News

By Peter J. Smith

  DUBLIN, March 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Irish government has threatened to pull nearly €650,000 in funding from CURA, the pregnancy advice service of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

  The government’s Crisis Pregnancy Agency has demanded that CURA distribute the State-backed “Positive Options” leaflet, which informs women in crisis pregnancies of organisations that legally refer to foreign abortion clinics, or else it will lose government funding.

  The Catholic agency has reneged on its agreement with the government to circulate the “Positive Options” leaflet after four Donegal women counsellors for Cura, Ann Farren, Mary Kelly, Phil Murray and Pauline Roarty, made it public that they were required to distribute the leaflet, which would contradict Catholic beliefs on the sanctity of life by referring women to places facilitating abortions.

  Two year’s ago CURA’s president, Bishop John Flemming, advocated distributing the “Positive Options” leaflet on the grounds that research had shown that the more counselling women in crisis receive, the less likely they are to opt for abortion.

  However, once the information became public, the Catholic hierarchy supported the CURA objectors, although they are still under suspension for breaching confidentiality, and have been barred by Bishop Flemming from attending this weekend’s annual CURA conference in Galway.

  Discussions have been going on since former CPA chairwoman Olive Braiden warned Bishop Fleming last April that she would cut off CURA’s annual funding unless it resumed distribution of the leaflets. Bishop Fleming told Braiden that the bishops’ conference had referred the matter to its doctrine commission and was awaiting a response.

  To contact the Crisis Pregnancy Agency
  Crisis Pregnancy Agency
  4th Floor, 89 – 94 Capel Street
  Dublin 1
  Phone: 01 814 6292
  Fax: 01 814 6282
  [email protected]

  To contact the Department of Health and Children:

  Department of Health and Children
  Hawkins House
  Hawkins Street
  Dublin 2, Ireland
  Telephone: +353 1 6354000
  Facsimile: +353 1 6354001
  E-mail the Customer Services Unit here: https://www.dohc.ie/about_us/contact/custserv.html