By Peter J. Smith
SAN FRANCISCO, October 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Jesuit University of San Francisco (USF) has announced that its campus will host a book signing and panel discussion with the chief of Amnesty International (AI), who led the organization's move in 2007 to advocate abortion as a matter of human rights, the California Catholic Daily reports.
Irene Khan, the secretary general of Amnesty International since 2001, oversaw the effort which changed AI's official position on abortion in 2007 from neutrality to full-fledged support for abortion as a woman's “right.” The action led to turmoil within the human rights organization – founded in 1961 by a Catholic named Peter Benenson – and alienated it from the Catholic Church, which had previously applauded its humanitarian mission as one of its strongest supporters.
USF announced on their webpage that Khan's discussion entitled “Justice against Poverty” is sponsored by, “the Office of the President, University Ministry, Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought, and the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good.”
“The Catholic Church has made it abundantly clear that the decision of Amnesty International to support abortion is a direct betrayal of its own mission in service of human rights,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS). “How sad it is that USF is degrading its Catholic identity by giving a platform to the head of this once-admirable, but now morally compromised organization.”
Bishop William S. Skystad, representing the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in September 2006, objected about the policy change and wrote to Khan in defense of the unborn.
The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace vowed and made good on its word that if Amnesty “persists in this course of action, individuals and Catholic organizations must withdraw their support because, in deciding to promote abortion rights, Amnesty International has betrayed its mission.”
Since its change in policy, Amnesty has aggressively lobbied to undermine the abortion laws and pro-life customs of countries such as Poland, Nicaragua, and Mexico. LifeSiteNews.com has reported and documented how the organization has descended into outright fabrications, distortions, and manipulation in order to advance its new pro-abortion mandate in these countries.
Critics say that in inviting Khan the Jesuit University has crossed a line established by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in the pastoral document “Catholics in Political Life.” The document states: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”
USF has a spotty record of adhering to Catholic moral and social teachings. USF invited two commencement speakers for the class of 2009 that included a South African bishop who pushes condoms as the solution to HIV/AIDS, and a San Francisco lawyer who fought against the passage of Proposition 8 in California.
The University lately has been embroiled in a struggle with its faculty over dropping abortion coverage from USF's health-insurance policies, which the university said had been included by mistake for several years, when it was finally exposed in December 2008 as part of the student health plan. The faculty union said they would file an unfair labor practice complaint against the university if abortion were dropped from their coverage, and insisted that “all the ideological religious stuff is completely irrelevant.”
To respectfully contact the University of San Francisco with concerns:
University of San Francisco
2130 Fulton St.
San Francisco, California 94117
Phone: (415) 422-5555
E-mail contact form: https://www.usfca.edu/online/contact_us/contact.html
USF President Fr. Stephen Privett
Office of the President
LMR 415
2130 Fulton St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
Phone: (415) 422-6762
E-mail: [email protected]
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Amnesty International Caught in “One Big Lie”
Polish Girl was not raped, was not harassed by pro-lifers, was pressured to abort
When Murder Becomes a “Human Right,” the First Victim is the Truth
Amnesty International has issued a report filled with falsehoods and distortions in attempt to smear pro-life Nicaragua
It's Official – Amnesty International is Now An Abortion Lobby Group – Catholics Boycott