Father Raymond Gravel is prosecuting Life Site News for its irresponsible and hateful campaign to destroy him and ruin his reputation. This Quebec priest, who is a strong supporter of Development and Peace, is urgently in need of funds to allow his case of libel, scorn and incitement to hatred to advance in the Quebec courts. See National Post (link) story on this.
If he wins his lawsuit for $500,000 civil damages, Father Gravel is willing to donate a significant amount to Development and Peace.
The hate campaign by this same web site against Development and Peace and its unfounded and inflammatory allegations against the organization launched the controversy that led to the defunding by D&P of Mexican human rights organization PRODH. A win for Father Gravel in this case would be a significant victory in the battle against such hate speech and poorly argued malicious attacks against Catholic social teaching that are the central focus of these blogs.
Father Gravel has been the object of vilification by LifeSitenews.com because of the questions he has raised on Catholic Church teachings on sexuality, for his ministry with the gay community in Montreal’s gay village and for his defense of women’s rights.
He writes on his blog:
“Many people cannot understand how a priest who preaches the Gospel can sue a catholic organization. For nearly eight years now, several defamatory articles about me have been published on this site and have served to misinform the population at large about me. On several occasions, I have sent them articles written by me, translated into English to allow them to correct the misinformation. They have never done this. On the contrary, they have urged people to write letters of condemnation about me to my religious authorities, including my Bishop, going as far as the Vatican, by writing to the Papal Nuncio in Ottawa. This site is widely consulted by Christians in English Canada and in the US. I receive hundreds of emails, and letters, all of them insulting, and I am the object of continual harassment from catholic readers of this site.
…I therefore decided to try a libel lawsuit in order to reestablish justice and shed light on the truth regarding who I am.
It is true that the Gospel calls us to forgiveness and to mercy and love. I do not question these gospel values. Does Jesus not say, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for justice: theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew, 5: 10.) ? We must therefore understand that if some have been persecuted for the sake of justice, it is no doubt because they have fought for justice, if not, they would never have been persecuted…
I believe sincerely in forgiveness, mercy and unconditional love. However, this is no way cancels out the duty we have to restore justice and unveil the truth. It is a question of dignity, as when this is trampled on, we have to do everything we can to restore it.
I thank all those who have supported me in this ordeal. Some have wished to make a financial contribution to my lawsuit. If you would like to make a donation, click on the following link: http://www.raymondgravel.com/
or please send a cheque to the following address:
Raymond Gravel
11,200 boul Pie IX
CP 129
Montreal
Quebec H1H 5L2
My sincere thanks,
Father Raymond Gravel
Diocese of Joliette
Chaplain of Montreal firefighters and Laval police officers
The question that people posed to Fr. Gravel "how a priest who preaches the Gospel can sue a catholic organization" is a wrong question. Lifesite is not a Catholic (nor Christian) organization. It is has no status within the ecclesiastical or episcopal structure of the church nor it has any mandated position as a lay organization. To put simply it is not accountable to anyone. The question is: if it not accountable to no one let alone to the Catholic church, why is it that some Bishops and priests listen to the poisonous diatribe of a hateful group vent on destroying a Catholic organization devoted to following the Gospel's call to care for the poor and oppressed? Why is it that some Bishops and priests are succumbing to the lies of the lifesite and continue to use these lies to demand more accountability to an organization that has a couple of dozen board members including 2 bishops and reports to the CCCB and public on a regular basis?
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