Quebec's radical priest-politician, Raymond Gravel, dead of cancer at 61

August 12, 2014

Father Raymond Gravel, a former homosexual prostitute who became a Catholic priest and later a controversial member of Canada’s parliament, died on August 11 at the age of 61.

Father Gravel ran for election in 2006 as a member of the Bloc Quebecois, having obtained permission for his campaign from Bishop Giles Lussier of Joliette despite the canonical rule against clerical involvement in partisan political activity. He stepped down from his parliamentary office in 2008, after the Vatican announced that he would be suspended from ministry if he ran for re-election.

During his tenure in office, Father Gravel was a strong supporter of legal abortion, and opposed efforts to block legal approval of same-sex marriage. He drew angry protests from pro-life Catholics in 2008 when he defended the award of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest honor, to Henry Morgenthaler the country's leading abortionist.

Even after his retirement from active political life, Father Gravel continued to espouse controversial causes. Late last year, as he battled lung cancer, he told a television audience that he would support legislation to allow assisted suicide in Quebec.

 

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Further information:

• Obituary: Raymond Gravel went from sex worker to priest to MP (Montreal Gazette)
• Quebec priest leaves politics at Vatican's insistence (CWN, 9/4/08)