Catholics for a Free Choice

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Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) was founded in 1973 by Joan Harriman, Patricia Fogarty McQuillan, and Meta Mulcahy, to promote access to abortion in the context of Catholic tradition.

Its current president, since 1980, is Frances Kissling. CFFC's first president was ex-priest Father Joseph O'Rourke, S.J., who was expelled from the Jesuits and the priesthood in 1974 and remained as president of CFFC until 1979.[1]

CFFC stated that its purpose is to infuse the organization's perspective into "public policy, community life, and Catholic social thinking and teaching." Though originally limited to the United States, the organization has expanded overseas to South America and Africa.

CFFC emerged from a lobbying group formed in the state of New York in 1970, originally named Catholics for the Elimination of All Restrictive Abortion & Contraceptive Laws. Kissling is a former administrator of several reproductive health clinics that provided abortions and was co-founder and past executive director of the National Abortion Federation.

The first public event held by the organization was the mock crowning of Patricia Fogarty McQuillan as "Pope Patricia" on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York to celebrate the first anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade.[23]

Contents

[edit] Mission

The organization's stated issues include:

  • Keeping abortion legal[2]
  • Expanding access to contraception[3]
  • Expanding the range of services provided by the Catholic healthcare system[4]
  • A frank exploration of human sexuality[5]
  • Awareness of HIV & AIDS issues[6]
  • Exploring diversity of views within the Catholic tradition[7]
  • Challenging public policy initiatives by "conservative religious groups"[8]

In addition, CFFC engages in activities:

Although Catholics for a Free Choice has several goals, it is most well-known for its pro-choice advocacy.

[edit] Condom program

In 2001, CFFC initiated a worldwide public education campaign called Condoms4Life[9] to raise awareness about the Vatican's ban on condoms. In 2005, a group called World Youth Day for All attended the Catholic World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany and endorsed the campaign. They passed out postcards and stickers saying "Good Catholics Use Condoms". [10] Posters from the group at this event also portrayed two men in an intimate embrace. Some critics claim this portrayal of homosexuality in the context of expressing sexuality (which the Catholic Church opposes) was offensive to Catholics.[11] According to critics, CFFC also ignores the Catholic Church's teaching on abstinence.[12]

The organization maintains that condom use will prevent the spread of AIDS, since couples will have sex despite Vatican prohibition.[13] Several bishops share the beliefs of Condoms4Life,[14][15] and have come out in support of condom use, arguing the Roman Catholic church's official position on this issue is unconscionable.[16]

[edit] Pope-Watch

After Benedict XVI was elected, Catholics for a Free Choice initiated a project called Pope-Watch.org.[17]

Among the demands made to Pope Benedict XVI by the project are:

  • a reversal of Church teaching regarding contraception, claiming that their use promotes the Catholic doctrine of the "culture of life"
  • the allocation of 25% of senior positions in the Vatican to women (see affirmative action)
  • optional celibacy for priests and religious
  • integration of already-married priests
  • meeting with survivors of clergy sex abuse
  • promotion of "intellectual and theological freedom throughout the church"
  • clarification of the rights of Catholics to receive the Eucharist
  • celebration of the Eucharist with those whom the church has "hurt." According to CFFC, this includes members of the clergy who have married, all victims of clergy sexual abuse, dissenting theologians and people living with HIV/AIDS.[17]

[edit] Response to criticisms from Pope-Watch

The Church responded in general to these assertions:

  • The Church repeated the official teaching against artificial contraceptives.[18]
  • Some Protestant clergy have been allowed to convert to Catholicism and keep their wives due to a dispensation granted by the Pope, however, celibacy restrictions have been maintained for Latin Rite priests by Benedict XVI.[19][20]

[edit] Conservative Criticism

The founders of CFFC claim that the Roman Catholic bishops do not represent all Catholics on the issue of abortion, yet critics point out that the group lacks real membership and evolved out of other abortion advocacy groups with secular and liberal origins. According to its first president, CFFC was not supported by many Catholics and the organisation is kept alive by financial support from the non-Catholic mainstream pro-choice movements and financial supporters, such as Playboy;[21] The organization's activities are thus seen by many of its conservative Catholic critics as a form of camoflague. However, its defenders argue that their opponents oppose meaningful religious freedom, given that many mainline Protestant denominations, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism uphold pro-choice ethical commitments when it comes to abortion and other issues of reproductive freedom.

The USCCB has made the statement that "CFFC 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."[22]

In response, the CFFC maintains that Roman Catholicism is an individual choice[23] and that the CFFC is an advocacy group of pro-choice Roman Catholics, not a sanctioned Catholic organization. This emphasis on the individual and the individual conscience is a basis of CFFC's organizational mission.[24] CFFC provides arguments they claim are based in theology, such as the Jesuit branch of casuistry known as probabilism, to advance the organization's ideas. However, some conservative critics argue that they are directly opposed to Catholic hierarchy teaching.[25] These conservative critics respond to CFFC by stating that the organizations theological arguments directly contradict the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion.[26][27] This teaching is described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.[28]


The Catholic League, a conservative and orthodox group known for its leader's public appearances, including the unserious suggestion that CFFC president Frances Kissling should be burned at the stake, has labelled CFFC a fringe group with few followers.[29] The Catholic League also points out that Frances Kissling, president of CFFC stated, “I spent twenty years looking for a government that I could overthrow without being thrown in jail. I finally found one in the Catholic church.”[30]

There is a controversy as to whether or not members of CFFC have, in effect, excommunicated themselves through membership. The rights of Catholics to receive the Eucharist were clarified with 2004's Redemptionis Sacramentum.[31] This repeated the doctrine that Roman Catholics must be in a state of grace to receive communion without committing sacrilege. The canonical penalty for procuring an abortion or assisting someone to get one is automatic excommunication with no need for an official declaration.[32]

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln Nebraska issued an interdict in March of 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 Souhern Nebraska Register. Catholics for a Free Choice was the last of the twelve named 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.[33] However, to this date, no other American bishop has made such a similar declaration, clarifying these issues.

[edit] References

  1. ^ A Guide to Election 2004 by the CFFC. Catholics in Political Life. Retrieved on March 03, 2006.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ [4]
  6. ^ [5]
  7. ^ [6]
  8. ^ [7]
  9. ^ [8]
  10. ^ [9]
  11. ^ [10]
  12. ^ [11]
  13. ^ Reformers Turn Up Heat on Church
  14. ^ French Bishop Supports Some Use of Condoms to Prevent AIDS
  15. ^ One South African Bishop Supports Condoms To Prevent AIDS
  16. ^ Reformers Turn Up Heat on Church
  17. ^ a b Pope-Watch.org. About the First 100 Days Campaign. Retrieved on December 13, 2005.
  18. ^ FAMILY VALUES VERSUS SAFE SEX A Reflection by His Eminence, ALFONSO CARDINAL LÓPEZ TRUJILLO President, Pontifical Council for the Family December 1, 2003
  19. ^ Major Anglican Group Prepares for Full Communion With Rome
  20. ^ [12]
  21. ^ The Ford Foundation's Proxy War with the Roman Catholic Church, by Joseph D'Hippolito O'Rourke: "CFFC really was just kept alive for years because the mainline pro-choice movement wanted a Catholic vote."
  22. ^ [13]
  23. ^ [14]
  24. ^ [15]
  25. ^ [16]
  26. ^ [17]
  27. ^ [18]
  28. ^ "2270-2275"
  29. ^ [19]
  30. ^ [20]
  31. ^ [21]
  32. ^ (CCC 2272)
  33. ^ [22]

[edit] External links

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