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Revision as of 13:44, 11 July 2011 by Marauder40 (talk | contribs) (→History: more clarification)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Abbreviation | CFC |
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| President | Jon O'Brien |
Catholics for Choice (CFC), formerly Catholics for a Free Choice, is a pro-choice organization based in Washington, D.C. that was founded in 1973 "to serve as a voice for Catholics who believe that the Catholic tradition supports a woman’s moral and legal right to follow her conscience in matters of sexuality and reproductive health." It is currently led by President Jon O'Brien. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) states that CFC is not a Catholic organization, identifying its advocacy for the availability of abortion as inconsistent with Catholic teaching.
History
CFC was founded in by Joan Harriman, Patricia Fogarty McQuillan, and Meta Mulcahy, as Catholics for a Free Choice, to promote access to abortion in the context of Catholic tradition. Its first president was Joseph O'Rourke. Joseph O'Rourke was expelled from the Jesuits in 1974 after the baptism of the baby of a pro-choice woman he was expressly forbidden to perform. This was preceeded by a long trail of discontent, often testing the authority of the Church. The group emerged from Catholics for the Elimination of All Restrictive Abortion & Contraceptive Laws, a New York lobby group that had been formed in 1970.
O’Rourke remained as president of CFC until 1979, when Pat McMahon was hired as Executive Director. McMahon shifted CFFC's legal status from a lobby to an educational association, opening the group up to tax-exempt status and to foundation support. One result of this was a $75,000 grant on behalf of the pro-choice Sunnen Foundation which funded the group's first publications, the Abortion in Good Faith series.
In 1980 Frances Kissling joined the group, and in 1982 she was made president. She lobbied politicians and activists, many Catholic, to work in favor of giving women access to abortions and to artificial contraception.
In October 1984, Catholics for Choice (then Catholics for a Free Choice) placed an advertisement signed by over one hundred prominent Catholics, including nuns, in the New York Times. The advertisement stated that "direct abortion...can sometimes be a moral choice" and that "responsible moral decisions can only be made in an atmosphere of freedom from fear of coercion." The Vatican took disciplinary measures against some of the nuns who signed the statement, sparking controversy among American Catholics, and intra-Catholic conflict on the abortion issue remained news for at least two years.
Kissling led CFC until announcing her retirement in February 2007. CFC's former Vice-President and Director of Communications Jon O'Brien was subsequently appointed as the organization's new President.
Mission
The organization describes its mission as "to shape and advance sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflect a commitment to women's well-being and respect and affirm the capacity of women and men to make moral decisions about their lives. CFC works in the United States and internationally to ensure that all people have access to safe and affordable reproductive health-care services and to infuse our core values into public policy, community life and Catholic social teaching and thinking." They argue that Catholic teaching on the primacy of individual conscience, and the role of the faithful in establishing church law, support a pro-choice stance on these issues.
The organization's stated issues include:
- Keeping abortion legal
- Expanding access to contraception
- Expanding the range of services provided by the Catholic healthcare system to include abortion
- A frank exploration of human sexuality
- Awareness of HIV & AIDS issues
- Exploring diversity of views within the Catholic tradition
- Challenging public policy initiatives by "conservative religious groups"
- Campaigning against conscience clauses that prohibit employers from firing medical practitioners who refuse to perform abortions.
Although Catholics for Choice has several goals, it is most known for its pro-choice advocacy.
Condom program
In 2001, CFC initiated a worldwide public education campaign called Condoms4Life to raise awareness about the Church's teaching regarding the use of artificial birth control, including condoms. In 2005 CFC created a group called World Youth Day for All that attended the Catholic World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany. They passed out postcards and stickers saying "Good Catholics Use Condoms". As indicated on the youth portion of its website, CFC also expresses a position on sex outside marriage that emphasizes what they see as the Catholic Church's teaching on "individual conscience".
The organization maintains that condom use will prevent the spread of AIDS, since couples will have sex despite Vatican prohibition.
Criticism and response
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has made the statement that " is not a Catholic organization, does not speak for the Catholic Church, and in fact promotes positions contrary to the teaching of the Church as articulated by the Holy See and the NCCB." The organization Priests for Life states that CFC's theological arguments directly contradict the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion and contraception.
Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska issued an interdict in March 1996 forbidding Catholics within his diocese from membership in twelve organizations, operating locally, where membership is described as "...always perilous to the Catholic Faith and most often is totally incompatible...", in a letter of formal canonical warning published in the diocesan newspaper, the Southern Nebraska Register. Catholics for Choice was the last of the twelve organizations. Members of the diocese were given one month from the date of the interdict to remove themselves from participation in the named organizations or face automatic excommunication.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and the Catholic News Agency have described the organization as anti-Catholic. In response to similar claims, theologian, ecofeminist and CFC board member Rosemary Radford Ruether wrote that the issue was in fact a doctrinal schism and not actual anti-Catholic persecution, that the claim was an attempt to portray the "Catholic right" as the only authentic Catholics, and that "the charge of 'anti-Catholicism' is being used as a scare tactic by the Catholic right in the service of repression of progressive Catholic views."
Critics of Catholics for Choice argue that only a negligible fraction of CFC’s income come from subscription fees and over 97% of its funds are donated by tax-exempt groups and private foundations including the Ford Foundation and George Soros .
References
- Catholics for Choice- About Us
- Priest Expelled for Forbidden Baptism Sarasota Herald-Tribune, p. 4b, Oct. 18, 1975
- http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-151974744.html
- New York Times. Backing Abortion Rights While Keeping the Faith. Neela Banerjee. February 27, 2007
- Dillon, Michele (1999). Catholic identity: balancing reason, faith, and power. Cambridge University Press. p. 106.
- http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/news/pr/2.20.07FKDeparture.asp
- Catholics for Choice - About Our Work
- Archived 2005-09-03 at the Wayback Machine
- Catholics for a Free Choice - Topics/Issues
- Catholics for a Free Choice - Topics/Issues
- Catholics for Choice - Topics/Issues
- Catholics for a Free Choice - Topics/Issues
- Catholics for a Free Choice - HIV & AIDS
- Catholics for Choice - Topics/Issues
- Catholics for Choice - Topics/Issues
- CFC press release 6 October 2010: "Conscience Clauses and Reproductive Rights in Europe - Who Decides?"
- Condoms4life.org Web Site
- Condoms4Life.org : Good Catholics Use Condoms - Good Shepherd Awards
- young Catholics for Choice
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - Office of Communications
- Fr. Frank Pavone to Francis Kissling: Being Catholic is not a game
- EXTRA SYNODAL LEGISLATION: Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz
- CATHOLICS FOR CHOICE NEEDS TO CONVERT Catholic League Dec. 3, 2009
- Pro-Marxist, anti-Catholic groups unite to attack Mexican Bishops CNA July 24, 2006
- Ruether, Rosemary Radford (Autumn 2000). "The Mantra of Anti-Catholicism". Conscience: The Newsjournal of Catholic Opinion.
- Richard Doerflinger, “Who Are Catholics for Choice?” Supplement to the Catholic League Newsletter, n.d.; reprinted from America, November 16, 1985; no pagination.