Catholic leaders in Richmond are apologizing after a mix up enabled a 16-year-old illegal immigrant in a Catholic charity's care to get an abortion with help from charity staffers. {I had to read this line twice. Some mix up.}
Richmond Diocese Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo issued a statement in Monday's edition of the Catholic Virginian apologizing for lapses that led to the procedure staunchly opposed by the church.
The incident involved a Guatemalan teenager being cared for by Commonwealth Catholic Charities, through a program that arranges foster care for illegal immigrant children in the country without adult guardians.
Officials fired four of the Richmond-based charity's workers determined to have helped the girl travel to and from the January procedure, and who signed a consent form for the abortion. {This is a pretty clear cut case of aiding and abetting.}
"I express my profound apology for the loss of life of one of the most vulnerable among us," DiLorenzo wrote. "And I apologize for the profound embarrassment this has caused the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, and Catholics throughout the United States."
The bishop had advance knowledge of the January procedure, but he said he was told by the charity's executive director, Joanne Nattrass, that there was nothing they could do to intervene.
Nattrass issued a statement saying she learned Jan. 17 that the girl was scheduled to have an abortion the next morning.
The information was relayed to the bishop, who Nattrass said replied that "I forbid this to happen." But Nattrass said she and other authorities were led to believe they could not stop it.
It was unclear late Tuesday who told Nattrass the procedure was to take place or that it could not be stopped. Nattrass and a spokeswoman for the charity didn't immediately return calls seeking further comment from The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, authorities are investigating whether the charity or the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops violated state and federal laws. {This is where this mix up could get really expensive. Who paid for the abortion?}
The conference receives $7.6 million a year in federal funds to place unaccompanied illegal immigrant children in foster care until they're reunited with relatives, sponsored, or returned to their homeland.
Commonwealth Catholic Charities serves children in the Richmond area as a subcontractor of the bishop's conference. The conference "appears to have been aware of Commonwealth Catholic Charities' actions," Siegel wrote in his April 23 letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' deputy inspector general, Timothy Menke.
Federal law bans the use of federal money to pay for abortions with exceptions for rape, incest or threats to the life of the mother. Virginia law requires parental consent for an abortion for a girl under 18.
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This story isn't just about a 16 year old girl obtaining an abortion with the help of employees working for a Catholic organization, or the failure of a Bishop to put a stop to it. It's way more complicated than that.
There is the legal question of whether or not an employee could serve as a legal representative for this minor and give consent for an abortion the minor wanted. This would be a question of Virginia state law. There is the federal issue of helping to provide for an abortion which didn't meet the requirements of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother and it may not matter that Commonwealth Catholic Charities didn't fund the abortion. The fact is they are getting funds to take care of illegal emigrant children and their staff did help in the procurement of the abortion. Their is also the whole question of providing social services through faith based programs and the conflict between personal constitutional rights and the conflicting doctrines of the provider. It is also true that staff members did provide this young woman with a birth control device and information on how to use it, again, directly in violation of Church teaching, but well within the rights of the girl to ask for. She already has one child and didn't want another.
The diocese in the persons of Bishop DiLorenzo and Ms Nattas, is taking the position that staff members were "deliberately flouting Church teaching" and there wasn't enough time for the Bishop to act--24 hours--, especially given the fact he was given erroneous information. The problem with this is there was time for the Bishop to act and they had any number of options open to them. They could have contacted their lawyers and had them contact the clinic to see if the consent form was legally signed. They could have contacted the USCCB, the supervisory group for Commonwealth Catholic Charities, and asked them to transfer the girl elsewhere, perhaps to another charity which would not have had the dogmatic problems with her request. The fact is they sat on their hands and did nothing.
Four members of Commonwealth Catholic Charities were fired in March for their actions in this situation. The problem is that CCC employees did contact the appropriate channels when the situation first arose, not just the Diocese and the USCCB, but also the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement. They claim they did as they were directed, including advising the girl meet with CCC adoption representatives. The girl stayed steadfast in her choice. I'm not sure what else they could do at their lever of the food chain. Intervention would have had to come from above, but I guess the powers from above have decided termination of the employees is the correct intervention.
I don't know about that. The problem seems to be that no one could convince the girl to do otherwise than abort. That choice put her at odds with her care givers, and her care givers at odds with their bosses, and their bosses at odds with State and Federal Laws regarding abortion.
This seems to be a text book case of why the Faith Based Initiative strategy of President Bush has serious issues when it comes to the separation of Church and State. If the clash of consciences involved in these situations are solved after the fact, on the backs of the people who are caught in the cross fire, then nothing is resolved. Although it might make those doing all the shooting feel better about themselves, it doesn't prevent a future clash along the same lines.
As to my personal feelings, I truly believe the Roman Catholic Church should get out of the Faith Based Initiative Programs. They should just bite the bullet and let the millions of dollars go if they can't in conscience guarantee they will protect the rights of their clients when it comes to sexual and reproductive choices which are legal in this country. Especially in cases like this young Guatemalan teenager who isn't under their care by her choice. I may or may not agree with her choice, but I certainly respect her courage in sticking with her choice. It's just too bad the cost of that choice isn't being paid by the people in power who set the game up by these particular rules. But then, isn't that always the case?
