Who Are 'Catholics
For a Free Choice'?.

.Pro-abortion Group
Has Benefited from Pornography

© 1993 Diane S. Dew

Published in ALL About Issues, Sept/Oct 1993

Founded in 1972, Catholics For a Free Choice, a nominally Catholic, pro-abortion organization, has an annual budget of $900,000, and claims 8,000 members. According to the Encyclopedia of Associations, Catholics For a Free Choice (CFFC) is an association of "Catholics within the Roman Catholic Church who support the right to legal reproductive health care, especially to family planning and abortion." Its goal, according to the Encyclopedia entry, is to "preserve the right of women's choices in childbearing and child rearing"; it "advocates social and economic programs for women, families and children," by engaging in "public education on being Catholic and pro-choice." ...

Funded by Pornography
According to records filed with the IRS, Catholics For a Free Choice, of Washington, DC, has received thousands of dollars from the Playboy Foundation. (Other recipients of Playboy funds include the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and groups advocating population control, homosexual rights, environmentalism, disarmament, and the repeal of marijuana laws.)

Daniel C. Maguire, professor of moral theology at Marquette University, is on CFFC's board of directors. He has written numerous pamphlets, articles and books promoting abortion, euthanasia and homosexuality. One, in its Spanish translation, even "got an imprimatur, unsolicited by me," he boasted.

In an article published in CFFC's Conscience magazine (May/June 1990), Maguire approved of abortion "as a backup for contraceptive failure." If an individual can find five or six experts "to approve of a liberal dissenting view, the decision to abort may be morally justified," he wrote in a New York Times editorial reprinted in Conscience (Jan./Feb. 1990). What's right for one may not be right for all, he said, claiming that "there is no one `Catholic' position."

"Public political figures and legislators should not impose their private moral view on a pluralistic society," he said. "Catholic politicians ... may freely support Roe v. Wade ... with good reasons and good authority.

"Within certain limits, the Catholic position has always been pro-choice.

"Thus, a legislator who personally finds abortion always immoral may support the Roe v. Wade decision," he wrote in Conscience (May/June 1990).

Maguire, who teaches several freshman sections of "Theology and Morals" at Marquette, has been neither excommunicated nor removed from his tenured position -- although the Vatican issued a 49-page document in September 1990 charging universities to be more accountable for what they teach. Bishops have a "right and a duty," the document states, "to watch over" universities in their dioceses.

Canon Law imposes strict standards of conduct requiring "correct doctrine and integrity of life" upon those teaching in Catholic institutions (Canon 803, Sect. 2, and Canon 804, Sect. 2), and states that those who fall short "need to be removed" (Canon 810, Sect. 1). It is the bishop's responsibility to watch over "even those schools which have been established or are being directed by members of religious institutions ..." (Canon 808, Sect. 1; Canon 805).

The New Testament also charges those in authority to deal with doctrinal error before it spreads (1 Timothy 6:3-5; Titus 3:10-11).

In "Abortion: A Guide to Making Ethical Choices," Dan and Marjorie Maguire write that abortion is justified even for the loss of a job, or because of a marriage failure. "A responsible abortion can be the proper response to irresponsible sex," they say

"There is no clear Biblical teaching prohibiting abortion," they claim. "... no one knows God's mind." It all depends on how you look at it, they said; ethics are adjustable, depending on your circumstances. "... having a baby can be just as selfish, in the bad sense, as an abortion," they say. "You may have a child out of a selfish avoidance of the responsibility to turn your life in new directions."

Even "if you believe that the fetus is a person," they said, "if you also feel that abortion is the most moral choice you can make in your circumstances, trust in God to take care of the fetus. Be assured that God would not condemn ... God is love.

"In the real world, good women choose to have abortions for good reasons and they are still good women after they have the abortion.

"If you are concerned about the possibility that the fetus might experience pain you need to balance that concern ... Physical and emotional pain occur in all our lives. It is not the determining fact in making a moral decision about abortion or anything else."

Better to kill your unborn child than "ignore the needs and rights of other persons, your husband and children," the Maguires say. Besides, the "possibility" that the fetus might be a person, they reason, pales in light of the fact that you definitely are. "Think about the relative value of your life versus that of the fetus.... many good religious people believe that the woman has to welcome the life in her womb and consent to the pregnancy, before God considers it a human person ... when the woman consents to the pregnancy ... God then infuses a soul into the body." (So does the child of a retarded woman, or one with bitter hatred, never become a person? Even at age 21?)

"Follow your conscience"?

"You are not guilty of sin if you follow your conscience," the Maguires write.

But what about someone who does not guard or "keep" his or her conscience (Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 3:16), who, failing to respond to the Holy Spirit's guidance, allows his conscience to become "seared" (1 Tim. 4:2)? The Bible speaks of a "weak conscience" (1 Cor. 8:7); a "wounded conscience" (1 Cor. 8:12); a "good" and "perfect" conscience (Heb. 9:9; Heb. 13:18; 1 Pet. 3:21; 1 Tim. 1:5, 19); a "clear" (blameless) conscience (Acts 24:16; 1 Tim. 3:9) and a conscience that is "evil" or defiled (Tit. 1:15).

Still, ads for CFFC's magazine, Conscience, say: "Follow your conscience."

One of CFFC's pamphlets, available at many libraries, is Maguire's "Reflections of a Catholic Theologian on Visiting an Abortion Clinic." He described pro-life picketers as mostly men-a violent, "scary lot," "dripping with hatred," who "attempt to play on guilt to recruit these women in their campaign." He referred to the baby involved in abortion as "aborted matter," a "pre-personal embryo."

"Catholic moral theology is in grave default on this issue," Maguire says; "... abortion can be the least violent option..."

Some donations received by CFFC are earmarked specifically to pay for these publications. In 1991, the R.S. Clark Foundation gave $47,000 "for research, production and dissemination of a series of fact sheet/booklets on the role of the Catholic Church in shaping public policy on family planning services and availability of contraception."

Another $10,000 was "for publication of the booklet, Protecting Access to Health Care for Women-A Guide to Laws Prohibiting Violence and Interference at Clinics." The same foundation also gave at least $40,000 in 1991 to NOW's Legal Defense Education Fund specifically "for work on clinic harassment lawsuits and provision of legal support and technical assistance on other reproductive rights issues to pro-choice groups around the country."

These foundations have all seen fit to fund opposition to the Catholic Church -- ostensibly within the Catholic Church -- in an effort to undermine the Church's pro-life teaching.

Catholics For a Free Choice is well funded in its crusade to convince Catholics in particular and the public in general that abortion is a moral choice.

The facts in this article were obtained directly from public records and from the publications of Catholics for a Free Choice.

Copyright © 1998 Diane S. Dew

CFFC in Latin America
CFFC's web site states: "CFFC has been an international organization since 1987 when we initiated program work in Latin America with local colleagues and founded Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (CDD—Latin America). Now an autonomous organization, CDD—Latin America, with a regional office in Córdoba, Argentina, the group has expanded its dynamic presence in the region to include CFFC partner organizations in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru and Colombia." CFFC shares its web space with CDD—Latin America.

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Other Abortion-related Articles

at this site:

Choice Has a Name

Abortion:
What Saith the Scriptures?

On Teen Pregnancy

Abortion:
'Safe & Legal'?

91% Suffer from Post-abortion Trauma

The Myth of Abuse
toward 'Unwanted' Children

Planned Parenthood's
Deceitful Disguise

Who are 'Catholics for a Free Choice'?

Who Funds Catholics for a Free Choice?

What's Wrong with Animal Rights?  

Sex Ed Misleads Youth

Media Paint Pro-lifers
as 'Militant,' 'Extreme'

 Murder, by Any Name

Abortion Increases Breast Cancer Risk

Media Conceal Details of Teen Abortion Death

  A Matter of Life and Death  

Operation Proves:
It's a Baby, Not a Blob

Medical Texts
Prove Life Before Birth

Abortion is Not a Minor Decision

Parental Guidance is Not Burdensome

Fertility Control Agents in the Water Supply? They Call that Pro-choice?

Legislators: Protectors of the Spineless

Media Bias Exposed

Catholic Curriculum
Promotes Anti-family Agenda

Black Genocide:
Planned Parenthood's Evil Roots

Teen Pregnancies Rise
with Sex Ed Costs

Condom 'Safe Sex' Theory
Full of Holes

Minority Abortion Rate Twice That of Whites, CDC Reports

The Cost of Abortion: $1,020
- Plus One Life

Whose Baby Is It, Anyway?

RU-486:
Women aren't hearing all the facts

Within the Womb:
The ABC's of Fetal Development

No Scriptural Excuse
for Killing Abortionist

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Email:  Diane@dianedew.com

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"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke 12:34

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Where the Money Goes.............

WHO FUNDS CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE?

The following information was derived from The Chronicle of Philanthropy* and publications of The Foundation Center**. Last in Nov. 1999.

FORD FOUNDATION
320 East 43rd Street
New York, New York 10017
(212) 573-5000

$218,000 authorized in 1998 (2-year grant) to Catholics for Free Choice in Latin America (Montevideo, Uruguay) "For continued support to consolidate pro-choice Catholic groups and promote public discussion on sexual and reproductive health" - "reproductive rights ... sexuality education ... Uruguay"

$200,000 authorized in 1998 (2-year grant) to Catholics for the Right to Decide (Mexico) "for continued support for public education and dissemination of Catholic pro-choice values"

$190,000 authorized in 1998 to Catholics for the Right to Decide (Mexico) "for preparatory activities for International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Plus 5" ["reproductive health - Mexico"]

$100,000 authorized in 1998 (2-year grant) to Catholics for the Right to Decide (Mexico) "for working group of senior developing country ethicists in reproductive health"

$67,000 authorized in 1998 to Catholics for the Right to Decide (Mexico) "to promote public discussion among Catholics in Mexico on sexual and reproductive health"

$50,000 authorized in 1997 to CFFC in Latin America (Montevideo, Uruguay) "for Latin American Regional Conference for Catholics for the Right to Decide Network" [civil liberties, reproductive rights, Latin America ... Uruguay)

$1,300,000 authorized in 1996  **

$150,000 authorized in 1996 "for public education and dissemination of Catholic pro-choice values" [to Catholics for the Right to Decide (Brazil)]

$100,000 authorized in 1996 ** "For consolidation of pro-choice Catholic groups in four Latin American countries: Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru" To CFFC  in Latin America [Uruguay]

$73,000 authorized in 1996 "to promote public discussion among Catholics in Mexico on sexual and reproductive health" [to Catholics for the Right to Decide (Mexico)]

$30,000 authorized in 1995 **
$770,000 over two years (Feb. 23, 1995) *

$42,000 authorized in 1995 "for participants from developing countries to attend Kennedy Institute of Ethics' advanced course on feminist perspective on bioethics"

$770,000 authorized in 1994 **

"For international programs and to convene a new group, the Religious Consultation on Population and Reproductive Health"
$210,000 over 18 months (Feb. 22, 1994) *

"To consolidate a Latin American network on women's reproductive health and rights"
$100,000 over 18 months (Nov. 17, 1992) *

"For participants from developing countries to attend Kennedy Institute of Ethics' advanced course on feminist perspective on bioethics"
$42,000 Year authorized: 1995 **

"To consolidate pro-choice Catholic groups in four countries"
$50,000 Year authorized: 1994 **
Recipient: CFFC in Latin America [Uruguay]

$50,000 in 1991, to be used specifically "for education on reproductive health and rights in Latin America."

GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION
1845 Guildhall Bldg, 45 Prospect Ave West
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
PHONE: (216) 241-3114
David Bergholz - Exec. Dir.
FAX: (216) 241-6560
http://www.gundfdn.org/

$90,000 over two years May 17, 1994 

$30,000 (March 22, 1994) * "To conduct a retreat for abortion-rights leaders"

"For operating support"
$85,000 over two years (Sept. 22, 1992) *
$100,000 Year authorized: 1996 (2-year grant) ** 
$90,000 over two years (May 17, 1994) *

$85,000 in 1992; $41,708 in 1991; $50,000 in 1988 (and $35,000 for the Student Health Program at Cleveland's East High School "Clinic" in 1988, and $90,000 to a program providing abortions for Cleveland women on welfare)

PUBLIC.WELFARE.FOUNDATION
2600 Virginia Avenue, N.W., Room 505
Washington, D.C. 20037-1977
(202) 965-1800

"For general support"
$70,000 Year authorized: 1996 **
$70,000 Year authorized: 1995 **

"For general support of this organization that supports the right to legal and accessible reproductive-health care, including family planning and abortion"
$80,000 (May 31, 1994) *  **

"For its work to secure the right to legal and accessible reproductive health care, including family-planning and abortion services"
$80,000 (December 14, 1993) *

"To support the right to legal reproductive-health care, especially family planning and abortion"
$80,000 (December 15, 1992) *

MARY REYNOLDS BABCOCK FOUNDATION
102 Reynolda Village
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27106-5123
e-mail: HN1362@handsnet.org
(910) 748-9222

"For the New Approaches Project, which seeks to transform abortion politics in the 90's"
$20,000 (June 30, 1992) *

JESSIE SMITH NOYES FOUNDATION
Six East 39th Street, 12th Floor
New York, New York 10016
e-mail: noyes@igc.org
(212) 684-6577

"For education, advocacy, and outreach efforts designed to further dialogue and policy making and to forge consensus on important reproductive-health issues in Latin America"
$20,000 (May 5, 1992) *

THE BUFFETT FOUNDATION
209 Kiewit Plz.
Omaha, NE 68131
Contact: Allen Greenberg - Exec. Dir.

"For general support"
$100,000 Year authorized: 1996 **
$100,000 Year authorized: 1994 **

COMPTON FOUNDATION INC, CA

$40,000 Year authorized: 1996
$40,000 Year authorized: 1994 **

S. H. COWELL FOUNDATION, CA

"For population program"
$25,000 Year authorized: 1995 **
$10,000 Year authorized: 1994 **

DYSON FOUNDATION, NY

"For public education and research to monitor access to reproductive health care services in changing health care environment"
$10,000 Year authorized: 1995 **

THE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
OF AMERICA, CT

$225,000 authorized in 1995 (3-year grant) ** "For educating and reaching out to religious community"
$50,000 in 1992, "for grassroots organizing and Hispanic outreach."
$80,000 in 1991
(also gave $450,000 to the ACLU from 1988 to 1991 "for continued support for legal battles to preserve reproductive rights of minors," along with donations to other pro-abortion organizations.)

LELAND FIKES FOUNDATION INC., TX

$20,000 authorized in 1996 "For projects in Central/South America" - "reproductive rights"

$20,000 Year authorized: 1995 ** "For projects in Latin America"

$20,000 Year authorized: 1994 **

GENERAL SERVICE FOUNDATION, CO

"Toward educating and building networks of pro-choice Catholics at state, local and national levels as participants in public debate over sexuality and reproductive providers"
$80,000 Year authorized: 1995 (2-year grant) **

"For work with organizations and coalition in Latin America to help implement International Conference on Population and Development Program of Action in region"
$10,000 Year authorized: 1995 **

For "the organization's work to counter efforts of the Roman Catholic Church to limit legal access to reproductive health care"
$28,000 in 1988; $32,000 in 1990; $85,000 in 1991

WALLACE ALEXANDER GERBODE FOUNDATION, CA
470 Columbus Avenue #209
San Francisco, CA94133-3930
415-391-0911
maildesk@gerbode.org
http://fdncenter.org/grantmaker/gerbode/index.html

"For work to advance sexual and reproductive rights"
$90,000 authorized: 1994 **
$15,000 total paid in 1995
$30,000 total paid in 1996

RICHARD & RHODA GOLDMAN FUND, CA

"For final payment of grant for Catholic Health Care System and Health Reform Study, to examine Catholic health care system, its role in national health care reform and implications for reproductive health care delivery in U.S."
$25,000 Year authorized: 1995 **

"For Catholic Health Care System and Health Reform study, to examine Catholic health care system, its role in national health care reform and implications for reproductive health care delivery in U.S."
$25,000 Year authorized: 1994 **

THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION, CA
525 Middlefield Road, Suite 200
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650) 329-1070 phone
(650) 329-9342 fax
info@hewlett.org

$600,000 over 3 yrs. 1998
$450,000 Year authorized: 1995 **

THE HUBER FOUNDATION, NJ

$30,000 Year authorized: 1995 **

THE ESTHER A. & JOSEPH KLINGENSTEIN FUND, INC., NY

"For family planning and teenage pregnancy program"
$25,000 Year authorized: 1995 **
$25,000 Year authorized: 1994 **

ALBERT A. LIST FOUNDATION INC.
New York

$33,850 Year authorized: 1995 *

JOHN D. & CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION, IL

"For research, seminars and publications in Latin America"
$600,000 Year authorized: 1996 (3-year grant) **

"For activities related to Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China"
$49,500 Year authorized: 1995 **

THE JOHN MERCK FUND, MA

"For Constituency Building Project, to enlarge base of active support among Catholics for reproductive freedom"
$50,000 Year authorized: 1995 **

"To promote reproductive rights and health in Catholic countries in Central America, South America and Europe"
$50,000 Year authorized: 1994  **

"To analyze and publicize role and impact of Catholic hospitals and medical facilities in providing health care in U.S."
$35,000 Year authorized: 1994 **

MORIAH FUND, INDIANA

"For reproductive rights education in Latin America and Eastern Europe"
$30,000 Year authorized: 1994 ** 

THE DAVID & LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION, CA
300 Second Street, Suite 200
Los Altos, CA 94022
(650) 948-7658

$200,000 Source: 11/7/98, San Jose Mercury News
$100,000 Year authorized: 1996  **
$75,000 Year authorized: 1995 **
$80,000 Year authorized: 1994 ** "For Mexico program and for general support for domestic program"  

ROBERT STERLING CLARK FOUNDATION
112 East 64th Street
New York, New York 10021

$75,000 (1998) ** "To support research on Catholic Right and mergers of Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals, and to establish coalition of progressive Catholic groups to challenge Catholic Right"

$70,000 (1998) **

"For research and monitoring of the Catholic Right and establish coalition of progressive, pro-choice Catholic groups"
$65,000 Year authorized: 1997 **

"For continued support for research on the Catholic Religious Right and its education and mobilization of Catholic community"
$60,000 Year authorized: 1996 **

"For research on conservative Catholic organizations and the Catholic health-care system, and to create a coalition of liberal Catholic organizations"
$50,000 (Oct.19, 1995) *

"For a study of the Catholic health-care system in the United States and to reprint a report on conservative Catholic organizations and allied non-Catholic organizations"
$60,000 (June 14, 1994) *  **

"To expand its publication program, focusing on the activities of religious anti-abortion organizations"
$60,000 (April 6, 1993) *

THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
420 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10017
(212) 869-8500
(212) 398-1858

"For public education project concerning role religious organizations played in setting agenda for 1994 United Nations International conference on Population and Development"
$60,000 Year authorized: 1994 **

THE SCHERMAN FOUNDATION INC., NY

$50,000 Year authorized: 1994 **
$50,000 Year authorized: 1996 (2-year grant) **

WEEDEN  FOUNDATION, NY

"For Latin America program and global initiative on population policy" [Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico]
$30,000 Year authorized: 1996 **

"For continued support for Latin America program"
$15,000 Year authorized: 1995 **

"For education for women in Latin America who are seeking reproductive health services"
$15,000 Year authorized: 1994 **

* Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy

** Source: The Foundation Center