James F. Carney, RC Archbishop of Vancouver, well-known for his energetic pro-life stand, died of cancer on September 16.
The Archbishop was also a strong supporter of Pope Paul VI’s landmark encyclical, Humanae Vitae (1968), which condemned artificial contraception. This set him apart from many Canadian bishops who believed that the encyclical should be softened in its pastoral application.
In 1983, Carney announced that Vancouver’s Catholic charitable agencies would not accept funds collected by the United Way because it had accepted pro-abortion Planned Parenthood as a member agency.
He often took part in pro-life events, saying during an April 1985 Mass at Vancouver’s Holy Rosary Cathedral that “the horror of destroying human life cannot be exaggerated.”
In January 1988, after the Supreme Court struck down Canada’s 1969 abortion law, thus creating a situation of “lawlessness” (Cardinal Carter, former Archbishop of Toronto), he told pro-life workers not to “lose heart.”
In December 1988, Archbishop Carney became the only Canadian bishop to defend pro-lifers acting en masse to close down abortuaries. When police made arrests during an Operation Rescue at the newly-opened Everywoman’s Health ‘Clinic,’ he compared their action against them to the perverse use of law enforcement in Hitler’s Germany.
Added the Archbishop: “There are times, there are situations when persons of right conscience conclude that peaceful resistance is justified.
Provided their protests are peaceful and properly motivated the protesters should be seen as conscientious objectors against the destruction of human life, and thus as defenders of the highest human values.”
Requiescat in pace.
