By John-Henry Westen and Patrick Craine
OTTAWA, September 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a September 18, 2009 press release, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) promoted donations to specific programs of UNICEF Canada and two other groups. Even though the funding suggestion was to be earmarked, the announcement shocked leaders in the pro-life movement, especially those who deal with UNICEF at the international level, since UNICEF has increasingly become an “abortion advocacy organization”.
The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) has had to deal with UNICEF's abortion advocacy first hand at the United Nations. C-FAM President Austin Ruse reacted to the CCCB announcement saying: “The Holy See ended its annual contribution to UNICEF years ago and even under great pressure has never returned. Why? Because UNICEF promotes abortion.”
Ruse concluded, “The Bishops conference does a great disservice to women and children by supporting what has become an abortion advocacy organization.”
Substantial evidence has been accumulated that UNICEF's involvement in promotion of abortion is long-standing and unabated. Ruse's comments referred to the fact that in 1996 the Vatican announced it would suspend the Pope's yearly symbolic contribution to the organization. LifeSiteNews.com confirmed with the Vatican in June of this year that the donation has not been reinstated.
In a recent case of direct lobbying for abortion, top UNICEF officials unsuccessfully tried to stop the Dominican Republic from enacting a pro-life charter to protect “the right to life” from “conception to death”.
The CCCB release calls on Catholic school boards to direct funds to UNICEF Canada's “Schools for Africa” project. However, UNICEF has indicated that the program has already exceeded its fundraising expectations. This is adding to questions being asked by Catholics about why the bishops' organization is so insistent that they donate to the UN group while many Catholic charities are suffering from the economic downturn.
In a UNICEF press release on September 15, UNICEF announced that it's “Schools for Africa” project had “raised more than $50 million for its Schools for Africa campaign, exceeding its initial target.”
The CCCB release encouraged donations to two entities other than UNICEF: Development and Peace, and the Holy Childhood Association.
MaterCare International (MCI), an association of Catholic Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, dedicated to improving the lives and health of mothers and their children both unborn and born throughout the world, is headquartered in Newfoundland. Founder and Executive Director Dr. Robert Walley informed LifeSiteNews that the organization is in great financial need. His current project in Kenya where there is hardly any healthcare is over $4 million short, he noted.
Moving beyond Catholic organizations, the pro-life movement in Canada has been communicating that it is suffering financially as well. Mary Ellen Douglas of Campaign Life Coalition informed LifeSiteNews, “We're terribly short of funds and we need everybody to dig deep in order to keep us afloat. We're doing everything we can to raise funds on our own and we're just hoping that people will respond generously to this terrible need right now.” She added: “There are many good causes out there, but the cause of life is in need of their immediate help, and it should be the priority.”
CCCB Associate General Secretary Bede Hubbard, spoke with LifeSiteNews about the CCCB decision to promote funding to UNICEF. He noted that in 1997 (shortly after the 1996 stoppage of the symbolic Vatican donation to UNICEF) the CCCB Presidency consulted with the Vatican Secretariat of State on the matter. They worked out, he suggested, a system of earmarking funds for particular programs, that are not – in the words of the CCCB press release – “in conflict with Catholic moral principles.”
Each year, explained Hubbard, the CCCB Executive Committee reviews proposed guidelines with the Vatican's representative at the United Nations.
However, at the time of the 1996 Vatican decision to suspend funding, then-Vatican representative to the United Nations, Archbishop Renato Martino, explained that the decision was based on four concerns, the first of which was: “The failure of UNICEF to provide accountability for funds which donors have 'earmarked' for specific and morally unobjectionable child-related programs despite numerous requests by the Holy See for such assurances.”
See related LifeSiteNews reports:
UNICEF Among Sponsors of New Campaign Promoting Abortion
UNICEF Report Recommends More “Reproductive Health Services” and “Family Planning”
Caught on Video: How UNICEF, WHO Manipulate Latin American Catholics to Cooperate on Abortion