Canadian archdiocese ends ties with credit union

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Vancouver’s Catholic archdiocese has canceled a long-standing partnership with Canada’s largest credit union because the financial institution actively supports the city’s gay and lesbian community. Vancouver Archbishop Adam Exner ended a VanCity Credit Union program operating in four Catholic schools after the giant organization launched an ad campaign featuring two men sitting cheek-to-cheek, saying, “I want to bank with people who value all partnerships.”

Accusing VanCity of engaging in an “objectionable cause,” Exner said the credit union’s pro-homosexual advertising campaigns and sponsorships display public support for “agendas which are worrisome and harmful to the church and to society.” As a result, the 350,000-member Catholic archdiocese forbade four of its Catholic schools to continue to take part in VanCity’s in-school junior banking program, which teaches students how to save and invest their money, run a business and develop mathematical and leadership skills.