Conscience articles from June 2002

Conscience archives from June 2002

Editor's note.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
June 22, 2002... Frances Kissling's opinion piece on the sexual abuse scandal currently embroiling the Catholic church says it all. The bishops' failure to act against predatory priests and the bishops who protected them means that this issue will surely not go...

Damage control in Dallas: the bishops meet.(scandals of the Catholic Church)
June 22, 2002... I was scheduled for a vacation. June 15th, my birthday, was to be spent in Ephesus, site of the ancient temple of Artemis where the philosopher Heraclitus deposited his single volume in her honor. Home also, for several years, to Paul who...

The church we want?(Catholic Church)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Walt Disney World in Florida is a place where the harsh realities of life can be suspended for a few short hours or days of good, clean, family fun. Within the boundaries of Mickey's Magic Kingdom there are no poor people, no environmental...

An enlightened church? Letters to young Catholics.(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2002... As hundreds of thousands of young Catholics gather in Toronto, Canada, to celebrate World Youth Day, Conscience asked Catholic women from around the world to share their advice, encouragement, and insights on what it means to be a Catholic...

Setting tomorrow's agenda.(youth participation in the Catholic Church)
June 22, 2002... Every movement for social justice professes the same truism: youth is its lifeblood. The involvement of young people in such movements, however problematic to the traditionalists who appear to court it, is indeed a question of very survival....

Letter from Brussels.(Catholics for a Free Choice official responds to the growing number of AIDS cases in Europe)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2002... Sometimes, it's extremely hard to discuss difficult issues, let alone try to do something positive to resolve them, even at the proverbial dinner table among friends and family. Some people would just wish that these issues were swept under the...

Advocating sexual justice for children.
June 22, 2002... "The prize is life itself," poet Adrienne Rich writes, "and most women in the world must fight for their lives on many fronts at once." (1) This holds true, as well, for the world's children. The prize of a life with security, health, dignity...

Overcoming division, prioritizing children.
June 22, 2002... Those of us who believe in the doctrine of freedom of choice are under attack. I am not talking just about abortion. I am talking about choice in all aspects of our lives. Critics of choice here in the United States and around the world believe...

Holding the hierarchy accountable. (CFFC Notebook).(sex abuse scandal faced by the Catholic Church)
June 22, 2002... The scandal over the sexual abuse of children and young people by Catholic priests has rocked the very foundations of the church in America. Ever since the Boston Globe's Spotlight team broke the story in January, Catholics have been in a state...

Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir in Mexico.(pro-life group wins the Don Sergio National Human Rights Prize)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... On April 20, 2002, Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir in Mexico was awarded the prestigious Don Sergio National Human Rights Prize for the group's work "in defense of women's human rights both within and beyond the Catholic church" and for...

Catholics for a Free Choice.(report on AIDS)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Catholics for a Free Choice submitted a document on HIV/AIDS to the United Nations Economic and Social Council for its meeting in April. The document, a response to the UN Commission on Population and Development report for 2002, examined the...

Clergy Sexual Abuse: Out of the Shadows--a Shadow Report on the Holy See and the Rights of the Child.(Catholics for a Free Choice)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... CFFC launched a new publication, Clergy Sexual Abuse: Out of the Shadows--A Shadow Report on the Holy See and the Rights of the Child, during the UN Special Session on Children in New York in May. The report analyzes the law, policy and...

Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir in Bolivia.(Catholic Church)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... In response to reports of the sexual abuse of children and adolescents by Catholic priests, Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir in Bolivia (CDD/ Bolivia) organized a panel, "Reflections on Sexual Violence in the Church." Those who participated...

CDD/Colombia.(Catholic for the Freedom to Choose)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... CDD/Colombia participated in several mail campaigns promoting the use of condoms to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases; on emergency contraception for young people and in honor of National Women's Health Day with a...

Catholics for a Free Choice facilitated a letter to US President George W. Bush from an ad hoc coalition of people of faith and leaders in the religious community who called on the president to release the full $34 million set aside for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for in 2002.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Catholics for a Free Choice facilitated a letter to US President George W. Bush from an ad hoc coalition of people of faith and leaders in the religious community who called on the president to release the full $34 million set aside for the...

Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir in Buenos Aires, Argentina.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in conjunction with CESEP Brasil (Center for Ecumenical Services for Popular Education), will offer their second course on culture and gender, "Religion, Sexuality and Myths," July...

Frances Kissling spoke at a briefing on human cloning on Capitol Hill on April 24, hosted by the International Center on Technology Assessment and US Senator Mary Landrieu (Louisiana).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Frances Kissling spoke at a briefing on human cloning on Capitol Hill on April 24, hosted by the International Center on Technology Assessment and US Senator Mary Landrieu (Louisiana). She spoke on a panel with several others including Judy...

In May, Frances Kissling spoke at a panel at Harvard University, Boston, on "Sex, Scandal and Power: Is this the end of the Catholic church's political influence?".(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... In May, Frances Kissling spoke at a panel at Harvard University, Boston, on "Sex, Scandal and Power: Is this the end of the Catholic church's political influence?" The meeting was sponsored by the Women's Studies department at Harvard...

The sexual abuse crisis. (In Catholic Circles).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Since January 2002, the Catholic church in the United States has been rocked by almost daily reports of new scandals, cover-ups and the moral and financial implications for the church hierarchy resulting from the issue of the sexual abuse by...

Lay Catholics demand Vatican hold church leaders accountable for sexual abuse. (In Catholic Circles).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... A group of lay Catholics has initiated an international petition calling the Vatican and the church hierarchy to accountability for the cover-up and mishandling of sexual abuse within the church. The international petition, released at the...

Vatican intervenes during UN Special Session on Children. (The Church at the UN).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... The Vatican played a prominent role during the United Nations Special Session on Children in New York. The meeting was called to assess progress towards several 10-year targets set at the first world summit on children in 1990, many of which...

Call for third Vatican Council. (Church Reform).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... We Are Church (UK), a progressive Catholic group, has released the text of a letter it sent to the leaders of the Catholic church in Britain, calling for an urgent response to the crisis affecting the Catholic church around the world. The...

Pope says habitual sinners may not be forgiven. (Church Reform).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... In an apostolic letter to bishops, the Vatican has announced that some "habitual" sinners can never be forgiven and urged priests to desist from granting group confessions and blanket absolutions. Theological experts said that the term...

Bishop acknowledges most Catholics disagree with church teachings. (The Church and Contraception).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Both houses of the New York State legislature have passed a bill requiring employers that receive public funds to cover contraceptives in health insurance policies for employees. While the bill does include a conscience clause, it applies only...

The Vatican makes its case for a "Christian Europe". (The Church and State).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... During a conference on The Future of the New Europe, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and a senior Italian politician called for more recognition of Europe's Christian heritage and a more consistent role for religious bodies....

Swiss liberalize abortion law, bishops outraged. (The Church and Abortion).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... After 30 years campaigning by women's rights groups, 72% of those voting in a Swiss referendum supported the legalization of abortion on request in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. A counter-option to completely ban all abortions was rejected...

African leader opposes Catholic hierarchy on condoms. (The Church and HIV/AIDS).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Church leaders in Zambia have rejected the advice of Zambia's first president, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, who urged Zambians to use condoms to avoid infection with the HIV/AIDS virus. In an interview, Kaunda called for widespread use of condoms and...

A systemic failure.
June 22, 2002... THE UNHEALED WOUND: THE CHURCH AND HUMAN SEXUALITY. Eugene Kennedy (St. Martin's Press, 2002 (pbk.), 224pp.) Eugene Kennedy speaks truth to power. The institutional Roman Catholic church is in deep trouble. The cancer eating away at its...

Bookshelf: too many books cross our desk to review them all. What follows is a list of new books that bear noting.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2002... Abortion Politics, Women's Movements, and the Democratic State: A Comparative Study of State Feminism. (Oxford University Press, 2001, 328 pp.) edited by Dorothy McBride Stetson. This book presents the findings of a cross-national...

Mixing religion and politics. (Letters to the Editor).
June 22, 2002... Kudos to Anne Thompson for her article "Scalia: Stuck in the Past" (Conscience, Spring 2002). In it, Thompson dissembles Scalia's simplistic reliance on antiquated church teachings to defend the indefensible--in this case, the sad US practice...

Funding the "Culture of Death". (Letters to the Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2002... John Swomley's article encapsulated in many, many ways the reasons I support the Condoms4Life campaign. The facts of the case seem self-evident: the bishops' policies against the use of condoms to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, even among...

A road well-trodden. (Letters to the Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2002... It appears that Irish voters are forging the way for their American counterparts. As Medb Ruane pointed out, it is no longer the case that Irish voters ask "how high?" when told to jump by the bishops and their allies in the Fianna Fail party....

Skirting the edges. (Letters to the Editor).
June 22, 2002... Ann Furedi's article was a perceptive and timely look at the abortion debate. Abortion is such a non-issue here in the UK that there seems to be little chance of any major restrictions being forced on our government. In the US, it's a different...

Promoting and protecting all our rights. (Letters to the Editor).
June 22, 2002... It was startling to see the mass of gray that was made up of the brothers from the Bronx registering as NGO representatives to the PrepCom for the UN Special Session for Beijing+5. Watching them in action with their beads and confrontational...

Postscript.
June 22, 2002... "One shouldn't throw the impure, and those we consider to be so, overboard; because, if this were true, the boat of the church would have long been empty." Archbishop Stanislaw Godecki of Poznan, Poland, speaking about his predecessor,...