The following open letter on the International March of Women was written by Mrs. Jakki
Jeffs, a Life Member of the Catholic Women’s League (CWL). A Life Member is given permanent
membership on the national council of the CWL.
Mrs. Jeffs is a former president of the CWL of the Hamilton diocese (this diocesan CWL has
12,500 members – about 10% of the CWL national membership). She was also a member of the CWL
Ontario provincial board acting as the Educational Convener. Moreover she was recently
featured in The Catholic Register as a model CWL leader.
A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS
What a cruel irony indeed that this Jubilee year, the first of a new millennium, the 80th
anniversary of the Catholic Women’s League of Canada, should be tainted by such division and
disruption.
I am a Life member of the Catholic Women’s League as well as an active pro-lifer and during
the last two months I have fielded dozens of calls to my office concerning the League’s
endorsement of the World March of Women 2000. I have read the correspondence distributed by
the national executive to defend their commitment of our involvement with this March.
More recently and most sadly, I have read the May 16th joint statement of renewed support for
the March – released by the Canadian Conference of Bishops, the Catholic Women’s League of
Canada, the Canadian Religious Conference and the Catholic Organization for Development and
Peace. I am placed in the position of feeling like David must have done as he walked out to
face Goliath – unsure whether or not my story will end up the same way.
Is it really possible to ignore the Demands of the March for Women 2000 which call for the
promotion of abortion as a human right for women as well as support for lesbian marriage?
They also downplay the traditional family – not only in the listed demands, but also in
international documents and institutions which they also demand that we support. These
include the Convention to Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, (whose
committee has challenged a country for introducing Mother’s Day since it promotes a negative
stereotype) – The Convention on the Rights of the Child, (while intending to set a world
standard to protect children in short, by this convention, parents’ rights and
responsibilities in relation to their children are to be determined by the state which will
decide the “required conditions for, a child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social
development.” raising alarming totalitarian possibilities.”)
The Platform of Action from the Beijing Conference on Women, (which bracketed the term
“mother” throughout the entire document so that it might be changed to “caretaker.” Inferring
that parents are irrelevant in adolescent health decisions it states that governments should,“emphasize the role and responsibility of adolescents in sexual and reproductive behaviour
through the provision of appropriate services and counseling recognizing their rights to
privacy, confidentiality and informed consent.” The platform urges governments to “take
action to ensure that women’s sexual and reproductive rights are fully recognized and
respected.”)
The International Criminal Court. (In effect, the ICC would be a Nuremberg court in
perpetuity, but significantly, it would be a court with much wider powers. At the Preparatory
Committee hearings on the ICC held in New York in December 1997, the definition of war crimes
was amended to include gender or sexual offences, included in the definition was “enforced
pregnancy” which is the word chosen to replace abortion in U.N. negotiations. The CCCB itself
asked the Hon. Lloyd Axworthy, “We urge you to instruct the Canadian delegation to support
the removal of enforced pregnancy as a proposed crime, or its substitution by another more
appropriate and precise term such as forcible impregnation…” The fear is that countries who
prohibit abortion or individuals who oppose the provision of abortion might be brought before
this court accused of a “gender crime” – enforced pregnancy.)
These documents include further attacks on our traditionally held beliefs on human sexuality,
human life, marriage, family, parental rights and our Faith. Those which the Vatican has
ratified, it has done so with grave reservations; these have been formally documented. Yet,
we have been reassured that it is possible to ignore all this, because the organizers
supposedly have as their main objective the elimination of poverty and violence for women! I
don’t believe this for one minute. I believe we need to continue to find ways of helping
women by walking with those who respect our values.
I can only imagine the sniggering of those who have managed to draw the leadership of our
Canadian Roman Catholic Community into this horrendous situation. Grass roots Roman Catholics
like me feel betrayed and this is a bitter pill to swallow from those whom we expect to
uphold and defend our Faith.
God Bless us all!
Mrs Jakki Jeffs