Priests for Life on D&P

Today, Fr. Thomas Lynch, the Director of Priests for Life released a press release on the Development and Peace situation titled "To whom much is given much will be demanded." Read the story here. In the letter, Fr. Lynch commended the Bishops who've called for a full investigation of D&P, and asked all the Canadian Bishops to do the same. His final words need to be carefully considered by everyone following this story:

"The development work of the Catholic Church is an integral part of our constant teaching and call. The furtherance of this work in full and uncompromising accord with well known and immutable Catholic principles of social justice for all - especially the pre-born, defenseless and vulnerable - is essential."

Let's keep praying for a good end to this situation, and for our bishops and priests to continue to stand up for life always.

More allegations against D&P Partners

Lifesite has found two more D&P partners that allegedly support abortion. See the story here. The groups are Kay Fanm and Fanm Deside, both located in Haiti. These two new allegations bring the total number of partners allegedly involved in abortion to 12 in 6 different countries. I would like to be shocked by this, but I am finding that I just expect new allegations to be made every day. The evidence against these two parties is as compelling as the evidence against the rest.

Lifesite has also published a good summary of all the allegations to date in a new editorial found here. The final point at the end of the editorial is that the time has come for the CCCB to launch an independent investigation into D&P's partners before any more money goes to them. I hope the CCCB takes that suggestion to heart.

Each new allegation is simply confirming the feeling I've had since this story broke- there is something rotten in the Development and Peace organization. I want to believe that D&P is unaware of these groups practice of supporting abortion and contraception, but I'm starting to wonder if they actually knew about these connections and have failed to do their job of ensuring that Catholic teachings are followed. I know there are many Catholics who do not follow the Church's teaching, but I really hope that an organization as intimately connected to the CCCB would not fall into that category. Each new revelation makes me question this however.

All I can say is keep writing your bishops and priests, and keep the pressure on D&P to do a thorough investigation and not simply brush this all under the rug. I'm presently trying to compose my own new response to D&P. Once I send it, I will post it here, and if I get a response, I will post that here too.

Let's keep praying for this organization, and God's will will be done.

It has also come to my attention that some of you are interested in commenting/passing things along to me that you are not comfortable sharing in the very public comment box. As a result, I've created an e-mail account you can send messages to: catholiclawstudent@gmail.com

D&P Responds, More Allegations

It was a busy weekend in the D&P story. I'm going to list off and link the developments first, and then comment.

Developments:

1. On Thursday, Lifesite reported that its continuing investigations of D&P had turned up partners in Africa that advocate abortion and contraception. See story here. The partners are Women
   Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (Nigeria), Coalition Nationale des Femmes - Droits et Citoyenneté (Guinea) and Forces en action pour le mieux-être de la mère et de l'enfant (Togo).
   
   
2. On Friday, Lifesite reported that it had uncovered two D&P partners in Brazil who support abortion. See the story here. The partners are Rural Women's Movement and Federation of Organs for Social and Educational Assistance.
   
   
3. Two more Canadian Bishops, Archbishop Miller of Vancouver and Archbishop O'Brien of Kingston, announced that their diocese will investigate D&P's partners before turning over any money to them. See the story here.
   
   
4. On Friday, D&P's new President, Pat Hogan, published this response to the original allegations against the Mexican partners. In it D&P agrees to "temporarily suspend funding to all five Mexican partners."
   
   
5. I finally received a response on Friday to my questions. Sort of. I asked five distinct questions, and the response was a form letter giving me the link to the above mentioned response. Mr. Hogan's entire response to me was this:
   

   "Dear Sarah,
   Thank you for sharing your concerns with me.
   I am writing to you today as the new President of Development and Peace to share some reflections on the events of the last two weeks. It has been alleged on some internet sites recently that Development and Peace has been funding pro-abortion groups in Mexico. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
   Please read my latest statement about these events at the following link: http://www.devp.org/devpme/eng/pressroom/2009/comm2009-03-26-eng.html
   Yours in Christ,
   Pat Hogan
   President of National Council
   Development and Peace"
   

6. According to both the National Catholic Registrar and Lifesite, D&P has refused to respond to allegations that some of its Bolivian partners also support abortion. The Registrar sent a series of questions to D&P and was told by D&P's communication manager Eleanore Fournier-Tombs that, "We don't have anything to add on the article that was published about Bolivia." Interestingly, the CCCB has also refused to respond to these allegations stating they do not have the information to answer the questions.
   

So, to summarize, another 5 of D&P's 200 partners have been accused of promoting abortion. Two of the groups even define abortion as a "right" on their websites. Two more Canadian Bishops have declared that these allegations are serious enough to require an investigation. D&P has finally made a response that takes the allegations seriously and is attempting to deal with them. D&P has failed to address any of the new allegations.

Commentary

Wow. I am still shocked by how large this story is getting, and shocked by D&P's inability or unwillingness to take this story seriously.

I am impressed by the (now) four bishops who've taken action and are launching an investigation into D&P. That's all I've been asking the bishops to do. As shepherds of their flock, it is their duty to ensure that the time, talent and treasure of their flock is used in accordance with the teachings of the Church.

I am disheartened by D&P's response. In many ways, to me at least, it seems like too little too late. This story first broke on 13 March 2009. It took D&P two weeks to respond with anything but denials. Only now (I'm assuming because bishops are asking questions and the flow of money has slowed) are they actually doing anything to investigate these partners. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they are doing it, but shouldn't these investigations have been something they did before partnering with these groups in the first place?

And, if they actually take this seriously, why are they not commenting on the other allegations made? I know it takes time to identify the appropriate course of action, but then they should respond with "we are looking into this" not "we have anything to say."

Also, why the scurrilous attacks against the people who've brought this story to light? Why is the national president responding to inquiries by concerned Catholics saying "alleged on some internet sites recently" and not noting who is making the allegations? Lifesite is much more than an internet source- it has credible journalists who back up their stories with facts. They aren't just bloggers who can get away with saying anything they want.

To be quite honest, I am disappointed that they responded to my e-mail with a form letter that didn't address the questions I asked (I posted those questions on a previous post.) The link the president gave me didn't answer my questions, which were about the process D&P uses to select partners. I know I don't have a lot of money to make donations with, but one day I might, and anyway, the size of the donation should not impact the quality of the response given.

I hope D&P follows through with its commitments to investigate all its partners. I hope they are willing to do a proper, unbiased investigation, because the evidence Lifesite has gathered is compelling to say the least. I also hope they agree to investigate the other partners allegations have been made against. In light of this whole situation, I think the entire D&P council needs to open investigations into all their partners, and make some changes to how they decide who they will partner with. In short, I think D&P needs to do some major spring cleaning before we, as Catholics, can support them again.

As always, feel free to comment, and I will let you know more as soon as it develops.

Oh, and in response to questions about where else to donate money instead of D&P, Lifesite has compiled a list of pro-life groups working in the developing world. You can see the list here.

D&P and Diocese of Peterborough

Bishop De Angelis of the Diocese of Peterborough announced in a letter to his diocese today that D&P will not receive any funding until from his diocese until a thorough investigation into the allegations of supporting abortion is conducted. See story here.

In making this move, Bishop De Angelis joins with Archbishop Collins of Toronto. Neither bishop is denying funds to D&P, they are just refusing to release any funds until someone gets to the bottom of this story.

I want to commend both bishops for taking such a strong stand for the unborn, and I hope that other bishops will do the same. When you write to your bishop about this topic, mention that other bishops are refusing to give funds to D&P until this is investigated and ask them why they aren't doing the same thing.

The Share Lent collection goes this weekend, so we need to make sure our priests and bishops are aware, and thinking about this issue before they permit the collection to be taken.

In Defence of Lifesite

Based on responses I've been hearing from friends, family and some strangers, I feel a need to defend Lifesite. Before I do that, I want to link to the editorial Steve Jalsevac and John-Henry Westen, the managing director and editor-in-chief of Lifesite respectively, published yesterday on the D&P saga. You can read it here.

I don't blame them for publishing the editorial, and I think they do a good job of reiterating their position. I have to compliment them on their reasonableness and charity in their frank discussion of the events of the past 10 days. (I know if it was me, I'd be hard pressed to not be snarky and sarcastic.)

I think the line that made me saddest and proudest of Lifesite is this one from the very bottom of the article "The Development and Peace response has caused many, especially persons who are not regular readers of LSN, to question the credibility of LifeSiteNews.com. That has forced us to continue to provide additional evidence of the facts until the facts overwhelm, which we are committed to doing in the coming days."

First, I think its sad that people would rather assume Lifesite is not credible than really look into the allegations against D&P. I have been following Lifesite news for the last year and I find them to be an invaluable resource in learning about what is going on in the world because the mainstream media rarely delves deeply into life issues. Every time I have done external research to their reports, I have found their reports to be accurate and credible. In some cases, I find that they have actually pulled punches that I would have landed much harder. (Again, its that charity thing I struggle with :) They do good work, and for anyone who isn't familiar with their work, stay with them.

Second, I am proud of them. It is when people are tested that we see their true colors come out. I can imagine that the feedback they are receiving right now is not always pleasant. And yet, they have not stooped to the level of ad hominum attacks or lashed out with angry, hurtful comments. Instead, they've made a commitment to investigate this issue until "the facts overwhelm." That's true journalism. They want you to be convinced, because of the facts, not because they say it.

In many ways its the opposite of what D&P has been doing. D&P tells you their position, but gives no explanation for it. Lifesite on the other hand cites and backs up all the statements they make. Who is the most believable? I think you all know my position.

I'm also waiting with great interest to see what they have to say about further allegations against D&P partners. I don't think this story is over, not by a long shot.

Please pray for everyone involved in this process- D&P, Lifesite, D&P's partners, the bishops, the laity who contribute, and watch and wait. The truth will come out. I can only hope we will all act on that truth.

Luxembourg Becomes 3rd Country to Legalize Euthanasia

You may remember that last year I blogged about the euthanasia situation in Luxembourg. (See posts here.) The Parliament passed the bill, but because Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy, it needed the royal assent of Grand Duke Ferdinand. The Grand Duke refused to sign the bill because he finds euthanasia morally wrong.

The only thing for the Parliament to do was change the constitution so it no longer needed the Grand Duke's assent. That is what they did. And now, as a result, euthanasia is legal in Luxembourg. (See story here.)

As I did before, I want to express my admiration for the Grand Duke. He is living his faith the way all politicians and leaders should- that is, he is following it, no matter what it means. He is now just a figurehead in his country, but his courage in standing up against this atrocity must be commended. If the world only had more leaders like him, life would be a lot different.

And I just want to note that Europe is setting a scary example for the rest of the world. In the US, Washington and Oregon only went so far as to legalize assisted suicide (which is bad enough) but the European countries are skipping that minor step and jumping right to full fledged euthanasia! Although, maybe that is better- none of this , well its only for the terminally ill junk we get in North America, when we all know it really isn't limited to that. In Europe, they aren't limiting themselves at all- it's just full steam ahead on the Good Ship Death. (taking snarky hat off now)

I pray God blesses you, Grand Duke (sorry I don't know the proper form of address) and that other leaders will take courage from you position and also stand by their convictions. We all need to pray hard people, pray hard!

Update: Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has a great post on the Grand Duke here.

D&P's Partners and the Mexico City Policy

Lifesite has released another well documented article on further actions taken by D&P's Mexican partners (2 of the same partners from the first e-mail) regarding abortion. Read it here.

As this story seems to show no sign of ending because D&P is exhibiting no willingness to respond or take action to investigate (I still have no response to my e-mail of a week ago) I am going to encourage everyone to write their bishop and ask him to take action.

Mention to them that you've read the CCCB's response (linked to in the previous post) but that you don't think it takes the allegations seriously enough. Also mention that Archbishop Collins of Toronto is taking steps to investigate the allegations, and ask them what they are doing. I'm hoping that if the Bishop's hear enough about this, they will take action, and hopefully their action will convince D&P to end their partnerships, because at least one of these abortion supporting partners will remain a partner until 2011.

The contact information for every bishop in Canada can be found here. My Bishop (Legatt of Saskatoon) has indicated he is going with what the CCCB says, so I ask all members of the Saskatoon diocese to flood his office. I've also heard rumors that my other Bishop (Henry of Calgary) is doing nothing. (Once I can substantiate these rumors I will- at that point please flood his office as well.) And for those of you fortunate enough to be in Archbishop Collins diocese, please write him letters of support.

If your bishop has taken a stand (one way or the other) please comment in this post so we all know where our Bishops stand. If you don't know what to say, or how to give the bishop's the evidence, feel free to take anything off of this site that you think is valuable. I have permissions from everyone who's contributed to share their thoughts, and as long as you provide the links to Lifesite, Catholic Registrar and Development and Peace, they can have no copyright issues with you.

The Share Lent campaign is picking up steam, and do not want any children aborted because of money from Catholics in Canada, however indirect the connection might be.

Development and Peace Responds

At some point today, the CCCB released a response to the D&P issue. I received this statement, along with 2 others to my email as a pdf. It was forwarded to me by a friend who had asked his Bishop about the allegations. Lifesite has published a copy of the CCCB's letter, so I'm linking to it. It is the exact same letter as the one I received via e-mail. The link is here. D&P also published the same letter. If you want to see it on their website, it can be found here.

The other 2 letters I received are from D&P themselves. One is a letter, a summary of which is found on their website, explaining D&P's position. The link is here. The other letter is a description by D&P of their partners in Mexico. I can't find the same letter online, so I have cut and paste it at the end of this post.

Lifesite has now published the interview that led to their first story. It can be found here.

Lifesite has also published the response of several other Catholic organizations to the allegation. The link is here.

They have also published the response of a pro-life leader in Mexico who has first hand experience of these groups. It can be found here.

In many ways this case seems like a he said/she said case in court. Neither side agrees on what is going on. Lifesite has direct testimony from a D&P employee stating that D&P works with groups involved in abortion. D&P's president has denied that and claimed that those partners don't support abortion but instead signed their name to a document dealing with abortion but don't support it.

To be quite honest, I'm not sure what to think, so I'm going to try to break it down by treating it like a legal case (because thats what I've been trained to do). That means looking at the allegations and evidence offered to support or deny them.

Facts and Evidence

1) Lifesite raised the issue. In a civil case (which is what this would be) that places the burden on proof on them to prove on the balance of probabilities that their allegations are true. The civil standard of balance of probabilities means 51%, it does not mean beyond a reasonable doubt.

2) Lifesite in it's first article raised a prima facie case. That means there was enough evidence in the article to establish the allegations. Lifesite had the transcript from Brunelli stating that some of D&P's partners were involved in abortion. Lifesite cited all their claims, and gave evidence showing that a) money went to specific organizations and b) those organizations support abortion in some way.

3) D&P has responded by denying these partners are involved in abortoin supporting activities. As evidence of their assertion, they offer the description of each of their partners found at the bottom of this e-mail.

4) The CCCB has spoken and said that D&P follows the church's teaching on life. They offer no evidence beyond their statement.

5) Mexican pro-life groups (who deal with these partners regularily) have stated they promote abortion. The only evidence offered is their testimony.

6) Catholic pro-life groups have stated that D&P should no longer be funded because of these activities. They offer no evidence to back up their claims and seem to be relying on Lifesites coverage.

7) D&P has been further accused by the National Catholic Registrar of funding pro-abortion groups in Bolivia. The evidence offered is the description of the group on its website, and links to the funding they have recieved from D&P.

Analysis

The testimony offered by the Mexican pro-life leader is unsubstantiated. I cannot properly consider it to draw my conclusion.

The testimony of Catholic pro-life groups is hearsay and cannot be properly considered as they do not seem to have done any research themselves, but are relying on the Lifesite article.

The CCCB's statement is a wordy statement that says almost nothing about the allegations. It states D&P follows the teachings on the sanctity of life. They offer no proof, so their statement has little weight.

The Lifesite and Catholic Registrar report are properly cited. You can follow the links (as my friend Robin did) to learn more about the groups in question and their activities.

D&P response offers no citations or proof to back up their response.

Conclusion

As stated at the beginning, because Lifesite made the allegations, they are required to show on the balance of probablities that their allegations are true. Once they have done that, D&P merely needs to show that they have a plausible, alternate scenario supported by the facts and evidence to refute the allegations.

I think Lifesite has done a good job in establishing the facts supporting their allegations. D&P has not addressed these in any substantial manner. Their response has simply been a denial. Their alternate theory is not supported by any citations or evidence, and is directly contradicted by Lifesite's properly cited evidence.

In my opinion, on these facts, Lifesite has met the burden of proof to show D&P partners with groups who support abortion. The conversation with Brunelli is very revealing, especially this statement: "For us, the criterion is not pro-life or pro-abortion, it is 'do the piece of work that they propose to us is something we want to support and something within our parameters?" If it is yes, we support them and if not, we don't."

In my mind, I think it is likely that D&P has partners who support abortion. That means D&P supports abortion indirectly and I cannot in good conscience support them without supporting abortion myself. Until D&P pulls its support from these organizations (which it does not intend to do, based on its statements) I cannot and will not give funds to them. I will also tell others they should not donate as well.

If other evidence comes to light, I am more than willing to revisit the issue, but I am very dissapointed with D&P's response. I have never received a response to my e-mail, and their denials do not show them taking this issue seriously. They do not cite any sources they give and seem to expect us to believe them just because they say so. These are serious allegations and need to be addressed properly. D&P has failed to do this and should not be supported.

Feel free to comment in the comment box- I am open to being convinced that I am wrong, but based on the evidence, I don't see any other option. If you would like me to send you the originals of any of the 3 documents, just leave me a message stating so and I will e-mail them to you.

D&P's description of its Mexican partners is here:

A PROFILE OF FIVE (5) DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE PARTNERS IN MEXICO

Background
Commitment to human rights has always been and remains an important focus for DEVELOPMENT ANDPEACE. Our work is devoted to social justice in solidarity with the poor and oppressed, promoting a globalculture of peace and justice based on our profound belief in the sacredness of all life and the dignity ofthe human person. As a Catholic organization, we are in full communion with the Catholic Church inCanada and the Bishops of Canada on all moral and ethical issues governed by the teachings of theCatholic Church.

Human rights are an important and topical issue in Mexico in every sense of the term. Mexico is
periodically reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (based in Geneva), most recently inFebruary 2009. Official government institutions as well as civil society organizations (NGOs) areconsulted in this process.Our partners and some grassroots Catholic groups who are not partners of DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE (religious orders, parishes and Catholic laity) also participate in these national consultations, with a widevariety of other groups who report on human rights issues in their respective sectors.

The Report of Organizations of Civil Society on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights inMexico is the summary input of all of these various submissions into the final UN document Report ofthe Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review ‐ Mexico, which is then reviewed at the UnitedNations and with the Government of Mexico.It is this Report of Organizations of Civil Society on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights
in Mexico that is cited in the article recently posted on a pro‐life Website, alleging that five of our
partners in Mexico (out of 11) are actively promoting abortion. A brief profile of these partners follows.

1. Red “Todos los derechos para todas y todos” (“All Rights for Everyone” Network)

A social network of 54 organizations—including many Catholic organizations and the Justice, Peace andLife Commission sponsored by religious organizations—that works for human rights throughout Mexico. D&P funding is institutional, to help the network structure civil society, and organize meetings andtraining courses. The organization participates in the periodic review of human rights in Mexicoconducted under the auspices of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Network’s areas of workare: human rights for women; the collective rights of indigenous peoples; economic, social, cultural and environmental rights; security and administration of justice; working with formal structures of human rights; and the protection and training of “defenders” of human rights. The organization takes positions on women's rights. Their work is well respected both in Mexico and internationally.

2. RMALC (Mexican Action Network on Free Trade)

As its name indicates, this network of NGOs was founded in response to the Free Trade Agreement ofthe Americas (FTAA) and the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The issues they address concern the impact of free trade (and its current rules) on the poor and workers. Like many other Mexican civil society organizations (105), they signed the document submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in the context of the periodic review of human rights in Mexico.

3. Center PRODH (Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center)

An organization founded by the Jesuits to promote human rights, participation and social justice.
Development and Peace provides them with institutional support, particularly to increase their
capacities to defend victims of human rights violations. For example, a member of their staff was
assassinated, and they worked with our Education Department to bring the perpetrators to justice. The recognition of the seriousness and quality of their work is great: they have consultative status with the UN’s ECOSOC and are accredited as observers to the Organization of American States. They receive funding from several Catholic organizations, including the Italian Conference of Catholic Bishops and several Caritas organizations in Europe.

4. CENCO (National Centre for Social Communication)

Founded in 1964 by the Mexican Catholic bishops and independent since 1969, CENCOS maintains links with the Church. Its area of activity is civil communication, community radio, freedom of speech and press, etc. CENCOS develops communication tools to assist in the development of democracy, justice, equality and human dignity in Mexico. CENCOS receives funding from, among other sources, the World Association of Christian Communication.

5. CIEPAC (Centre for Economic and Policy Research and Community Action)

A group based in Chiapas that focuses on developing more just economic and social models and respect for human rights, particularly for the indigenous peoples and farmers of Chiapas. They work in research and education. We have worked with CIEPAC in our campaigns on water and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Our funding provides core institutional support.

In all these cases, the organizations supported by DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE do not advocate or promote legalizing abortion. They work in many diverse areas of social justice according to their mandate and, on the occasion of the periodic UN human rights review, they participate in major national coalitions—along with many Catholic and non‐Catholic organizations—who advocate that human rights berespected in Mexico.

(Note- The last 9 paragraphs of this post are not mine; they are the text of D&P's description of their Mexican partners. I have included the full text here because I could not find an online source to link to. They in no way represent my position, which can be found at the top of this post)

Another Abortion Partner with Development and Peace

In what seems to be an ever deepening tide of evidence, the National Catholic Register is now reporting that Development and Peace has partnered with a pro-abortion group in Bolivia. Read the story here.

The group, CEPROSI, is called a "feminist woman's health NGO" and acording to sources cited in the article has been one of the most "militant and radical" groups attempting to lobby the Bolivian government to pass pro-abortions laws.

My thoughts on D&P are clear in the earlier posts on the subject, so I'm not going to repeat them or editorialize in this post. I'm just passing along this story.

Development and Peace Update

As promised, here is another update on the D&P Story. Archbishop Thomas Collins of the diocese of Toronto has reportedly (in a letter to the priests of his diocese) called for an investigation into D&P. Read the story here. He has stated that if money is going to pro-abortion groups, funding will be denied to D&P from the archdiocese of Toronto.

In case anyone is wondering, Archbishop Collins has strongly and vocally suported D&P in the past when he was Bishop of Edmonton. (See here) There is no way he can be (in my opinion) accused of having an agenda against D&P.

I had the privilege of hearing Archbishop Collins speak last September and he is an amazing speaker. From what I've seen, he's also a great shepherd of his flock. I want to thank him for speaking out about this- as far as I'm aware, he's the first Bishop to address the allegations.

He hasn't forbidden funding- he's simply asking that an investigation be conducted to ensure that abortion is not being supported. I think that's a very prudent decision and I hope other diocese look into this further.

Making issues like this public is important- so very important because that's how change is made. I certainly don't think D&P purposely chose to partner with pro-choice organizations, but it seems to be clear that they are. A public investigation, and open and frank discussion by the D&P leadership is what we need so everyone can be confident that their donations do not support abortion. And D&P may need to find new Mexican partners, but if that's what it takes to save lives, then that's what needs to be done.

More updates as I find them.