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WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN 2000 Bishop Gerald Wiesner backs women's march despite concerns
Prince George Citizen The World March of Women 2000 has its flaws, but is addressing the right
issues, says Prince George Bishop Gerald Wiesner.
"I support it in some ways, yes, although not every aspect of it, of
course,"
Wiesner said this week. "But I support it in two main areas, as I
understand them -- helping to overcome violence against women and
poverty."
This spring the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) endorsed
the World March of Women 2000, an anti-poverty initiative which also
endorses the right of a woman "to control her body and reproductive
function." On May 16, the conference of bishops said, ``Catholic social
teaching calls us to transform the world in solidarity with the poor.''
Some members of the Catholic Women's League have been critical of the
bishops' endorsement.
"There are aspects of the World March of Women, like the termination of
life, I would not support, for sure," Wiesner said.
"Having said that, when I am given statistics that one out of three, and
possibly one out of two women are abused, and the World March of Women
is trying to address this -- that part of the World March of Women I want to
support," the bishop said.
"I am also told that, in some of our communities, 95% of little girls are
abused,'' Wiesner said. ``Having worked with people who have been abused,
I have observed they are emotionally dead, but walking around. We have to
help them, but we have to prevent their situation from happening in the first
place."
The World March of Women must be credited with at least trying to address
these kinds of problems, he said.
Society as a whole must address them, too, he said.
"Sometimes we feel the only life value we have to address is abortion.
Abortion in my view is wrong, very wrong. But there is a direct link between
violence, abuse, poverty and abortion," he said.
"There is a clear cause-and-effect relationship between those. Statistics
also tell us that the most vulnerable institutions in America are single
mothers and children."
When people work to reduce violence and lobby to reduce poverty, they
should keep in mind the need to address the direct relationship between the
two.
The World March of Women is trying to deal with the relationship between
violence and poverty, he said.
"Violence cannot be justified in any circumstance or situation," Wiesner
said.
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