CARDINAL Marc Ouellet’s apology for the sins of some Quebec Catholics provoked an unprecedented response across the country.

In late November, writing as Primate of Canada, Ouellet issued an open letter to Quebec papers inviting Catholics “to perform an act of repentance and reconciliation,” to be completed during Lent.

“The narrow attitudes of certain Catholics, prior to 1960, favoured anti-Semitism, racism, indifference towards First Nations, and discrimination against women and homosexuals,” Ouellet wrote, adding: “Youngsters were subject to sexual aggression by priests and religious figures – causing great injury.”

The apology letter came some weeks after his brief to the Bouchard-Taylor Commission studying ‘reasonable accommodation’ of religious minorities. Ouellet told the commission Quebec’s uneasiness with newcomers, its miniscule birth rate, high suicide rate and other social ills stemmed from a spiritual void created by the collapse of Catholicism.

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Reaction to the letter dominated news coverage in Quebec and quickly spread to the rest of Canada. Representatives of some women’s groups and gay rights organizations grudgingly accepted the cardinal’s apology, but criticized it for not going far enough.

Saint Paul University professor Catherine Clifford responded that Ouellet was “sincere in trying to take ownership of unfortunate chapters of history in Quebec society.”

Some called the apology tainted or calculating because Ouellet reiterated his support for parents to have a say over the kind of religious education their children receive in the schools. Ouellet has waged a public campaign against Quebec’s plans to impose an ‘Ethics and Religious Culture’ course on all schools.

Luc Gagnon, editor of Egards, a socially conservative journal, described Ouellet as “a prophetic voice in our time” and a “religious leader who defends the interests of the faithful against the aggression of the state.”

– Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News

January 2008