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WFF Statements

Click here for WFF Statement on CEDAW
Click here for Action Alert on CEDAW (updated 8/20/02)
Click here to view Senator Christopher S. Bond's response to our Statement updated 1/17/03

Special Report!
UN-Silent Spring

Coercive "reproductive rights" agendas make dramatic advance at United Nations and International Criminal Court, as Catholic Church's credibility plummets


June 20, 2002

A series of events this year brought ominous news of the burgeoning push for ideological feminist and related agendas, at a time when the Catholic Church's counter-influence in the United States was collapsing during six-months of sex scandals and cover-ups. The following timeline summarizes main events in the simultaneous advances of coercive measures that conflict with essential Church teaching on the intrinsic value of human life, the central and irreplaceable role of the family in society, and the value and dignity of women, especially as mothers, teachers and care-givers.

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January - June 2002 - Revelations of massive sex-abuse by clergy dominate US press throughout first half of 2002. By mid-June, three bishops had resigned following allegations of sexual abuse; a majority of dioceses were affected by public revelations of sex abuse by dozens of priests and subsequent cover-ups by bishops. The sex-abuse of minors by clergy was overwhelmingly homosexual (est. 90%).


• Profoundly deepening the damage, it was revealed that in case after case, bishops reassigned priest-abusers to other parishes where abuse continued.
  
• This crisis is unprecedented in the history Catholic Church in America, and the credibility of Catholic bishops, individually and collectively, has been effectively demolished.
  

February, March 2002 - During Lent, the "Vagina-Monologues" , a pornographic play by Eve Ensler is performed on about 400 college campuses (February 14 proclaimed "V-Day"), including 12 Catholic Jesuit campuses. Ensler claims her aim is to "end violence against women", and that some proceeds from the performances are to help Afghan women victimized by the patriarchal Muslim religion.


• Planned Parenthood sponsors of some performances.
  
• The United Nations web site carries a link to the "V...Monologues" web site.
  
• In one "monologue", a 13 year old girl describes her "good rape" by an older woman. This scene is reportedly eliminated from some Catholic campus productions in the wake of homosexual child abuse scandals involving Catholic priests.
  

March 13, 2002 - Women and Fundamentalism Resolution of the European Parliament passed by a narrow margin (242-240/42 abstentions).


• The Resolution cites "Memory and Reconciliation" (Pontifical Theological Commission statement on apologies for sins and errors of the Church, Vatican, March 7, 2000), and UN's CEDAW in preamble list of "considerations".
  
• The Resolution is the work of the Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities committee of the European Parliament, initiated on September 8, 2000. The Resolution had earlier been tabled (October 25, 2001).
  
• The Resolution, "[deplores] the interference of the Churches and religious communities in the public and political life of the state, in particular when such interference is designed to restrict human rights and fundamental freedoms, for instance in the sexual or reproductive sphere, or incite and encourage discrimination". It "[expresses] serious reservations with regard to regressive ideologies which are nostalgic for times past and claim to possess answers for women's role in the future based on retrograde positions from the past", and "[stresses] that the process of women's emancipation and liberation is an aspect of the historic progress of humankind."
  
• It asserts that "women's reproductive functions are often controlled by the family, national legislation and/or religious leaders; whereas furthermore most of those responsible for controlling women's reproductivity, at any level, are men", and "stresses that the rights of women laid down in the international treaties and conventions cannot be restricted or breached on the pretext of religion, religious interpretations, cultural traditions or customs or law".
  
• The Resolution "Supports women who fight against fundamentalism and any movement which aims to exclude them from social, economic and political life..." and it "Condemns religious leaders who make use of belief-systems with the aim of excluding women".
  

April 1-5, 2002 - The United Nations Commission on Population and Development (CPD) meeting is held this week in New York. Issues surrounding reproductive rights and reproductive health, including HIV/AIDS, are debated. The 35th session of the Commission on Population and Development will also deliberate on the follow-up actions to the recommendations of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. The HIV/AIDS issue is presented as a matter of "women's rights".

• The UN Population Division had released data on adolescent sexual behavior & STDs. (See Rita Joseph, "Wrong Way - Go Back! -UN Misdirections on Sexual and Reproductive Rights for Adolescents", Voices, Pentecost 2002, p 30ff.)
  
• In anticipation of the meeting, the United Nations published an anti-Catholic document by Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC). A copy of an official UN Economic and Social Council (ESC) release of the CFFC statement notes that the CFFC is a "non-governmental organization (NGO) in special consultative status" with the ESC. The CFFC statement said that the status of the Holy See in the UN should be withdrawn, because it represents a religion, not a state. CFFC also said, "The Holy See's 'prohibition' on abortion and contraception and the use of condoms...is not subject to papal infallibility and Catholics are free to disagree with these institutional positions."
  
• The United States delegation declared that the promotion of strong families and strong values is necessary to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. This position contradicts most UN documents that hold that the AIDS epidemic should be addressed mainly through sexual education and the widespread distribution of condoms to adolescents (10-18 year olds). US Ambassador Sichan Siv told the Commission, "Abstinence and postponement of initial sexual activity play important roles in the promotion of adolescent health and well-being." Siv added that "monogamy, fidelity, [and] partner reduction" should also be encouraged.
  
• Ireland's representative in a panel on "reproductive health and reproductive rights" John A. Jackson said that the Catholic Church's policies on birth control led to their young population, reproductive health problems, etc.
  
• Anabella Arredondo Paz, Executive Director, National Commission on AIDS, Ministry of Health of Chile, complained of deep-seated gender difference and strong opinions about homosexuality in her country which impeded "reproductive rights" and sexual education.
  
  

April 8-19, 2002 - International Criminal Court - 9th preparatory commission meeting. Aim of ICC: to establish jurisdiction of a permanent international court capable of trying and convicting individuals who commit violations of international humanitarian law: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression. (The definitions are broad, and feminist influence in interpretation is considerable.)


April 11, 2002 - ICC Rome Statute ratified - in a ceremony in Rome, 10 states simultaneously ratified the Rome Statute, crossing the threshold of the 60 ratifications necessary for its entry into force.


• Observing the highly political character of the ICC, Ronald J. Rychlak, law professor at University of Mississippi, who has worked with the Holy See's delegation at the ICC meetings, reported that at the moment of ratification, NGO lobbyists in the gallery "held up several individual letters, like they do at football games, to spell "WOMEN WELCOME THE ICC". Later the ICC delegates turned to the gallery and gave the lobbyists for the ICC a standing ovation.
  
• The Women's Caucus for Gender Justice takes credit for "imbedding" feminist issues into the Rome Statutes.
  

April 24, 2002 - US Cardinals meet with Pope John Paul II on massive problem of clergy sex scandals. Pope issues statement emphasizing that children must be protected. Credibility of Catholic bishops in the US is gravely damaged by scandals involving child abuse by priests, predominantly homosexual, and subsequent cover-ups and reassignments by bishops.


May 8-10, 2002 - UN Summit on Children. US Mission and State Department back delegates from Switzerland and the European Union in their push to change the traditional UN definition of the family - married heterosexual parents and children - at the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children.


• Critics of the plan to redefine the family fear that this would grant international legitimacy to homosexual "marriage" and domestic-partner benefits, making these arrangements an internationally recognized right.
  
• The US government has a tentative agreement to remove language from the Child Summit document that would support abortion counseling and abortions for teens under guarantees of so-called "reproductive health services," a State Department source said.
  

June 3-21, 2002 - United Nations Women's Anti-discrimination Committee (Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) holds 27th UN Session on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) at UN Headquarters in New York. The Committee hears reports on progress with implementing CEDAW from various nations that have adopted it.

• The CEDAW, was first adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979, and passed into effect in 1981. It has been ratified by 163 nations; so far not including the United States. Click HERE for WFF Statement on CEDAW.
  
• States parties to CEDAW are required to report to the 23-member Committee on their country's implementation of the Convention.
  
• The CEDAW Committee believes religion inhibits women's rights and "stereotypes" women's roles, and that abortion is a fundamental human right.
• For example, in July 2001, the Committee asked Nicaragua delegates "What kind of efforts have you made in changing or influencing the attitudes and opinions of [Catholic] Church leaders? Are there any improvements in their attitudes towards abortion, contraception and stereotyping?"
• June 12, 2002, as Denmark was being examined by the CEDAW panel, a UN press release reports that one expert wondered how Danish families divided household duties and chores. "It was gratifying to know that fathers were increasingly taking care of babies," but the expert "also wanted to know how they participated in bringing up older children and shared in housework." In response, a Danish delegate assured the Committee that "continuous monitoring was being carried out" on fathers and their household activities.
  

June 5, 2002 - US Government urged to reconsider its non-ratification of CEDAW.

• Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CLRP - www.crlp.org), Franciscans International, the US-based Global Alliance for Women's Health (coalition) and the Sisters of Loretto Women's Network (www.lorettocommunity.org;) are among the women's organizations urging ratification of CEDAW by United States.
  

June 13-15, 2002 - US bishops meet in Dallas, focus entirely on recent pederasty scandals. About 750 media attend. Bishops adopt a "Charter" of procedures for dealing with cases of clerical pederasty, including "zero-tolerance" of priests who have ever sexually abused minors.

• Bishops are addressed by Scott Appleby (Notre Dame history professor, self-described "Americanist" Catholic, and co-author of "The Fundamentalism Project"), Margaret Steinfels (editor of liberal Catholic magazine, Commonweal), and four victims of sex abuse by clergy. Appleby and Steinfels call for restructuring of the Church to make it conform to a democratic model that will be hospitable to dissent (Appleby repeatedly notes dissent from Church teaching on contraception after Humanae Vitae in 1968.)
  
• An advisory panel on psychological aspects consists of advocates of "mature" homosexuality for priests, Frs. Canice Connors and Stephen Rosetti (present and past director of St. Luke Institute and Southdown therapy facilities) and "sex-expert" Dr. Fred Berlin of Johns Hopkins. (St. Luke Institute is under investigation by the State of Maryland after a priest committed suicide in his room May 16, shortly after his arrival for treatment.)
  
• USCCB President, Bishop Wilton Gregory appoints an independent review board: Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, Robert Bennett (former-president Clinton's defense attorney in Paula Jones/Lewinsky sex cases), and Chicago Judge Anne Burke.
  
• Two bishops (Bruskewitz, and Francis Cardinal George) say problems of dissent and homosexuality must be faced, but most bishops seem reluctant to include these, voting against a proposal to include this in their Charter.
  

June 18, 2002 - Women's Caucus for Gender Justice distributes announcement of a Job opening for Executive Director on the internet.

• The notice states that the Women's Caucus "has succeeded in embedding in the international law a broad range of gender crimes as well as principles, processes and remedies designed to make gender justice a reality. These provisions of the Rome Statute of the ICC are in turn a basis for law reform and anti-impunity initiatives on national and regional levels relating to gender violence and persecution in war conflict as well as in the so-called time of peace".
  "The Women's Caucus for Gender Justice...is committed to strengthening women's leadership, representation, networks and advocacy for the promotion of gender justice internationally and at the national level. Our goal is to enable women to use and expand justice and accountability norms and mechanisms, including the ICC, to both redress violations against women and address the causes of gender violence and discrimination, poverty, conflict, economic exploitation and other sources of human insecurity."
  

July 1, 2002 - ICC Rome Statute enters into force. International Criminal Court will begin functioning approximately 12 months after that date.


July 1-12, 2002 - ICC final PrepCom meeting.


August 15 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Holy Day of Obligation

• At their June meeting, the US Bishops' Conference had discussed holding a nationwide day of fasting on August 14, the vigil of this solemnity and Holy Day of Obligation. They were unable to reach a decision to do so.
  

August 26-September 4, 2002 - UN World Summit on Sustainable Development [WSSD] to meet in Johannesburg.

• United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] announcement on its web site (www.unep.org/wssp) explictly links "Sustainable Development" with women's issues.
• The UNEP, "recall[s] the vision", citing factors, including "women increasingly aware and with an enhanced active role in society" that will "point to the emergence of a new consciousness". "We can decrease poverty by half by 2015...we can better coordinate legal instruments and we can realize a vision of a world without slums".
• "Sustainable development is at the hub of population control initiatives that have overtaken the globe in the past 25 years. As could be expected, the target for control is women", writes Mary Jo Anderson in "UN - Sustainable Development", Voices Lent/Easter 2002, (www.wf-f.org/02-1-UNSustainableDev.html) .

September 14 - Exaltation of the Cross - At their June meeting, the US Bishops' Conference had discussed holding a nationwide day of fasting on September 13, the vigil of this feast. They were unable to reach a decision to do so.

September 29 - Saint Michael and All Angels.