A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion
The advertisement was intended to help 1984 vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, a pro-abortion rights Catholic, to resist the sharp criticism directed at her by Archbishop of New York John Joseph O'Connor during the 1984 U.S. presidential election.
Following the ad's publication, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced it and called it contrary to "the clear and consistent teaching of the church that deliberately chosen abortion is objectively immoral."
[6] The CFFC paid $30,000 for an advertisement in The New York Times, to run on a day that was the annual "Respect Life Sunday" celebrated by American bishops.
The advertisement concluded by saying the list of signers was only partial—that 75 priests, members of religious institutes, and theologians had written in support "but cannot sign because they fear losing their jobs.
"[17] The second paragraph read as follows: Statements of recent Popes and of the Catholic hierarchy have condemned the direct termination of pre-natal life as morally wrong in all instances.
"[10]On November 14, 1984, following the election (which Mondale and Ferraro lost), the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement saying the text of the advertisement could only represent the personal opinions of the signers because they were in contradiction to "the clear and consistent teaching of the church that deliberately chosen abortion is objectively immoral.
[19] They said the Vatican, in its stern reaction, "seeks to stifle freedom of speech and public discussion in the Roman Catholic Church and create the appearance of a consensus where none exists.
"[13] The group issued a statement describing the current Church stance as not in the spirit of the Vatican II which said, "Let there be unity in what is necessary, freedom in what is unsettled and charity in any case.
"[21] Sister Donna Quinn, a past president of the National Coalition of American Nuns, said, "We believe we have a right to speak out when we have a differing opinion, and this is something European men do not understand.
Hussey and Ferraro, directors of the Covenant House in Charleston, West Virginia—a shelter for homeless and abused women and children—were supported by CFFC in their dispute with the Church.
[19] However, the leadership of the School Sisters of Notre Dame distanced the order from Hussey and Ferraro, calling them "intransigent" and stating that they "have in practice placed themselves outside the life and mission of the congregation.
Signer Judith Vaughan, a resident of Los Angeles and a nun with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, said, "We didn't commit a crime.
"[25] In January 1985, Monsignor John P. Languille sent a memo to all Los Angeles social service directors, ordering them to cease referring homeless women to the shelter Vaughan supervised "because of [her] pro-abortion position".
[18] Vaughan was reportedly expelled in February 1985 but in April 1986 she spoke to the Los Angeles Times to say that the Church had closed the case without requiring her to retract her statement.
With the help of her superior, Sister Miriam Therese Larkin of St. Louis, Missouri, she retained her position in the order, and Languille's memo was overturned.
[18] Yale Divinity School ethics professor Sister Margaret Farley said that her signing of the 1984 advertisement came up in early 1986 when she was to be honored with an award given by John Carroll University, a Catholic institution in Cleveland, Ohio.
[6] In the publicity surrounding the dispute with the nuns and the theologians, the statistics showing that most American Catholics disagreed with church teachings about abortion were repeated many times.
[28] Nine conservative Catholic lay group leaders responded with a letter to Hamer asking for quick disciplinary action against dissenting nuns.
Theologians Daniel Maguire, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Giles Milhaven, Elizabeth Jane Via, Mary I. Buckley, Kathleen M. O'Connor and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza all saw their careers limited after October 1984.
[34] Titled "Faith Even to the Fire", the program followed statement signer Sister Judith Vaughan, who faced difficulty in Los Angeles then moved to Chicago to lead the National Assembly of Religious Women.
