Tag: catholics for choice

Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise:The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests

Posted on by

by Frances Kissling

This past week, criminologists at the John Jay College of Criminal Law released a numbers crunching, statistically dense, spiritually troubling 144 page report which aimed to identify the causes and context of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests between 1950 to 2002. The report was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who have developed a partnership with John Jay College in their efforts to understand and prevent the sexual abuse of children by priests and sisters subsequent to the Boston Globe’s 2002 expose of the extent of sexual abuse and the inaction and cover up of the abuse by church leaders. It cost somewhere between 1.4 and 1.8 million dollars, half paid by the bishops’ conference, the other half underwritten by religious orders and Catholic organizations. Continue Reading →

My Catholic Conscience

Posted on by

We’ve been here before. And no, it didn’t work then either.

by Jon O’Brien

Like others, I am deeply concerned about recent moves in Congress that would restrict access to reproductive healthcare services, especially for poor women. The situation reminds me of other experiments where a few people with extreme views sought to pass policy that impacted a significantly wider group of people—with devastating consequences. Below, I will recount how the hierarchy of the Catholic church hijacked a process that was on the verge of overturning the complete ban on contraception. But today, in the U.S. Congress, an antichoice cabal in the Republican Party is seeking to prevent poor women accessing federally funded family planning and other reproductive health services.  There are currently three bills that would do just that: the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (HR 3), the “Protect Life Act” (HR 358) and the “Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act” (HR 217). They, along with the budget which passed the House and did not include crucial family planning funding will severely impact the lives of millions of American families. As a Catholic, the fact that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has supported these attacks on healthcare services for poor women adds insult to injury. Continue Reading →

An Authentically Catholic Hospital

Posted on by

In November of 2009 Sister Margaret McBride was fired and excommunicated by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted. As a member of the ethics board at St. Joseph’s hospital in Phoenix, McBride had authorized an abortion to save the life of a 27 year old mother of four.  The young mother survived.  In May of this year when the story was broken by The Arizona Republic, a local newspaper, Olmsted stated about his decision, “An unborn child is not a disease … the end does not justify the means.” Continue Reading →

In Support of Mythical Families

Posted on by

David Nolan of Catholics for Choice gives us a run-down of the agenda for the upcoming World Congress of Families Regional Congress, an event to be held during the UK’s “National Family Week.” You can guess what kind of families organizers and speakers are — in some cases, literally — lobbying for. (Not yours nor mine, most likely. Indeed, the agenda gives the impression that there once was a God-blessed mythical family, a foundational community building block that, if reestablished, would end a host of social ills that, um, secular government can’t; it’s a notion that historical and contemporary data in both the US and the UK refutes. But let’s not much up a fine story.) Nolan writes: Continue Reading →