February 3, 2012
A follow-up to the diocesan statement regarding Komen
By EMILY SNIPES (Pro-life and Family Life Coordinator, Diocese of Evansville)
Since we printed a statement in the Message on January 27 concerning the diocesan position in regard to Catholic participation with Susan G. Komen, we have received legitimate concerns and would like to address them. Several have asked how the diocese can support an organization that funds Planned Parenthood. Another person questioned why we would make this such a gray area, as they clearly believe it is black and white. A few others asked if we were given money in exchange for our silence.
So how did we arrive at our position and what does it mean? We spent months researching Komen, speaking with the local affiliate director and the national office, as well as other dioceses.
Some Komen affiliates have given funding to their local Planned Parenthood organizations. The Greater Evansville Komen does not. They have never in their grant history given money to Planned Parenthood. Seventy-five percent of the money raised by the local Evansville affiliate stays in our community; the other 25 percent does go to the national office.
The national Komen office states that the 25 percent of money which comes to them does not filter back down to any other affiliates, nor does it contribute to research that would include embryonic stem cells.
If we lived in an area where our local affiliate had ever provided grants to Planned Parent-hood then the position would be clear. We do not support organizations that provide abortion services. Period. That is indeed black and white.
This week the national Komen office announced it was temporarily halting grant funding to Planned Parenthood while Planned Parenthood is under in-vestigation from Congress over abuses ranging from compliance with federal regulations on taxpayer funding, to covering up cases of sex trafficking. This does not change our position.
Several dioceses across the United States have spoken out against Komen, but many have remained silent. Bishop Charles C. Thompson and I decided to address the situation and acknowledge that we do indeed have apprehensions regarding how Komen operates. As easy as it would be to persecute them based on assumptions, we know that there is no visible line to track and that would be unjust in the current situation. Instead we encourage others to form their own conscience and have offered what we consider to be safe moral alternatives that are in line with Catholic teaching. We hope each Catholic individual, school and parish will have a discussion regarding their future involvement with Komen.
What we issued was a statement, not an endorsement. It was an educational piece that hopefully challenged you to closely examine not only Komen, but any other philanthropic organizations that you may support. We also reserve the right and responsibility to re-evaluate our position if we discover facts contrary to the information we have been given.