Raymond Gravel

Not to be confused with the Raymond Gravel (born 1929) who was a Parti Québécois MNA for Limoilou from 1976 to 1985.

Raymond Gravel
Member of Parliament
for Repentigny
In office
November 27, 2006 – October 14, 2008
Preceded byBenoît Sauvageau
Succeeded byNicolas Dufour
Personal details
Born(1952-11-04)November 4, 1952
Saint-Damien-de-Brandon, Quebec
DiedAugust 11, 2014(2014-08-11) (aged 61)
Lanaudière, Quebec
Political partyBloc Québécois
ResidenceRepentigny, Quebec
ProfessionPriest
Ecclesiastical career
ReligionChristianity
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
Ordained1982
Congregations served
St-Joachim de la Plaine Church, La Plaine, Quebec

Raymond Gravel (November 4, 1952 – August 11, 2014) was a Canadian Catholic priest and politician from the province of Quebec. Gravel was formerly the Member of Parliament for the riding of Repentigny, as a member of the Bloc Québécois. He was elected to the House of Commons in a November 27, 2006 by-election following the death of Benoît Sauvageau.

As a young man Gravel worked in bars in Montreal's Gay Village; he was open about the fact that he was a sex-trade worker during that time.[1] Although Gravel never came out publicly as homosexual during his lifetime, he acknowledged his homosexuality to his biographer, Claude Gravel, prior to his death.[2][3]

He entered the seminary in 1982 and became a priest. Gravel was controversial among the Catholic clergy and laity for his support of abortion rights, euthanasia and same-sex marriage, three issues officially opposed by the Church. He was most recently a priest at St-Joachim de la Plaine Church in La Plaine, Quebec.

He was acclaimed as the Bloc's candidate on October 29, 2006. He received a dispensation from Gilles Lussier, Bishop of Joliette, to enter politics. Elected with a large majority in the Bloc stronghold, he became the Bloc critic for seniors' issues.

However, following his opposition to Bill C-484, which would have recognized injury of a fetus during a crime as a separate offence from an injury to the mother, and his support for Dr. Henry Morgentaler receiving the Order of Canada, Gravel was ordered by the Vatican to either give up the priesthood or leave politics, and he finally announced he would not run in the 2008 election, saying that the priesthood was his life.[4] He cited as his biggest regret his inability to pass his private member's bill C-490, which aimed to improve seniors' access to guaranteed income supplements.[5]

He was removed from a position as a catechist in the Quebec Diocese of Joliette during 2010. Gravel then launched a lawsuit against the LifeSiteNews (LSN) agency, a project of the Campaign Life Coalition, for $500,000 in damages.[6] In his motion, Gravel suggested that articles on the LSN website caused him to lose this responsibility. Gravel stated that LSN misrepresented him by identifying him as 'pro-abortion' while he identified himself as 'pro-choice'.[7] In an interview with Radio-Canada, he stated: "I am pro-choice and there is not a bishop on Earth that will prevent me from receiving communion, not even the Pope." However, he later stated, "I am against abortion, but I am not in favour of the pro-life campaign that condemns all women who get an abortion."[8]

In 2014, he died of lung cancer. He was 61.[9]

  1. ^ "Controversial priest wants Bloc Repentigny nomination". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on 2007-03-11.. The Gazette, October 25, 2006.
  2. ^ Lafontaine, Yves. "Redécouvrir Raymond Gravel". Fugues. Archived from the original on December 26, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  3. ^ Gravel, Claude (2015). Raymond Gravel : Entre le doute et l'espoir. Montreal: Libre Expression. p. 48. ISBN 9782764810354.
  4. ^ "Priest MP leaves politics after pressure from Vatican". CBC News. 3 September 2008. Archived from the original on 23 September 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Le député Gravel ne sera pas candidat". La Presse, September 3, 2008.
  6. ^ Gyapong, Deborah (January 30, 2013). "First round goes to Gravel in LifeSite lawsuit". The Catholic Register. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  7. ^ Hamilton, Graeme (5 Mar 2011). "Two solitudes; Lawsuit pits rebel Quebec priest against hardline pro-life news service". National Post. p. 6.
  8. ^ Langan, Fred (August 11, 2014). "Activist priest Raymond Gravel preached gospel of tolerance". The Guardian.
  9. ^ "Father Raymond Gravel, outspoken social activist, dies". CBC News. August 11, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2014.