to reject this legislation” when it arrives in the House of Commons later in the month.

The signatories, who also include eight bishops, suggest that the Equal Marriage Bill represents the gravest threat to the Catholic Church in England and Wales since the Reformation. They said it could restrict the ability of the church to function effectively and force Catholics from a range of professions.

“Legislation for same-sex marriage, should it be enacted, will have many legal consequences, severely restricting the ability of Catholics to teach the truth about marriage in their schools, charitable institutions or places of worship,” said the letter, signed by about a fifth of the priests of England and Wales.

“It is meaningless to argue that Catholics and others may still teach their beliefs about marriage in schools and other arenas if they are also expected to uphold the opposite view at the same time,” it said.

“Marriage, and the home, children and family life it generates, is the foundation and basic building block of our society,” the letter said

By Catholic News Service

ISTANBUL — The relief efforts of U.S. Catholics are helping Syrian refugees in Turkey face their ordeal in a dignified manner that respects their priorities, said Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz.

Bishop Kicanas, chairman of the board of Catholic Relief Services, traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to see programs the agency has implemented as part of its Syria emergency response program. He spent Jan. 3 in Kilis province, which serves as a major entry point for Syrians fleeing conflict at home and houses humanitarian aid camps run by the Turkish government.

The bishop told Catholic News Service Jan. 4 that he had spoken to a man who had just received a cash transfer of $150, through a local post office. Providing cash grants is one of the CRS programs designed to help the recipients buy products of their choice for winterization, including children’s clothing, blankets, heating materials, carpets and rent.

“The man, named Mohammed, said it was very organized and … he felt that they were respecting the dignity of the people to prioritize their needs,” said Bishop Kicanas.

The “man said that he’d never felt so respected,” the bishop said.

The city of Kilis has nearly 5,000 refugee families, the largest concentration of Syrians living outside the relief camps, which offer shelter, food, health and educational services.

Bishop Kicanas said the CRS programs focus on refugees living outside of the camps, because they do not benefit from the government services and are the most in need.

“The wounded are cared for in the camp but, outside, they are on their own,” Bishop Kicanas said.

He said that in addition to the cash grants to more than 2,000 of Kilis’ most vulnerable families, CRS was creating child-friendly spaces in the area, where refugee children will be able to spend time with each other under the guidance of trained staff in facilities that provide social activities, such as art, theater, dance, sports, reading and games.

“We need to realize that aid that comes out of the United States, like CRS, can make a huge impact,” Bishop Kicanas said, adding “it changes attitudes.”

He cited the example of a man he met while visiting a Kilis post office where some of the cash grants were being distributed.

“The man in charge of the post office expressed that he’d always been uneasy about Americans and their intentions, but that seeing this helped him see Americans as people with hearts,” Bishop Kicanas recounted.

After visiting one of the Turkish government-run camps, he praised Turkey for its aid to the tens of thousands of Syrians living in them. But he said local Turkish officials admitted to “having a hard time” meeting the needs of the growing number of refugees crossing into the country to escape the continued warfare in Syria.

“There was some bombing while we were there just over the border, and this is leading more refugees,” Bishop Kicanas told CNS.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than half a million Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey and the three other countries surrounding Syria — Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq — as well as in parts of North Africa.

About 140,000 of these refugees are now living in the government relief camps along the Turkish-Syrian border, says UNHCR, which is giving technical support to the nations dealing with the refugee influx and resulting crisis.

The Turkish government estimates that another 70,000 Syrian refugees are living inside Turkey, but outside the camps, on their own.

Turkish officials have made repeated calls on Syrian President Bashar Assad to give up power and end his country’s war between government loyalists and rebel groups.

Bishop Kicanas visited Kilis a day after the UNHCR revealed new data showing more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria’s conflict since it began in March 2011.

“The Holy See has made it clear that there has to be a diplomatic solution,” to the conflict, said Bishop Kicanas. “The fighting is leading nowhere.”

By TheDialog

By Catholic News Service

BERLIN — Germany’s Catholic bishops criticized the country’s growing arms industry and urged greater commitment to settling the world’s armed conflicts.

The message was included in a 24-page bishops’ conference brochure for the Jan. 1 World Day of Peace.

“Peace isn’t just a job for politicians,” said the conference president, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg.

“It must shake us awake when we realize arms exports are such a flourishing business, as military and paramilitary demands increase,” he said. “Images from the world’s conflict zones show how far we are from peaceful coexistence.”

Archbishop Zollitsch said 2012 had witnessed “worldwide terrorism, devastating wars in Africa and escalating conflict in the Middle East.” He said economic globalization required a “further development of international order,” which took account of “the global common good as a horizon for local actions.”

“Although world peace is generally recognized as a political goal, it often lacks the necessary commitment of power, especially when entrenched economic interests and ideological blindness fuel warlike confrontation,” he said. “Every individual can and must contribute to a more peaceful world, benevolently embracing families, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. Where conflicts erupt, every means should be used to help them de-escalate.”

As demands from the German army decreased, German arms exports increased and now account for three-quarters of national arms production.

In several 2012 reports, the Der Spiegel weekly said Germany was now the world’s third-largest arms supplier, after the United States and Russia, and it mentioned sales to undemocratic regimes.

Among recent examples, it listed the sale of 270 Leopard 2 tanks to Saudi Arabia and said the tanks were used to suppress pro-democracy protests in Bahrain; frigates and armored personnel carriers to Algeria; and nuclear-capable Dolphin-class submarines to Israel.

Der Spiegel said the German arms industry, employing 80,000, took around a tenth of worldwide defense profits, currently $1.8 trillion annually.

A spokesman for the Freiburg archdiocese, Robert Eberle, said Jan. 4, “We hope the church’s voice will have some impact on this big business field and be heard by people who matter.”

Writing in the conference brochure, Germany’s Catholic military bishop, Essen Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck said the 2012 conflict in Syria showed peace would only be achieved through “negotiations for a justified balance of interests,” adding that the Catholic Church should “set a pastoral example in working for peace and solidarity.”

“The voice of conscience exists in every person,” Bishop Overbeck said, “but it’s often concealed by the noise of weapons, aggression, fury and wrath. Christians are especially needed here in tackling the age-old question of how peace can be secured for humanity.”

By Catholic News Service

OTTAWA, Ontario — William Kokesch, a Montreal permanent deacon who served nearly 10 years as a communications director for Canada’s Catholic bishops, has been charged with producing and distributing child pornography.

On Dec. 27, Kokesch, 65, was released on bail after posting a $10,000 cash bond. The judge ordered him not to use computers or be around anyone under 18 without adult supervision.

The married father of five grown children is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 27. Information revealed during a bail hearing was placed under a publication ban at the request of Kokesch’s lawyer.

Constable Danny Richer, Montreal Police Service spokesman, said several people have contacted the police with information concerning the case since news broke of Kokesch’s arrest Dec. 21. Investigators have met with those people and “are trying to analyze the new information,” he said.

On Dec. 21, after police received a complaint from the public, they searched Kokesch’s church office at St. Edmund of Canterbury Parish in Beaconsfield and his home in Pointe-Claire, Richer said. They discovered more than 2,000 child porn images on a computer and other information devices they seized in the search, Richer said.

Kokesch, who was ordained to the diaconate in 1981, spent the Christmas holidays behind bars.

The Montreal archdiocese removed Kokesch from “all ministry and pastoral activity” upon learning of his arrest, according to a Dec. 22 statement.

“We wish to assure all those concerned by this event that we are keeping them in our prayers, and we urge everyone to have confidence in and respect for the judicial process and to await its conclusions,” said the archdiocesan statement.

Kokesch had extensive media experience, starting from his work as a reporter for the Montreal Gazette in the 1970s, then as a radio reporter. From 1995 to 2005, he worked as English sector communications director for the CCCB, fielding many of the questions about the sexual abuse crisis in the early 2000s.

Kokesch lost his job at the CCCB in early 2005 during a major restructuring of the Ottawa secretariat.

In recent years, he operated an independent communications company serving primarily charities and churches.

By Michael Kelly

Catholic News Service

DUBLIN — The president of the Irish bishops’ conference urged Catholics to make their views on abortion clear to politicians as the government considers legalizing abortion in limited circumstances.

In his Christmas message, Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, reiterated the church’s opposition to such legislation.

“Public representatives will be asked to decide whether a caring and compassionate society is defined by providing the best possible care and protection to a woman struggling to cope with an unwanted pregnancy or by the deliberate destruction of another human life,” the cardinal said.

“I hope that everyone who believes that the right to life is fundamental will make their voice heard in a reasonable, but forthright, way to their representatives, reminding them that the right to life is conferred on human beings not by the powerful ones of this world but by the creator.

“There is no more important value than upholding the right to life in all circumstances,” he said.

While the government has pledged to introduce abortion legislation in 2013, Minister for Health James Reilly has insisted that his plans will take “full account of the equal right to life of the unborn child.”

In practice, abortion has been illegal in Ireland under legislation enacted in 1861. However, a 1992 Supreme Court judgment, known as the X case, found that there is a constitutional right to abortion where there is a substantial risk to the life of the mother, including the risk of suicide, up to birth.

Successive governments have not acted on the issue. However, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2010 that Ireland must clarify when women can access abortion under the 1992 ruling.

Church leaders and pro-life campaigners are urging the government to hold a constitutional referendum to overturn the 1992 Supreme Court decision.