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Friday February 10, 2012
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Vatican
Church : Vatican
Now it has been confirmed. Cardinal Ouellet is returning to Rome where the gifted prelate previously taught theology at the Lateran University and served as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. This time he assumes one of the most influential posts at the Vatican, and becomes the highest-ranking Canadian in the history of the Catholic Church. As priest-writer Father Raymond de Souza observed, Quebec’s loss is Rome’s gain (Nat. Post, 2 July 2010). Indeed as the above article indicates, Cardinal Ouellet has made a strong mark on the Canadian religious/political scene since returning from Rome in 2002 to become the new archbishop and subsequently Cardinal of Quebec City. Although Cardinal Ouellet himself names the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City in 2008 as his greatest achievement since returning to that city, de Souza and others see other issues as looming large. Ouellet has stood fearlessly, and was often the lone voice in the secular wilderness that calls itself Quebec. He has repeatedly challenged the “increasingly secular, narrow and intolerant public discourse in Quebec,” (ibid) in stunning disagreement to the 19 residential Quebec bishops who have accommodated themselves, with nary a whimper, to the secularization of Quebec including the elimination of Christianity in Quebec schools. He speaks publicly and with great fortitude in defence of the Church’s teaching on marriage and abortion, which he calls an unjustifiable moral crime even in the case of rape, for which he earned the denunciation of Quebec’s politicians. Ottawa’s Archbishop Terrence Prendergast stood in solidarity with him in June to defend the Church’s pro-life teaching to snarling Canadian media, women’s groups and commentors. With Montreal’s Cardinal Turcotte the lone Canadian cardinal remaining, it may be an opportunity to increase the number of cardinals outside Quebec, where traditionally Quebec has had two cardinals and the rest of Canada one. It may also be an opportunity to reduce the total (25) of Quebec bishops, whose number seems excessive given the millions and a half Catholics left in that province. When all is said and done, it is a great day for Canada and for Quebec that one of its own has been so chosen. Catholic Insight magazine salutes and congratulates Cardinal Ouellet and assures him of the prayers of its subscribers. May the Holy Spirit continue to bless and protect him as he assumes his new duties in Rome in September. © Copyright 1997-2009 Catholic Insight
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