An Ontario Catholic organization is returning an Order of Canada medal to the Governor General on Tuesday to protest the recent decision to award abortion crusader Dr. Henry Morgentaler with the same honour.

Members of the Madonna House are gathering at Rideau Hall, the Governor General's official residence in Ottawa, to hand in the medal that was given to their organization's late founder in 1976.

Catherine Doherty, who died at the age of 89 in 1985, was named a member the Order of Canada for "a lifetime of devoted services to the underprivileged of many nationalities, both in Canada and abroad," according to the Governor General's website.

She and her husband started Madonna House in 1947 in Combermere, about 180 kilometres west of Ottawa. The organization now counts 200 members and operates soup kitchens and retreats in seven countries around the world. All involved have taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Madonna House confident Doherty would support decision

Rev. David May, one of the Madonna House directors, said he believes Doherty would support the organization's decision to return her award.

"It is only after much prayer and consultation with our community, as well as with heavy hearts, that we are undertaking this action," he said in a news release.

"The order has been devalued in recent days, and we are confident that Catherine is spiritually present with us, affirming this gesture of love for our country and for the values which alone can sustain it. Without absolute respect for the gift of life, no society can survive."

Madonna House's decision to return the award comes five days after a B.C. priest, Rev. Lucien Larré, returned his Order of Canada medal in protest of Morgentaler's appointment.

Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean named Morgentaler as a member of the order on July 1 for his services to women and for leadership in the fields of humanism and civil liberties. The appointment was made on the advice of the independent Order of Canada selection committee.

Morgentaler fought to legalize abortion in Canada

Morgentaler, a Polish Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Montreal after the Second World War, struggled for decades to have abortion legalized in Canada.

He opened his first illegal abortion clinic in Montreal in 1969 and performed thousands of procedures.

A trained family physician, Morgentaler argued that access to abortion was a basic human right and women should not have to risk death at the hands of an untrained professional in order to end their pregnancies.

His abortion clinics were constantly raided, and one in Toronto was firebombed. Morgentaler was arrested several times and spent months in jail as he fought his case at all court levels in Canada.

On Jan. 28, 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada's abortion law. That law, which required a woman who wanted an abortion to appeal to a three-doctor hospital abortion committee, was declared unconstitutional.

Canada now has no federal laws governing abortion, and leaves regulation of the procedure up to individual provinces.

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