Ottawa, Canada - A small group of priests in French-speaking Quebec has taken the rare step of openly criticizing the Catholic church for its opposition to same sex marriages and the ordination of active homosexuals.
The 19 priests wrote a letter to Quebec's bishops complaining that the arguments used by the church "had caused confusion and disagreements" among the faithful.
"Does the church necessarily have the last word on the mysteries of political, social, family and sexual life?" asked the letter, which was published in Sunday's edition of La Presse newspaper.
"In these matters, the official teaching of the church has been shown to be wrong more than once."
The Catholic church in Quebec acknowledged there were tensions among believers over gay marriage but tried to play down the letter.
"It is not an earthquake," said Bishop Louis Dicaire, charged by the church with reacting to the priests' complaint. He said the letter would not change the church's official stance on homosexuals.
The priests object to a Vatican ruling last November that said practicing homosexuals should be barred from entering the priesthood along with men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies and those who support gay culture.
They are also unhappy about a presentation the Catholic church gave to a parliamentary committee looking into gay marriage. Despite the church's objections, Parliament approved a law allowing same sex unions in June 2005.
"Was there any trace of the compassion that marked every step of Jesus's existence on Earth? Not a paragraph, not a sentence in your in statement took into account the historical persecution of homosexuals and the tragedy of their social and ecclesial exclusion," the group said of the church's presentation.
One of the 19 authors was Raymond Gavel, an outspoken priest who has often criticized the church's views on gays. Open letters of protest, however, are very unusual.
Until the early 1960s, the Catholic church enjoyed unrivaled authority in Quebec but that has gradually faded.
Although Catholics account for 83 percent of the population in Quebec, the highest proportion in any Canadian province, few attend church regularly.
Bishop Dicaire told Reuters there was nothing particularly new in the letter, given that it was already clear some Catholics do not agree with the bishops' position.
He noted there were more than 2,500 Catholic priests in Quebec. He also said he would be very surprised if anyone in the church tried to punish the 19 dissidents.
"They are exercising their right to public expression, although one could question whether it's the best way to advance the debate ... I don't think we can talk about a crisis (in the church)," he said in a phone interview on Monday.