Cardinal finds World Pride Day Catholics ‘strange and troubling’

Toronto Archbishop Cardinal Thomas Collins has expressed outrage over a decision by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) to take part in the World Pride Parade hosted this year in Toronto, writes Peter Kavanagh.

In a letter released after a meeting between the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario and the president of the association, Cardinal Collins wrote “This decision shows that the OECTA leadership have an inadequate and mistaken understanding of their faith.” The cardinal went on to elaborate in an interview that he was at a loss to understand how marching in a parade known for its graphic sexuality and promotion of homosexual values would not sow confusion among Catholics. “I find it very troubling and strange that [the association] would choose this particular event as a way of expressing [compassion] when it seems to be going completely against what we believe in many ways. That’s the point at which I would say, ‘Really? What are you thinking?’”