| WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN 2000 September 15th, 2000 SHOULD
THE CATHOLIC WOMEN'S LEAGUE SUPPORT THE Approximately eight months ago the national executive of the CWL along with several other national Catholic organizations agreed to support the World March of Women 2000. The March is a series of events and demonstrations that will culminate on October 15 in a presentation of a list of demands to Parliament and on October 17 a presentation of the same demands to the United Nations. Among these approximately sixty demands are many laudable objectives, the principal ones being the eradication of poverty among the weak and vulnerable and the elimination of violence against women. However, also central to this list are the call for completely open access to abortion and the extension of homosexual privileges. It is the inclusion of these two sets of demands that have caused the debate before us. It may appear that Catholic organizations in supporting this March also support these demands for abortion rights and homosexual privileges. On the other side, many voices have been raised saying that as Catholics our opposition to abortion and homosexual privileges are well known and in supporting the demands we agree with. As well, it is further said that as Catholics we have a moral obligation in a pluralistic society to work even with people with whom we may disagree on many things so as to achieve certain moral objectives. Let us look at the background moral teaching that applies here. HOW DO I LIVE IN AN IMMORAL WORLD? The world we live in forces us to constantly make many moral choices. In a society such as ours we must work with many people who not only do not agree with us but whose moral views are totally opposed to us. As a part of society we are forced to be connected to evil actions so as to achieve good things. Our tax dollars pay for military expenses even though we might find that against our principles or for abortion clinics as well as good roads and reliable policing. To achieve a good often we even find ourselves involved in actions we find wrong to some degree. This is called cooperation. Though sometimes we find that we must cooperate, we should keep several basic principles in mind.
As article V.5 of the CWL constitution states the League is 'to cooperate at all Levels with other organizations where and in whatever manner the council concerned agrees is necessary or desirable to achieve the objectives of the League." It is presumed that this was the principle the national executive had in mind when they first agreed to work with the organizers of the March of Women. It was seemingly also felt that the CWL could opt out of the demands we find immoral. However, the March organizers have made it clear in writing that there is no opt out clause. One must sign on to all or none of the demands. As well, they have made it clear both in their web sites and in written communications that abortion rights and homosexual privileges are central non-negotiable demands for supporters of the March. This makes it appear that the CWL supports such demands. Though we may protest it not so, the manner of support says that it appears so in the March of Women's most current literature and publications especially in Toronto where the literature from the Toronto organizing committee makes both abortion and homosexual privileges absolutely clear. All of this has caused confusion and scandal among the faithful and in the wider society as we seem to be reversing long held core beliefs. Such scandal is very difficult to overcome in both groups. The League has worked very hard for 80 years to promote the rights of the preborn, women and children and all the marginalized in our Canadian society and the wider world and has made innumerable presentations to governments in these areas. It has put forward many innovative solutions to these and other problems and collaborated with a wide range of groups to help achieve them. The March of Women is not the only possible vehicle to have our voice heard nor the only activity possible to achieve our goals. Our participation in it compromises central Catholic beliefs about the sanctity of preborn life, the central role of marriage and family life and effective Gospel witness in our age. We are not to be selective about what members of our community are protected against violence. As has been stated in letters by both the Cardinal and his auxiliary Bp. De Angelis, the Ontario CWL Spiritual Advisor, for these reasons it was considered better to disengage from the March and withdraw support while continuing efforts to better the lives of women and children and all the vulnerable both in Canada and abroad. This was the stated opinion as well of the majority (68%) of delegates to the Toronto archdiocesan CWL convention in July. However, both provincially and nationally, delegates voted to maintain CWL support of the March despite the stated direction of the convention and the growing, widespread active disapproval of individual members, parish councils, diocesan councils and even provincial councils. It has been strongly felt and expressed that a small group has pointedly ignored the strong and legitimate opinion of the much larger majority in this regard. This March of Women does not allow for our voices to be both heard and properly distinguished in regard to seeming to agree to immoral positions overtly supporting and promoting violence against the unborn and homosexual privileges. The inclusion of such demands in either direct or ambiguous language compromises our Catholic beliefs to an unacceptable degree. The growing scandal being caused shows that such support was poorly conceived and the mechanisms both for addressing it and promoting appropriate discussions at all levels in the CWL are seriously flawed. Therefore, support of the Catholic Women's League for the World March of Women should be withdrawn, our positions clarified to help resolve scandal and actions taken to promote positive solutions in collaboration with appropriate groups to address the serious social problems of our time and our world. Fr. Thomas A. Lynch Theologian Courtesy of LifeSite Daily News, a production of Interim Publishing. Comments or questions: lsn@lifesite.net LifeSite Daily News archived at http://www.lifesite.net NEWS TIPS to lsn@lifesite.net Subscribe http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/e_subscribe.html |
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