Cardinal Ambrozic’s "Courageous" Stand for Orthodoxy

by Christopher A. Ferrara

        One of the chief Canadian opponents of Fr. Nicholas Gruner’s Fatima apostolate is Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic of Toronto, whose Archdiocesan bureaucracy has issued "notices" of various kinds warning about the "threat" posed by Fr. Gruner’s promotion of devotion to the Blessed Virgin and adherence to Her Message at Fatima. Fr. Gruner is guilty of the one offense concerning which the thoroughly modern post-Conciliar prelate remains extremely vigilant: suspicion of orthodoxy!

        Now Ambrozic charges into battle against homosexual activists in the Church. Well, not quite. On March 10, 2004 Lifesitenews.com reported that Ambrozic is "under fire from homosexual activists for refusing to confer a degree on a nun whose doctoral thesis celebrated lesbianism. Sister Christina Cathro’s thesis was entitled, ‘Listening for the Echo: Contribution of Lesbians’ Journeys to Spiritual Direction and Theological Reflection.’" This is a doctoral thesis, mind you, in Ambrozic’s own Archdiocesan theology school.

        Reading on a bit further, however, one discovers that Ambrozic didn’t actually refuse to confer the degree — he just had someone else do it! "While it is customary for the cardinal to confer degrees," says the report, "the cardinal left the duty to the alternate Chancellor of St. Michael’s College, Senator Vivienne Poy. St. Michael’s College president Richard Alway told the Globe and Mail that the Cardinal told him he ‘was concerned about whether it was appropriate for him to personally confer the degree.’"

        So, the Cardinal has no problem with a doctoral degree being conferred on a homosexual activist, based on a doctoral thesis that celebrates an abominable perversion. No, the problem is that he doesn’t want to do it. But Ambrozic is perfectly willing to allow the college over which he has authority to launch the career of yet another theological termite, who will gnaw away at the integrity of the Catholic doctrine for years to come. Does Ambrozic really think that his fobbing off this task on one of his subordinates absolves him of any responsibility for unleashing another militant feminist termite on the Church?

        Sister Cathro is quite miffed that the Cardinal would not personally hand her the doctoral degree. As she reportedly told Catholic New Times: "This is a story of life rejected, of research rejected, and of homophobia manifest in the high reaches of the Roman Catholic Church." She rubs the Cardinal’s face in her impudence, and the Cardinal does nothing except to let someone else bestow a high academic credential upon her.

        And will there be any notices from the Archdiocese of Toronto warning the faithful about the heterodox views of Sister Cathro, whom Ambrozic has allowed to become a "Catholic" theologian? Not on your life. But Ambrozic and his brave men are quick to pounce on the Marian apostolate of Fr. Nicholas Gruner, a faithful and orthodox priest who has, in fact, done nothing wrong.

        This is what Cardinal Ciappi meant when he said (having read it) that the Third Secret of Fatima foretells "that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top". Nor does apostasy mean that men like Cardinal Ambrozic have necessarily lost their faith as individuals. It suffices that prelates like these merely do nothing to defend the Faith — while attacking those who do defend it.