Pete Vere, a canon lawyer, pro-life, and pro-family advocate in Canada, has just published an article in The Remnant, “Free Speech in Canada, RIP.” Mr. Vere summarizes the plight of Fr. Alphonse de Valk, a Basilian priest in Canada who is being persecuted on anti-Christian “hate crime” charges.
As you read this, be mindful that the radically anti-Catholic and anti-natural-law judicial activism going on in Canada is a prelude of things to come here in the U.S. Until Christ reigns as King here, we can look forward to this:
Fr. de Valk is the editor of Catholic Insight. This monthly journal promotes the Church’s traditional teaching on marriage and the family, speaking out strongly against contraception, divorce, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality and other acts of immorality that have gained widespread acceptance in our day. During the political debate over so-called “same-sex marriage,” Father published several articles upholding marriage as God created it – both under the Natural Law, and as a sacrament. These articles quoted extensively from the Bible, papal encyclicals, and other sources of Catholic Tradition. The articles also quoted studies from reputable medical doctors and psychologists.
This is the “hate crime” for which Father is being investigated by Canada’s human rights commissions. Once the complaint is investigated, the commission will likely haul Father before one of Canada’s human rights tribunals. Technically, the tribunals operate at an arm’s length distance from the commissions, which take on a new role as legal prosecution for the complainant. In practicality, no accused has ever beaten the rap when brought before the tribunal by the commission.
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The state pays the legal costs of the complainant, whereas the accused is responsible for his own legal fees. Not that a good legal defense really makes a difference anyway – the commissions have a 100 percent conviction rate when bringing a Christian before Canada’s human rights tribunals. In fact, they have a 100 percent conviction rate with every case they bring before the tribunal. Thus Father, who has already spent $20,000 on his legal defense, will be forced to appear before a tribunal of politically-correct government appointees who make up the rules as they go along. He is not even entitled to a public defender because the tribunals are not real courts, but quasi-judicial tribunals.
Yet if Father refuses to go along with this marsupial madness, he can be charged with contempt of court and face real jail time. All because he upheld Church teaching on something that nobody even questioned a generation ago, namely, that marriage is a union between one man and one woman.
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So what can Fr. de Valk anticipate when he goes before Canada’s human rights tribunals? The answer is fourfold: 1) Thousands of dollars in fines; 2) An order to apologize to the homosexual activist who initiated the complaint against him; 3) An order to never again communicate the Church’s traditional teaching on moral issues – not only from the pulpit, but in the confessional as well; and 4) A prohibition from speaking out against the injustice of Canada’s “human rights” racket to which he was subjected.
