Laity Urged:Ask Vatican and Bishops to Denounce and Fight Gates Foundation Drive for Contraception

Instead of funding medical care, Melinda Gates is spending $120 million to make sure babies are not born. Where are the Catholic bishops in this fight?

 
Life Site News analyst Matthew Cullinan Hoffman presents a scathing critique of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' inaction on the much-publicized campaign by Melinda Gates to fund contraceptive and abortifactant drugs to poor developing sector families: "Where are the Church’s leaders, the bishops, in this moment of crisis?' Hoffman asks. "Archbishop Dolan, President of the USCCB, only recently admitted that the hierarchy 'forfeited the chance to be a coherent moral voice when it comes to one of the more burning issues of the day,' by failing to communicate the Church’s teaching on artificial birth control to the faithful in recent decades."

Is it because the USCCB's international aid agency receives millions from billionaire Bill Gates's foundation? Hoffman asks again.

Read the full text of Hoffman's analysis and take note of his final section:


Although the USCCB has shown great signs of improvement of late on matters related to human life and family, it may have reasons for staying silent about Melinda Gates’ contraceptive campaign.
The USCCB’s international aid agency, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), receives tens of millions of dollars from the Gates Foundation itself, and repeats the organization’s claim that it is “guided by the belief that every life has equal value,” adding that “the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives.”

CRS’ relationship with the Gates Foundation creates an obvious conflict of interest. Moreover, as LifeSiteNews.com has reported recently, CRS itself has been involved in the promotion of birth control, and has donated millions of dollars to a contraceptive-distributing organization known as CARE.

These unsavory relationships would likely be embarrassing to the bishops if they were to speak forcefully and clearly against Gates’ horrendous campaign.

 Laity Shares Responsibility

The responsibility for this sad situation, however, lies not only with the bishops, but also with the laity, who often fail to encourage the hierarchy to remain firm under pressure. The Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church, however, establishes the right and even the duty of laymen to make their minds known to their prelates. Perhaps the bishops are only in need of some support from the faithful.

Contact information:

Pope Benedict XVI
benedictxvi@vatican.va
Msgr. Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11, 00193 Roma, Italy
phone: 011.3906.69.88.33.57
phone: 011.3906.69.88.34.13
Fax: (011 or other code for international calls) 39-06-69-88-34-09
E-mail: cdf@cfaith.va

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 Fourth Street NE
Washington DC 20017
202-541-3000
Email: http://www.usccb.org/about/contact-us.cfm

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain
Archdiocese of Seattle (Diocese of Bill and Melinda Gates)
710 9th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: 206-382-4560
Fax: 206-382-4840
mary.santi@seattlearch.org