22-November-2004 -- EWTNews Brief
NEW YORK, USA, November 22 (CNA) - The director
of a pro-abortion organization, called Catholics for a Free Choice, said she and
her members are "a bit sad, frightened and even demoralized" by the
re-election of President George W. Bush.
In a letter to members, dated Nov. 3, Frances Kissling, president of the
organization, said Bush's re-election means "Bush's War on Women proceeds
unchecked" and efforts will begin by "the president's socially
conservative Christian and Catholic base" to restrict women's, sexual and
reproductive rights.
Kissling said she is concerned about the impact the election results will
have on the Catholic Church in the United States. "The most troubling
aspect of all this is the extent to which Bush's victory will further empower an
incredibly arrogant, intolerant, anti-woman and anti-religious freedom faction
in my church," she said.
"It solidifies the alliance between the administration, the Vatican and
that ultra-conservative segment of the American church that both Rome and Bush
have used to keep women - and dissenters - in their place," she stated.
She said Pope John Paul II "has succeeded in building a right wing
movement among laity and destroyed resistance among progressives."
She also called for a "careful analysis" of the way in which
"these conservative religious forces have used gender, sexuality and
reproduction as a way of weakening and dividing the resistance movement in the
church."
Kissling said Bush's re-election will inspire her organization in the next
four years to "roll up our sleeves, work harder, and reach out more wisely
and broadly to build and lead a conscious movement of resistance to
injustice."
Catholics for a Free Choice has been formally declared an anti-Catholic
organization by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.