Planned Parenthood & Komen Race for Cure - Church Authority Question

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Tom_Bombadil

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I have a couple questions regarding Komen Race for the Cure.

The St. Louis Archdiocese has said that it “does not endorse” the Komen Race for the Cure because:
  1. Some Komen chapters (St. Louis not among them) give money to Planned Parenthood which, even if only dedicated for breast health issues, frees up PP money for abortion, contraception, etc.
  2. Komen ignores the scientific evidence linking abortion to breast cancer.
  3. Komen supports embryonic stem cell research.
lifeissues.org/AbortionBreastcancer/komen/3_25_07.html (sorry, I don’t have a link to the original Archdiocese document). Despite this position statement, I believe that an individual Catholic is permitted to contribute and participate in the St. Louis Race for the Cure.

The neighboring Belleville Diocese has no position on the Race for the Cure, perhaps because there is no Race held within its Diocese.

My questions are these:
  1. Could a parish in the St. Louis Archdiocese sponsor a team to participate in the Race for the Cure? If not, why not?
  2. If your answer is that a parish in the St. Louis Archdiocese may not sponsor a team, what about a parish in the Belleville Diocese sponsoring a team to participate in the St. Louis Race for the Cure?
I really am looking for solid, authoritative arguments about what is or is not permissible, rather than opinion on whether it’s disgraceful to blow off the Archbishop, or whether Komen does good work, or whether Komen is joined at the hip with PP, or whether the St. Louis position statement rests on allegedly false premises, or whatever. If anyone wants to start a thread on those topics, please let me know and I’ll be happy to join in.
 
banjo said:
You might take the Catechism 2270-2275 as a starting point.
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Thanks. I do not need convincing that it would be wrong, knowing what I know about Komen’s association with Planned Parenthood, to support Komen. Nor do I need convincing that the CCC forbids abortion, formal participation in abortion, etc.

But obviously many people are going to say “come on, supporting Komen isn’t really supporting abortion, and they do such good stuff.” So, what I am getting at are fairly narrow legal questions:
  1. Whether the statement of the Archdiocese (which is not absolutely binding on individuals) prohibits parishes within that Archdiocese from parish participation (such as sponsoring a team).
  2. If the answer is that parishes are, indeed, forbidden, what effect does that have on other parishes, not in the Archdiocese, who nonetheless want to come into that Archdiocese with a sponsored team?
Somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I have some notion that some entities are “juridically” the same as persons. So, maybe that which is not binding on a person is likewise not binding on a parish, and a parish, even in that Archdiocese, can be fully aware of the position statement and flagrantly disregard it by very public sponsorship of a team. Maybe not. I’d love to see a sort of legal analysis of this issue.
 
Skip the cannon lawyer and use your common sense.

The Archdiocese’ statement makes it clear that it does not want to be formally associated with the Komen event. It has not gone anywhere near as far as condemning or forbidding participation~so to participate in the race event is left to a matter of individual discretion and judgment. I think you can participate in good conscience.

But I do think it would be disrespectful and somewhat defiant to organize a team from any parish in the area and have them run under a public banner knowing what you know about the Archdiocese position and the lingering controversy surrounding Komen’s association with PP. If you want to participate individually or with a group, then organize and represent yourself under some other banner or mode of association: your neighborhood, “in memory or support of…”, workplace name–or–make up your own name for your group of friends. There are lots of options here. Pick one that allows you and those around you to focus on what is being accomplished instead of fueling controversy.
 
If I remember correctly a Bishop, Cardinal, or Archbishop has the authority to bind his diocese under pain of mortal sin to do or not do something. When I was in High School Edward Cardinal Mooney forbade members of his diocese from attending a movie called The Moon is Blue (actually pretty tame by today’s standards). If Bishop Burke hasn’t bound you in this fashion I would think that individuals could certainly disagree and take part. Parish sponsored in my opinion is a whole nother horse.
 
Maybe we should also consider what constitutes “scandal” and possibly leading others into sin. I think Island Oak makes a great point. 👍
 
I would agree with Island Oak on this one.

It’s pretty clear that +Burke does not wish the Archdiocese to be associated with Komen.

There is still room for an individual to make a decision to participate, but a parish should not. A parish is an organ of the diocese, and lending it’s name to something that the bishop wishes to distance the diocese from would be imprudent.
 
Thanks everyone. This parish has a very good priest. I have to assume that he is simply not aware of the Archdiocese position. As a reminder, this parish is not within the Archdiocese, but the Race is.

There are two issues it seems – whether you CAN and whether you SHOULD. Obviously (to me anyway), the parish SHOULD NOT do this given the Archdiocese position. But it seems that the parish CAN do it.

I certainly wanted to keep this priest and the parish from any controversy from doing something that is disallowed, and if it were disallowed then I would have pointed it out. As it seems it is not disallowed, I will have to let the priest know what I know about the Archdiocese position – he will obviously have to decide what, if anything, to do with this information.
 
I think the correct thing to do is advise the priest of Archbishop Burke’s statement and position regarding the Komen foundation.

I think it would be scandalous for a parish in a neighboring diocese to participate in an event in a diocese where parishes are forbidden from participating. In addition, it could be construed by some as an insult to the archbishop and an act of rebellion within the Church.
 
If they really truly want to support breast cancer research, and not just get all caught up in pink fever of the moment, then start doing some research of your own to find another organization that does not support abortion. They are out there. Komen is not the only option.

~Liza
 
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s “Race for the Cure” is coming to Waco, Texas, on Saturday, and a state pro-life group wants everyone to know where their money is going.John Pischiotta of Pro-Life Waco is spreading the word that the foundation donates large sums to Planned Parenthood.“We’re trying to raise awareness on the link between abortion and breast cancer, and point out that it is totally inappropriate for the Susan G. Komen Foundation to be making grants to the country’s No. 1 abortion provider,” Pischiotta told OneNewsNow.com.
 
I have a friend with breast cancer. Her sister is walking this year on her behalf. I was asked to donate, but had heard about the link between the Komen foundation and Planned Parenthood. I decided to call the Komen foundation to ask them about their affiliation. The woman that I spoke with was very clear that the monies raised were earmarked for breast services, and that there were independent audits done regularly to ensure that the money was being used appropriately.

Even so, I’m struggling with the idea of donating. This is really kind of a grey area for me, because these are services granted to women who might not otherwise never have a mamogram, etc, due to a lack of health insurance. Once upon a time I was one of those women. Still, it’s Planned Parenthood. I can’t help but think that my conscience would bug me if I made that donation. I wonder if there are other organizations out there…free or low cost women’s clinics that DON’T offer abortions. That I could get behind, 100%!
 
kristie_m said:
The woman that I spoke with was very clear that the monies raised were earmarked for breast services, and that there were independent audits done regularly to ensure that the money was being used appropriately.
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SO - they didn’t say that they DON’T contribute to PP! That is very interesting!

Now if they are using that money ONLY for breast services, what does that do with the rest of PP’s money? It frees it up so they can use it in other areas - and where do you think that might be? Luring in women and young girls for abortions, handing out condoms, and basically using it to run their abortion mills because they are getting “breast care” money from outside.
This is really kind of a grey area for me, because these are services granted to women who might not otherwise never have a mamogram, etc, due to a lack of health insurance. Once upon a time I was one of those women. Still, it’s Planned Parenthood. I can’t help but think that my conscience would bug me if I made that donation. I wonder if there are other organizations out there…free or low cost women’s clinics that DON’T offer abortions. That I could get behind, 100%!
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This is most certainly not a gray area. It is very clear cut. They contribute to the largest baby slaughtering operation in the country.

Of course there are other options for these women - all they have to do is look in the phone book, call Catholic Social Services for direction, or ask their local hospital to direct them to somewhere other than the baby killers.

This really is very simple. If your conscience is telling you something, listen it. It is obviously trying to scream the truth at you.

~Liza
 
lizaanne said:
Of course there are other options for these women - all they have to do is look in the phone book, call Catholic Social Services for direction, or ask their local hospital to direct them to somewhere other than the baby killers.

~Liza
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But please consider, that if I, a reasonably educated person with a great many resources at my fingertips don’t know about these other options, how can we expect it of those less privilaged? If there are other options, why aren’t they at the forefront? We need to do more than tell people, “don’t go to planned parenthood.” We need to tell them where they CAN go to get the help and services they need at a price they can afford.

Sorry, don’t mean to hijack the thread…
 
I just heard on Teresa Tomeo this morning (EWTN Radio) that a certain amont of money that is raised in each local chapter must be sent to the national headquarters (SGK) and that money can filtered to PP.

Yes, anyone who wants to participate can, but why would they want to knowing what we know about the link between SGK and PP?
 
kristie_m said:
But please consider, that if I, a reasonably educated person with a great many resources at my fingertips don’t know about these other options, how can we expect it of those less privilaged? If there are other options, why aren’t they at the forefront? We need to do more than tell people, “don’t go to planned parenthood.” We need to tell them where they CAN go to get the help and services they need at a price they can afford.

Sorry, don’t mean to hijack the thread…
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Who is this “we” you speak of? Not sure if you mean those of us here on this forum, Catholics in general, everyone in the country, health care providers…who should be doing this?

The reason PP is so easy to get to is because they have the big bucks to make themselves available everywhere, and that they don’t have massive blazing signs outside that say “baby killers” - they have sweet little signs that mislead, even Planned Parenthood can be misleading if you don’t know any better about them.

Those who provide pro-life women’s services are the ones who need to speak up and make their presence known in the din of death. I can’t do it for them.

~Liza
 
Since when did Susan G. Komen become the only organization fighting cancer? It is one of many, remaining perhaps the most socially acceptable, the most politically correct, and the most closely associated with mortal sin.

I’ll take incurable cancer and the hope of Heaven to a cure extracted from death, and an eternity in flames.

Christ’s peace.
 
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