Finally an apology... Is it?

The Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, has finally addressed the violence from catholic extremists during the Valentine’s Day ‘kiss-in’ against homophobia at the Notre Dame Cathedral.

A Much-Anticipated Condemnation of the Violence:

Several associations had voiced expectations of a strong condemnation of the violence that occurred on February 14th. On February 17th, the Christian gay activist group David & Jonathan stated, “we are concerned by the spectacle of avowed staunch Catholics, and we implore Archbishop Andre Vingt-Trois to publicly condemn these violent homophobic acts perpetrated on the grounds of its Cathedral”.

A few days later, Stéphane Lavignotte, a Pastor and leader of the group Crossroads of Inclusive Christians, wrote an open letter to the Archbishop in the editorial section of the French newspaper Libération, entitled “The Archbishop Andre Vingt-Trois and his homophobic followers.” “What leads certain Christians to feel free to act in such a savage manner? I cannot bring myself to believe that you have remained silent on the matter. Your absence may make the perpretrators feel justified in their acts and thus validate their acts based on confusing the differences between the Catholic heirachy’s position on homosexuality and the actual legitimacy on homosexuality.”

The Archbishop finally made a statement after Clémence Houdaille, a journalist at Radio Notre-Dame, questioned him about the letter from Lavignotte. In her interview with him, she spoke of the young Catholics who ‘proffered homophobic insults”, but initially neglected to mention the physical violence, the alliances between these violent groups and France’s extreme right, and the Nazi salutes that accompanied their verbal insults and physical attacks.

DON’T TURN MORAL JUDGEMENTS INTO VIOLENCE

The Archbishop’s response to the journalist’s inquiry: “The kiss-in protest organizers, in agreement with the city hall, specifically to avoid trouble in the square in front of Notre Dame, agreed to move the protest to Place Saint Michel (a location not far from Notre Dame). So I find it very surprising that some of the kiss-in participants were at Notre Dame since the kiss-in did in fact take place as planned at Saint Michel. You cannot say that the protesters were followed by the Catholic extremists who harrassed them. If they had been, the harrassments would have occurred at Saint Michel.”
 source: Yagg.com