March of Dimes at work

[nenevets]

Hello,
This is my first post so bear with any confusion in details.

A co-worker of mine asked me to join her March of Dimes walk team. Her sister had a preemie who thankfully is home. Having not done research (which I regret) I said yes. Now, that I have done research and talking to my priest I want to back-out. My priest also mentioned that it’s a chance for evangelization. Do you think it would be wise to explain the connections of abortion/embryonic testing permitted, plus, to give a donation to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where her sister’s child was being taken care of. I say this so as to show that I’m not just going to criticize MOD but also show respect for the sincere feeling of caring for preemies; just in this case giving to actual caring.

As a side note, she did get married outside of the Catholic Church since the church wouldn’t do the marriage because her husband is divorced. Plus, she doesn’t want to baptise their child in the Catholic Church since the Church won’t recognize their marriage. So, I know her response may be rough but God willing, it will all come out for greater good. Thank you all ahead of time for your
response(s), and may God bless you and fill you will His Wisdom.

 

[nenevets]

As an possible alternative would it be okay to just say I have to back out and won’t participate?

 

[dsmantz]

I say go for it. At the very least you’re showing support for a friend. At the most, you’re being put into an environment where you do have the chance to evangelize. I’m willing to bet that most doing the MOD aren’t Christians, and if they are, have no clue what goes on behind the scenes. They’re there to support what, in their minds, is a good and noble cause.

You’ve committed and should follow through with it. As for donating to the NICU that her child was being cared for, might I suggest donating to the hospitals chaplaincy department instead. Being in the medical field, I can promise that the NICU has all the funding it needs. Chaplains, on the other hand, do not.

 

[OrangeOwl]

I’m embarrassed to say that when I first saw this post, I didn’t have a clue what March of Dimes was all about. Now that I have a better idea, I have a couple of questions. Do they directly support/encourage abortion? Or do they just support pre-natal testing?

Frankly, from the little I read about it online, I wouldn’t feel comfortable supporting it at all, either with my money or appearance. But maybe that’s just because I feel very strongly about the abortion topic.

If I were in the situation, I would back out and be very up-front about my reasons for doing so. There are other ways to show support for a person besides the appearance of support for an organization that (at the very least) implicitly encourages abortions.

In regards to how much I would tell her, I don’t know. It depends on your work situation, honestly. Will saying that you don’t support abortion hurt you at work? If it won’t, I think you can easily say that “I don’t support abortion, and MoD encourages it.” But you attempting to persuade her to see abortion as wrong might cross the line, if you want to avoid a hostile work environment.

 

[lizaanne]

I have a couple of really good co-worker friends who both participate in the Komen Race for the Cure every year. Last year they both asked me to participate - one of them is a breast cancer survivor herself.

I took a deep breath, said a prayer, and let her know (just by stating facts) why I refuse to support Komen, and supplied several links showing the connections between Planned Parenthood. She thanked me, she said that she too is Catholic, and is very much pro-life but had never heard of the connection. She took it very seriously.

What she does with the information is now up to her. I made her aware of it. Job done.

The other friend - same response that she didn’t know and thanked me, but now I think she still participates but does not ask for donations from work friends.

Educate people. What they do with the information is up to them. But don’t just support a cause that is morally unacceptable.

~Liza

 

[OrangeOwl]

I have a couple of really good co-worker friends who both participate in the Komen Race for the Cure every year. Last year they both asked me to participate - one of them is a breast cancer survivor herself.

I took a deep breath, said a prayer, and let her know (just by stating facts) why I refuse to support Komen, and supplied several links showing the connections between Planned Parenthood. She thanked me, she said that she too is Catholic, and is very much pro-life but had never heard of the connection. She took it very seriously.

What she does with the information is now up to her. I made her aware of it. Job done.

The other friend - same response that she didn’t know and thanked me, but now I think she still participates but does not ask for donations from work friends.

Educate people. What they do with the information is up to them. But don’t just support a cause that is morally unacceptable.

~Liza

This is perfect.

Educating people about the facts is important. After all, I didn’t even know something was up with MoD or Komen until after this thread got started. It’s making me start to wonder how many of these organization supporting “cures” for various diseases are also supporting abortion.