I'd like to begin by quoting from a booklet published by Human Life International and co-authored by me, titled "Catholics for a Free Choice Exposed - Dirty Ideas, Dirty Money":

"Imagine a small band of non-observant Jews coming together to form an allegedly Jewish organization, that was actually set up to create confusion in the public mind regarding the beliefs and teachings of orthodox Judaism.

"Imagine further that the disgruntled founders who for years have not been seen worshiping in a synagogue or keeping the practices of Judaism denigrate and bash their supposed faith: denying the Torah, ridiculing and insulting faithful Rabbis, rejecting Jewish dietary laws, and attempting to influence orthodox Jews to eat pork.

"Imagine that the principal media outlets in the country almost every time a story appears about orthodox Jewish beliefs seek balance by featuring and quoting the opinions of this apostate band. Finally, imagine that some of the most prestigious foundations have pumped millions of dollars into this organization to advance its agenda."

This is exactly what Catholics for a Free Choice is doing, where it concerns the Catholic Church's teachings.

I will give a brief background of this organization called "Catholics for Free Choice"- CFFC- for those who have never heard of it.

CFFC was founded in l970 to protest the Catholic Church's opposition to New York's permissive abortion law. It quickly became an affiliate of the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, after the Supreme Court legalized abortion in l973. By that same year it had established itself as "a national educational organization that supports the right to legal reproductive health care, especially family planning (that is, contraception, abortifacients and sterilization), and abortion".

Its first president (who served until l979) was Joseph O'Rourke, who was expelled from the Jesuits in l974. Since l980 Frances Kissling, the founder of the National Abortion Federation (an association of abortion providers), has served as CFFC's president.

CFFC's first headquarters in the U.S. were located in Planned Parenthood's New York City office building. From the outset, the two organizations have been close allies in the war against the Catholic Church, the family and the unborn. They share philosophies and objectives.

According to the U.S. bishops, CFFC is associated with the pro-abortion lobby in Washington. CFFC's Director of Communications, Jon O'Brien, was asked by Voters for Choice in September, l998 to provide a briefing "to the Seattle based, world famous grunge rock group, Pearl Jam". The band, which was playing benefit concerts to raise money for the pro-abortion cause, was interested in learning about U.S. based so-called "anti-choice organizations" that attempt to influence political campaigns in other countries. Voters for Choice, which seems to be collaborating closely with CFFC, "supports pro-choice candidates in the U.S. with training, financial assistance, voter awareness, and endorsements." (CFFC's "Conscience" magazine, autumn, l998.)

You can read much more about CFFC and the anti-life foundations that provide them with the funds to attack the Catholic Church's teachings, in Human Life International's excellent booklet "Catholics for a Free Choice Exposed: Dirty Ideas, Dirty Money", which I mentioned at the beginning of this talk.

Is CFFC really a Catholic organization as it claims to be? Frances Kissling, CFFC director, who left the Catholic Church during her youth and claims she later returned, has stated that coming back to the church didn't mean "coming back to Sunday Mass, confession and all those things that are the memories of my childhood". While Kissling attempts to defend her organization as being a legitimate voice of Catholic dissent, supposedly supported by a large fraction of the Catholic population, when she joined CFFC she claimed that she no longer considered herself a Catholic. In reality, if she really returned to the church, it was only "as a social change agent", in order to sow discord and division.

CFFC vehemently opposes the Catholic Church's teachings where it concerns contraception, abortion, sterilization, masturbation and homosexuality. It takes the position that none of the Church's teachings on sexual and reproductive issues, are infallible and so are not binding. CFFC claims that abortion can be a moral choice but even if a Catholic believes it is immoral, he or she can still favor its legality. CFFC is not just an anti-Catholic organization; it aggressively seeks to undermine the very foundations of Catholic moral principles.

This is precisely CFFC's main purpose for existing: to undermine the Church from within. But even that is a deception. They want the world to think that they are "within" the Church. In reality, they are a satellite organization of the most powerful population control lobbies in the world - namely IPPF, and the United Nations. CFFC is in my opinion, usurping and misusing the term Catholic. Perhaps the Vatican and the bishops in each individual country in the world should copyright this term, so CFFC cannot continue to use it.

Frances Kissling, president of CFFC for 17 of its 25 year history, boldly admits it has no real authority in Catholic matters, when she says that CFFC was founded "for the American people, particularly political leaders, to understand that the bishops did not speak for Catholics and that Catholics could and did support the right to choose". In other words, CFFC acts as a public relations firm dedicated exclusively to present a certain image of Catholics to the world.

CFFC has two main activities: to publish countless articles to substantiate their anti-Catholic claims and to be a symbolic presence at UN meetings such as the Cairo+5, so that Hillary Clinton and the population controllers can confidently say that "Catholic groups" support their culture of death views.

Hillary Clinton reaffirmed her well-known pro-abortion position during her intervention in the Cairo+5 Forum, at The Hague, Netherlands recently. She confirmed that despite the budgetary restrictions placed by the US congress, the White House will offer 25 million dollars to the UN's Population Fund. In her talk, which has been perceived by Catholics in Latin American countries as a defiant and calculated slander to the Church, Hillary mentioned the collaboration of "Catholic groups" in promoting and executing population control policies and abortion. No doubt she was referring to "Catholics for a Free Choice" (CFFC) whose sole purpose, it seems, is to offer contraception and abortion promoters the opportunity to say that many Catholics support their position.

CFFC has obtained special consultative status or EcoSoc status (July 3l, l998) at the United Nations (UN), with the right to vote. This, according to CFFC, "means that the UN recognizes that CFFC has special competence in specific areas." ("Conscience", autumn l998, CFFC newsletter.) Human Life International has been denied the same status.

CFFC used its newly acquired power to oppose the Vatican's efforts to stop the inclusion of "forced" or "enforced pregnancy" among the "war crimes" that would be judged by the "International Criminal Court" proposed by the UN. The Vatican was concerned that recognizing "forced" or enforced pregnancy" might "afford a legal lever against laws that criminalize abortion". The UN finally gave the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over these "crimes of sexual violence" and delegates compromised on the definition. "Forced pregnancy" was defined as "the unlawful confinement of a woman forcibly made pregnant, with the intent of affecting the ethic, composition of any population or carrying out other grave violations of international law." ( CFFC's "Conscience" magazine, autumn, l998.)

CFFC has closely followed the Catholic Church's moves in its strive to overcome the global politics of population control, in order to counteract the Church's efforts. CFFC boasts that it has played an active role in "challenging" the Vatican at the important population conferences organized by the UN. In fact, CFFC has been trying to oust the Vatican from the UN since the Beijing Conference for Women in 1995. It recently started (last March, l999) a postcard campaign, asking organizations to write the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, requesting that he review the Vatican's non-member state permanent observer status. Currently the Holy See's representative can take part in General Assembly debates and UN conferences, but cannot vote. It seems CFFC wants the Vatican totally out of the UN.

CFFC has raised four objectives where it concerns the Vatican's presence at the UN: the Holy See lacks a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and a capacity to enter relations with other States. Frances Kissling ( CFFC president) said: "If the Vatican is a state, EuroDisney should have a seat on the Security Council".

William Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the U.S., is trying to counter Kissling's attack on the Catholic Church's UN status by starting a postcard campaign of his own He is asking UN officials to revoke CFFC's NGO (non-governmental organization) status. Donahue has stated that "From its inception, CFFC has misrepresented itself as a Catholic organization." And he added : "To be a Catholic and lobby for abortion is as incongruous as it would be for a Catholic to lobby for slavery. It is time for the UN to give Kissling the boot." (CINMAIN, Internet, 30 March, l999.)

At a recent UN meeting in New York, CFFC was part of a coalition of women's rights groups that accused the Vatican and some Muslim countries of trying to water down proposals on sex education and the so- called "reproductive rights", which is a euphemism for contraception, sterilization and abortion.

The objective of these anti-life organizations is to implement the "Cairo Plan" approved at that UN conference over the objections of the Vatican's delegation and pro-life countries and individuals. That plan calls for universal access to "reproductive health services" (another euphemism for contraception, sterilization and abortion), for everyone, especially minors. One of the main organizations pushing for this is the International Women's Health Coalition, whose president is Adrienne Germain, a member of the official U.S. delegation. ("Vatican Blamed in Population Policy", Associated Press, 3-3l-99.) The U.S. and the European Union are also among those vigorously promoting it. The Vatican and about 133 nations from the developing world (especially Latin America), are opposing these efforts.

CFFC has working connections with many population control groups. It networks with the most active anti-life/family groups in the U.S. like the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, as well as with feminist groups in many parts of the world such as the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights headquartered in Holland, but extending its influence to many other countries (including the Hispanic ones). CFFC also networks with the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network and Isis International, the main anti-life/family group in Latin America. Isis has an office in Santiago, Chile from which it sends information to anti-life feminist groups in these Hispanic countries.

Starting in 1986, CFFC began to take a great interest in Latin America. It issued a number of publications in Spanish and set up chapters in Mexico and several other Latin American countries. Why such an interest in Latin America above all other parts of the world? In CFFC's website, Kissling specifically mentions two other countries where CFFC is involved: Ireland and Poland. The connection is clear. These are Catholic strongholds in the world. In other words, it is in these countries that the Church is respected and obeyed by the largest number of people and has the most authority. In fact, the majority of the world's Catholics live in Hispanic or Latino countries.

Here again, we see CFFC diligently fulfilling its role to undermine the Church. CFFC's president Frances Kissling and other board members like so-called "Catholic theologian" Rosemary Radford Ruether, travel to Latin America to give talks and are quoted by the media as "the other" Catholic voice. Dr. Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, another U.S. "feminist theologian" traveled to Mexico City in l997, to speak about "Christian feminism" and "Womenchurch" at a conference at the Jesuit Iberoamerican University.

Most of the funds which CFFC uses to oppose Catholic Church teachings, come from anti-life foundations like Rockefeller, Ford, MS and the Playboy Foundation. CFFC received over 8 million dollars to spread its anti-Catholic philosophy all over the world from these American foundations. About 1 million was allocated to set up CFFC's Latin America network, which has its main office in Cordoba, Argentina (and another office in Buenos Aires). That network includes offices in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. CFFC also has a branch in Spain and a bilingual website, where it has abundant materials in Spanish produced by its Latin American branches.

When I visited Mexico (January ‘99) to put on training sessions for leaders, I was told that CFFC's branch in that country is sending Catholic women who are considering abortion but think it might be wrong, to priests who advice them it is ok. CFFC of Mexico is also being invited to speak at Catholic universities and its leaders were involved in the legalization of abortion in the State of Chiapas in Mexico, using money from US foundations like General Service and Jessie Smith Noyes. In fact, recently CFFC unsuccessfully pushed for abortion legalization throughout all of Mexico and also in Bolivia.

The Clark Foundation awarded $ 25,000 in 1985 "to provide Catholic citizens with a rational alternative to Church Doctrine" in Canada. In view of the fact that CFFC has a very visible presence in Canada -local group picketed HLI during its world conference in Toronto, April ‘99- it is obvious CFFC has found funding support in that country too.

CFFC's Latin American counterpart "Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir", publishes CFFC's Spanish newsletter "Conciencia Latinoamericana", which reproduces Spanish translations of the writings of pro-abortion so-called "Catholic theologians" and collaborators of CFFC such as Daniel McGuire and Rosemary Radford Ruether.

In its Spanish language website "Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir", CFFC boasts that it has joined forces with several dissenting groups: Catholic Organizations for Renewal, Women Church Convergence in the U.S. and European Network/Church on the Move. CFFC's plan to have more influence among U.S. and Latin American Hispanics, is evidenced by the fact that it has a "Latino program" which is working with Hispanic organizations in the U.S. and gets plenty of media attention.

CFFC's Mexico headquarters published a "comic book" titled in Spanish "Y Maria fué consultada para ser madre de Dios" (Mary was asked whether or not she would like to be God's mother), which I don't believe CFFC would ever dare to publish in the U.S. Its first page shows a young girl praying in church asking : "Little virgin, tell me what to do". The girl is trying to decide whether or not to have an abortion. In the last page, she is told by a neighbor: "Look Concepcion (the girl's name), it is a difficult situation but I cannot decide for you. Just remember that when the angel appeared to Mary, he asked her if she wanted to be the mother of God. She thought for a while and then said yes. If she had said no, for sure she would have had her period. Well, if God gave her the chance to decide, we must believe that we get that same chance, so that our motherhood, like hers, can be voluntary."

In l998 CFFC launched another anti-Catholic video in Spanish, which has become part of its extensive arsenal of books, videos and brochures in that language. In this video called "Las lágrimas de Eros" (Eros's tears), CFFC's Latin American counterpart Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, promotes masturbation, contraception, lesbianism and abortion, through personal interviews filmed at the chapel of a Jesuit university in Uruguay, South America. In my opinion, the most offensive part of the video, at least where our Blessed Mother is concerned, is when the Ave Maria is sung and afterwards the narrator laments that "The Catholic model of womanhood continues to be the Virgin Mary, in spite of modernism, the pill and premarital sex." The video includes an erotic dance by a naked man and a woman, as well as an interview with a lesbian who had been considering entering a convent and an ex-priest, who says he had to leave the priesthood because he could not avoid having sex.

In spite of all its offices in Latin America and the many thousands of dollars it pours into them, CFFC has not made much headway in these Hispanic countries, where they have been vigorously opposed by both the Catholic people and their very determined and brave pro-life/family bishops.

In the autumn l998 issue of "Conscience" (CFFC's U.S. newsletter), CFFC laments the fact that Mexican bishops are very outspoken where it concerns abortion. It was referring to Mexico City's cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera and Guadalajara's cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, two great defenders of life who have repeatedly and publicly spoken against abortion legalization. This is what CFFC calls a "recurring problem" it has encountered throughout Latin American countries. The bishops of Uruguay (where CFFC's headquarters originally were), warned them where it concerns the danger of ex-communication. American bishops have also denounced CFFC. The NCCB (National Council of Catholic Bishops) issued a statement in l993 in which it warned that CFFC "has rejected unity with the Church and holds positions that deliberately contradict essential teachings of the Catholic Faith". The bishops concluded that "Catholics for a Free Choice merits no recognition or support as a Catholic organization."

It is obvious that CFFC has not had much success in the U.S. either because it seems to be trying to build a new image for itself. An article called "A Mouse That Roars - An Interview with CFFC President Frances Kissling" posted at CFFC's website (www.cath4choice.org), reveals its most recent strategy: to concentrate on promoting dissention where it concerns contraception. The objective seems to be to reach out to the large numbers of Catholics who unfortunately attend mass and receive communion, while at the same time disobeying the Catholic Church's teachings by using contraceptive and abortifacient drugs and devices.

CFFC's new program to recruit dissenting Catholics is called "Catholics for Contraception". CFFC boasts in its September ‘98 fundraising letter that it has "organized 1,000 Catholics who work within their communities and parishes across the country (US) to show their support for contraception through letters to the editors, meetings and action alerts". CFFC has even met with high level officials at the White House.

CFFC wants Catholic institutions to be forced to pay for contraceptives/abortifacients in their insurance coverage. Frances Kissling alleges that these institutions should not "trump" the individual conscience of a woman or those who believe that the choice to contracept is a moral one.

CFFC's latest effort to win the support of dissenting Catholics is a document titled "Catholic Opinion about Reproduction" which asserts that the majority of Catholics in the world do not agree with the teachings of the Church about contraception, abortion and divorce. This document has been translated into Spanish and was printed in a booklet that is being distributed among Hispanics too.

To prepare this "piece of anti-Catholic propaganda", CFFC relied on an ambitious study of the marital status and contraceptive practices of so-called "Catholic" women from all over the world. The method that CFFC used to conduct that poll was probably similar to the one shown in a cartoon I once saw. The interviewer who is doing the poll knocks on the door and asks if the person is Catholic. If that person says she or he went to mass once many years ago, that qualifies them to be called a Catholic.

In order to gain more support, CFFC joined forces with the U.S. based "We Are Church" coalition of l40 dissenting groups, which is now an international movement. "We Are Church", which has forged links through the Internet, recently wrote to all the Catholic Church's cardinals, asking that the "next Pope be a 'collaborative' leader who would allow bishops, priests and lay people a share in church decision-making." (New York Times, l0-l5-98.) The statement calls for a Pope who is sensitive to "the awakening of women's consciousness" in the church, where it concerns "all those qualified whatever their gender, marital status or sexual orientation". (New York Times, l0-l5-98.)

It is a great tragedy that there are people who claim to be Catholic, while promoting so much of what the Catholic Church opposes. I sincerely believe that many of them are acting in good faith and/or out of ignorance of the Church's teachings or the Church's reasons for those teachings. For example, perhaps many are not aware of the fact, that the Church's teaching on contraception, sterilization and abortion seeks to protect the physical, emotional and spiritual integrity of the woman as well as of the marital act. All contraceptives and abortifacients have harmful side effects, and seek to make the woman into a sex object. The main objective of contraception is to make the woman sterile so she can be sexually available to the spouse or boyfriend at all times. And for this purpose, she allows her body to be harmed by drugs and devices.

Only the natural family planning methods approved by the church, offer the woman the best alternative, for the protection of her internal ecology and her emotional and spiritual health. The Catholic Church's natural family planning methods place the responsibility for planning the family when there are serious motives to do so, on both the man and the woman. Many if not most Catholics are not even aware that there are much more healthy alternatives to contraception, sterilization and abortion. We need a strong, vibrant new evangelization movement to make the teachings of the Catholic Church known, so all Catholics can follow them.

If we are to build the culture of life, as John Paul II asked us to do, there are in my opinion, two things that are extremely important. The first one is prayer. We are involved in a spiritual battle, a battle to preserve the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church on Earth. Prayer is our most valuable weapon. Prayer calls down God's mercy upon us, making the impossible happen.

The fact that not a single Latin American country has legalized abortion in the past years and that laws that allowed it under certain conditions have been overturned, is an indication that CFFC and its abortion pushing counterparts have been unsuccessful in those devout Catholic countries. Chile overturned existing abortion legislation years ago and now does not allow it under any circumstance. Argentina overturned its law too, which allowed it under very limited circumstances. The pro-life movement in that country was able to include the right to life from conception in the constitution in l994. Hundreds of thousands of signatures were presented to the legislators and thousands of people marched in defense of life.

In effect, Argentina has recently become the first country in the world to celebrate the Day of the Unborn Child. President Menem officially designated March 25th, to be celebrated every year. HLI's Hispanic Division was invited to a special event, together with Bernard Cardinal Law of Boston, Bishop Francisco Gil Hellin (Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Family) and Archbishop Martino (Vatican's Permanent Observer to the U.N.).

El Salvador also overturned existing abortion legislation (after stopping the efforts to expand it), got the right to life from conception acknowledged in the constitution too, and was able to get it ratified. El Salvador's constitution is the only one in the world which expressly declares that the unborn are human persons from conception. Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia have all recently turned down abortion legislation. Spain rejected legislation that would have expanded abortion rights and so did Portugal.

Prayer has played the most important part in all these pro-life triumphs. In Spain for example, prayer vigils were conducted in a number of cities, and in all the other countries. The well-organized and devoutly Catholic pro-life movements in all Hispanic countries make prayer the most important part of their work.

The second most important thing to remember is that we are not fighting against human beings, but against "malevolent spiritual forces". St. Paul tells us in his Epistle to the Ephesians (6:l2, 13, 18): "For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the Sovereignties and the Powers who originate the darkness in this world, the spiritual army of evil in the heavens." And he adds: "That is why you must rely on God's armor...pray all the time..."

Because we love Jesus Christ and the Church He founded on Earth so much, we sometimes tend to be very zealous in defending Jesus' teachings, which are those of the Catholic Church. At times we forget that Jesus also loves the people who do not follow those teachings. But we can never underestimate the power of witness, evangelization and love. Our attitude should never be a belligerent one, but one of acceptance of the sinner and rejection of the sin.

We must accept every person as a human being, a child of God, even though we don't agree with his or her philosophies and ideas and we actively oppose them. We must try to put ourselves in their place, to understand what motivates them, why they believe the way they do, and then share our beliefs with them, without judging or condemning them. In doing this, we prepare the way for God's love and mercy to reach them, because they will perceive that we value them as persons, even though we don't agree with their ideas and practices. We need to remember, that were it not for the grace of God and the many spiritual blessings that we have received, we might be a lot worse off spiritually than they are.

We are Jesus Christ's ambassadors on Earth, do we always act like we are? Do we mirror to others His love and compassion? Yes, it's very hard for all of us to do this because we are weak human beings but we can do all things, through Christ, who strengthens us.

St. Paul said:"...There are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love." (I Corinthians l3: l3) Let's take his words seriously, and bring more of God's love into this love-starved world.

God bless you, thank you for coming to hear my talk.