Winnipeg Archbishop James Weisgerber Elected President of Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

Last week, Vote Life, Canada! pleaded with the Catholic Bishops of Canada to take action against rebellious Catholic priests and politicians, particularly for the sake of the Unborn in Canada who pay with their lives the price of dissenting Catholics in Canada. In our press release the Bishops were asked to call an emergency session at this week’s Plenary Assembly to deal with this matter.

There are no indications yet that this has taken place. Monday's announcement from the Bishops dealt with the opening address, Afghanistan, Dr. Bibby and the Eucharistic Congress. However there is an announcement on the CCCB website dated yesterday October 16 announcing that Archbishop James Weisgerber has been elected President of Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. This is the same Bishop, according to yesterday’s LifeSiteNews report, whose diocese invited homosexual activist James Loney and NDP Member of Parliament, Bill Blaikie to speak at their Social Justice Conference on October 26th and 27th.

As was noted in this blog posting, the Bishops this year invited a representative of the Muslim community to address them at the opening of their second day. Imam Dr. Zijad Delic, Executive Director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, reminded the Bishops that “Muslims and Catholics are to work for the common good, justice and solidarity.”

According to the CCCB press release which appears below, the Imam quoted from Pope John Paul II regarding peace and justice. “There cannot be peace without justice. Nor justice without forgiveness," he said.

Yet no talk has been reported from the Plenary Assembly of Canada’s greatest injustice—the killing of 100,000 innocent unborn children annually—and no talk has been reported of the destruction of peace taking place within Canada as a result of this horrific crime.

Are the Bishops meeting at the Plenary Assembly Catholic? Or pseudo-catholic? Will none among them speak out and condemn the silence and the dissent?

"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? …by abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems…any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. " Mother Teresa

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The Catholic Bishops of Canada at their Plenary Assembly elected Most Reverend V. James Weisgerber, Archbishop of Winnipeg, as their President.

16 October 2007

Following the annual meeting, he will succeed Most Reverend André Gaumond, Archbishop of Sherbrooke, beginning a two-year term of office as President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). Archbishop Weisgerber well knows the functioning of the CCCB Executive Committee since he has previously served as Co-Treasurer and Vice President.

Also elected were the three other members of the Executive Committee: Most Reverend Pierre Morissette, Bishop of Baie-Comeau, as Vice President; and also Most Reverend James M. Wingle, Bishop of St. Catharines, and Most Reverend Paul-André Durocher, Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall, as Co-Treasurers.

A first in its history

For the first time in its history of Plenary Assemblies, the Bishops of Canada invited a representative of the Muslim community to address them at the opening of their second day. It has become the custom that the Bishops invite a non-Catholic faith leader to share reflections.

In his address, Imam Dr. Zijad Delic, Executive Director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, focused on the numerous similarities between the two religions, in particular their common heritage of faith in the one God.

He invited religious leaders to be disciples of reconciliation and understanding in a time of globalization. "As members of the human family, and as people of faith, Muslims and Catholics are to work for the common good, justice and solidarity," he said.

Quoting from the message of Pope John Paul II for the 2002 World Day of Peace, Imam Dr. Delic said that Muslims and Catholics must promote forgiveness. "It is an essential component of our relations, present and future, as suggested by Pope John Paul II. There cannot be peace without justice. Nor justice without forgiveness," he said.

The Muslim speaker concluded by recalling for the Bishops the importance of "an open door, an open hand, an open heart, an open mind and even in a certain sense an open creed."