D&P document revs up debate with pro-lifers

By Deborah Gyapong

Canadian Catholic News

OTTAWA (CCN) — A document that accuses “anti-abortion” groups of being associated with violence has put the executive director of the Canadian bishops’ international development agency on the hot seat.

But Michael Casey, executive director of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, said the 10-page series of questions and answers was created to help the organization’s staff deal with the misinformation stirred up by groups and blogs in “concerted,” “organized” and “slanderous” attacks on the agency.

The document calls such groups and blogs “a far-right fringe element of North American society.”

“The language is hateful,” said Mary Ellen Douglas, national organizer for Campaign Life Coalition.

The Development and Peace document was intended only for internal use but it “regrettably, unfortunately” became public, Casey said.

While he did not apologize, Casey agreed Campaign Life Coalition does not advocate violence and noted members of Development and Peace also are members of the pro-life advocacy organization. He also acknowledged both Liberal and Conservative members of Parliament join the coalition’s annual March for Life each year in Ottawa as did about a dozen bishops in 2009.

But Casey said the May 2009 murder of Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas abortion doctor, is an example of how in any social movement there is “a broad spectrum of manifestations” that includes “this kind of extremism.”

“You have to understand what our staff are going through,” Casey said, citing threatening, abusive telephone calls at home and postcards of “bloodied, aborted fetuses” in fundraising envelopes.

“Where’s the sanity in this?” he asked.

The document was circulated to staff and the Development and Peace board of directors, including its two bishops. Casey said the organization had no specific feedback from the bishops on the document.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops declined to comment, saying it was not involved in the document’s creation.

John-Henry Westen, editor of LifeSiteNews.com, said several people forwarded the document to him in mid-March. He posted it along with reactions to it March 16, days before the annual Share Lent collection in parishes. The collection provides a large portion of Development and Peace’s annual budget.

LifeSiteNews.com is named in the document as Campaign Life Coalition’s website. While the coalition launched LifeSiteNews.com, Westen said it operates independently.

The leaked document is the latest escalation in a war of words that began in March 2009 when LifeSiteNews.com launched a series of reports alleging that some of Development and Peace’s international partners were “pro-abortion.” Other bloggers also began digging and posting problematic links to partners’ web pages.

In response to a question on whether there was any foundation to the charges from the pro-life groups, the Development and Peace document answers: “Absolutely not!”

Casey pointed out the issue of how closely a Catholic development agency may work with non-Catholic partners that support the decriminalization of abortion is not entirely settled, either among the Canadian bishops or in bishops’ conferences around the world.

“(This debate) is happening everywhere in the church,” he said.

“What we’re looking for is some guidance here,” Casey added. “In our protocols, it is a fact that we do get involved in these situations, if you want to call them that.

“We work actively engaged in the messy, imperfect world,” he said. “When these things happen, what should our response be?”

The issues have been laid before a four-bishop committee chaired by Toronto Auxiliary Bishop John Boissonneau. Casey said Development and Peace was looking to the bishops to provide leadership, guidance and support.

He criticized the taint of “guilt by association” in the reports, comparing it to criticizing someone who holds a bank account in a bank that owns shares in a munitions manufacturing company.

In the agency’s ministry to “the imperfect world,” there has to be an understanding and some guidelines on the parameters of engagement, he said.

Westen said LifeSiteNews.com has repeatedly asked to discuss the issue with Development and Peace as well as the Canadian bishops’ conference.

He said he hoped the website’s reports would lead to “some kind of rectification or stoppage” or “at least some kind of apologetic” explaining the reasons why the agency has chosen to work with some groups on certain projects.