OTTAWA—Neither the government nor parishes and charities opposed to the required pro-abortion Canada Summer Jobs attestation are backing down, leaving many scrambling to find alternative funding.

“We’re not seeking a war with the government or anything like that,” said Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto in a Feb. 23 interview in Rome with Vatican Radio.

“We didn’t start this controversy,” he said. “We’re trying to be cooperative, but we cannot check off the box” that says “‘I believe in abortion and a couple of other things,’ because we don’t believe it.”

“No citizen should be asked to pass a faith test or an ideology test,” the cardinal said, noting the government “seems to be doubling down.”

“We don’t want to get into a dispute, so we’re trying to give them a way out,” he said, adding the groups would follow the laws of Canada. “If they still refuse us, we’ll have to find a way” of funding the programs such as summer camps for disadvantaged children.

The B.C. Catholic last week reported six Christian groups in the Archdiocese of Vancouver had received funding through the Summer Jobs program last year.

The Archdiocese of Toronto is considering a special collection to help make up the shortfall for its parishes, which received about $500,000 in funding last year.

Canadian Catholic News