Toronto Archdiocese Renews Funding Restrictions on Development and Peace

Finally some good news on the D&P scandal, again from Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto.  Last year, when the D&P scandal broke, he was the first to announce that no money from his Archdiocese would be sent to a D&P partner unless the partner was approved by the local bishop in the country where the operation was to take place.

He has just now reiterated this position.  Read the coverage here. 

This type of leadership is exactly what the Canadian Church needs.  Here's a man who is rising up to receive the grace of courage being offered by God to His bishops.  He refuses to be complicit in D&P's devious ruse and he's not afraid to announce it publicly, thus avoiding scandal among his flock.  He will not be bullied by his brother bishops.  He is clearly showing the Catholics of Toronto and of the whole country that he will not tolerate funding being send to anti-Church groups.

May God bless you, Archbishop Collins.  Your Grace, we are at your disposal should you ever need us to help bring change to D&P.  Just say the word and we'll come running.  

May this good bishop inspire the other timid bishops in this country to rise up to the full measure of Christ.

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Is money all that matters to the CCCB regarding Development and Peace?

John Pacheco at SoCon or Bust just wrote another insightful article on the Development and Peace (D&P) scandal.  Click here to read it.

Media reports following the Plenary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) had some coverage of the D&P affair, although we really don't know what happened because all the important discussions were held behind closed doors.

Among the public comments that we know of, Bishop Richard Grecco (Charlottetown) presented a report that whitewashed D&P of any wrongdoing. That part isn't surprising.  What shocked me was the report's assessment of the toll that this scandal has taken:

"Among the individual and regular monthly donors to DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE, we have had 34 individuals (of our 6,110 donors) cancel their monthly contributions as a direct result of the controversy, representing 0.5% of our donor database." (Source)

The reason that donations were so little affected is partly due to the fact that most pro-life Catholics stopped donating to D&P years ago because of other scandals.  

But there is a more fundamental issue here.  Is that how Catholic bishops should assess a controversy, by its financial cost?  

What about the sufferings of thousands of faithful Catholics that have become disillusioned and

Two Canadian bishops begin un-scandalizing the faithful

Two of Canada's strongest Archbishops, Terrence Prendergast (Ottawa) and Thomas Collins (Toronto), started the work of undoing some of the damage done by more liberal bishops on the Development and Peace (D&P) scandal. The manner in which they intervened is a HUGE development, unprecedented in the recent history of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).   

First let me summarize the facts (h/t LifeSiteNews.com), then I'll tell why this is so significant.

• On October 20th, an initial report on the D&P scandal was presented at the Plenary of the CCCB by the bishop of Charlottetown, Richard Grecco.
• Among other things, the report said that D&P "came under a concerted Internet-based media attack by certain militant advocacy groups and individuals, alleging that DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE was financing and promoting abortion programs and advocacy through our partner network."
• According to the agenda, no discussion was scheduled to take place among the bishops at that time.  Debate was to occur later in the week.
• Nevertheless, Archbishop Prendergast and Archbishop Collins both raised objections at the conclusion of the presentation of the report.
• Initially, the CCCB President Archbishop Weisgerber (Winnipeg), who chaired the meeting, attempted to stop any public debate.
• Archbishop Prendergast still spoke up and said that the bishops of Ontario were very concerned with the situation. He referred to a letter circulated to bishops from D&P, saying that he felt that here the bishops were being asked to continue with "business as usual" with D&P. The Ottawa Archbishop added: "I'm not sure we can accept that." 
• Again Archbishop Weisgerber interjected to note that they were only to be discussing the current report. 
• Then Archbishop Collins spoke up.  He said that there were problems with the report as presented because it misrepresented or misunderstood the criticisms of D&P by claiming that they were accused of "financing and promoting abortion programs and advocacy." He pointed out that D&P was "not accused of that," thus suggesting revising the report. "It is important," he said, "to be accurate." He continued: "When one is criticized it is important to either admit when the criticism is just or prove that it's not." He concluded, "It's important to I think listen to what the criticism is." 
• Archbishop Weisgerber had a very brief exchange with Bishop Grecco acknowledging they would reconsider the wording in the report.

What exactly happened here?

Most obviously, the events show that there are bishops in the CCCB who are very unhappy with D&P. We already knew this, so that's not a big revelation. But it's comforting to get a reminder.  ;-)

The biggest lesson of this incident is that these two Archbishops were so upset about the scandal caused among the faithful that they felt the need to publicly break ranks with the other bishops and go on record, publicly, as disapproving of how this scandal is being managed.  This has not been witnessed in the CCCB in a long time.  

Think about it:  they could have waited until the private discussion to raise their objections.  They could have settled the issues behind closed doors.  But they felt compelled to cause a scene before the reporters so that the faithful could have a public and visible witness to the effect that some bishops are not swallowing this.  This is clearly a wink and a nudge to those faithful Catholics out there who've been floored by the CCCB's handling of the scandal so far.  The two Archbishops are essentially saying:  "My dear flock, we have not abandoned you.  Your angst has not gone unnoticed.  We're going to fight this alongside you."

Trust had been broken, so the trust had to be rebuilt.  Archbishops Prendergast and Collins took a major step in that direction and they should be praised for their courage. 


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