Catholics for a Free Choice

Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) is a pro-choice political organization whose founders hold the belief that "the Catholic tradition supports a woman's moral and legal right to follow her conscience in matters of sexuality and reproductive health." It is currently led by President Jon O'Brien.

History
Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) was founded in by Joan Harriman, Patricia Fogarty McQuillan, and Meta Mulcahy, to promote access to abortion in the context of Catholic tradition. Its first president was ex-priest Father Joseph O'Rourke (ex-priest), S.J., who was expelled from the Jesuits and the priesthood in 1974. The group emerged from Catholics for the Elimination of All Restrictive Abortion & Contraceptive Laws, a New York lobby group that had been formed in 1970. The first public event held by the organization was the mock crowning of Patricia Fogarty McQuillan as "Pope Patricia" on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York to celebrate the first anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade.

Father Joseph O’Rourke remained as president of CFFC until 1979, when Pat McMahon was hired as Executive Director. McMahon shifted CFFC's legal status from a lobby to an educational association, opening the group up to tax-exempt status and to foundation support. One result of this was a $75,000 grant on behalf of the Sunnen Foundation which funded the group's first publications, the Abortion in Good Faith series.

In 1980 Frances Kissling joined the group, and in 1982 she was made president. Kissling led CFFC until announcing her retirement in February 2007. CFFC's former Vice-President and Director of Communications Jon O'Brien was subsequently appointed as the organization's new President.

Today CFFC has an international presence, with branches in South America and Africa as well as the USA.

Mission
CFFC has stated that its purpose is to infuse the organization's perspective into "public policy, community life, and Catholic social thinking and teaching." Its current mission statement is that the organization "shapes and advances sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflect a commitment to women's well being and respect and affirm the moral capacity of women and men to make sound decisions about their lives."

The organization's stated issues include:
 * Keeping abortion legal
 * Expanding access to contraception
 * Expanding the range of services provided by the Catholic healthcare system
 * A frank exploration of human sexuality
 * Awareness of HIV & AIDS issues
 * Exploring diversity of views within the Catholic tradition
 * Challenging public policy initiatives by "conservative religious groups"

In addition, CFFC engages in the following activities:


 * Expanding the role of women in the Church
 * supporting the idea of married clergy
 * Removing the Holy See from its permanent observer status at the U.N

Although Catholics for a Free Choice has several goals, it is most well-known for its pro-choice advocacy.

Condom program
In 2001, CFFC initiated a worldwide public education campaign called Condoms4Life to raise awareness about the Vatican's ban on condoms. In 2005, a group called World Youth Day for All attended the Catholic World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany and endorsed the campaign. They passed out postcards and stickers saying "Good Catholics Use Condoms". Posters from the group at this event also portrayed two men in an intimate embrace. Some critics claim this portrayal of homosexuality in the context of expressing sexuality (which the Catholic Church opposes) was offensive to Catholics. According to critics, CFFC also ignores the Catholic Church's teaching on abstinence.

The organization maintains that condom use will prevent the spread of AIDS, since couples will have sex despite Vatican prohibition. Several bishops share the beliefs of Condoms4Life, and have come out in support of condom use, arguing the Roman Catholic church's official position on this issue is unconscionable.

Pope-Watch
After Benedict XVI was elected, Catholics for a Free Choice initiated a project called Pope-Watch.org.

Among the demands made to Pope Benedict XVI by the project are:
 * a reversal of Church teaching regarding contraception, claiming that their use promotes the Catholic doctrine of the "culture of life"
 * the allocation of 25% of senior positions in the Vatican to women (see affirmative action)
 * optional celibacy for priests and religious
 * integration of already-married priests
 * meeting with survivors of clergy sex abuse
 * promotion of "intellectual and theological freedom throughout the church"
 * clarification of the rights of Catholics to receive the Eucharist
 * celebration of the Eucharist with those whom the church has "hurt." According to CFFC, this includes members of the clergy who have married, all victims of clergy sexual abuse, dissenting theologians and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Response to criticisms from Pope-Watch

 * The Church maintains its official teaching against artificial contraceptives.
 * The Church also continues to allow some Protestant clergy to be ordained, though many of them are already married, due to a dispensation granted by the Pope. However, celibacy is maintained for the vast majority of priests, who do not fall under this extraordinary condition.

Criticism of CFFC
The USCCB has made the statement that "CFFC is not a Catholic organization, does not speak for the Catholic Church, and in fact promotes positions contrary to the teaching of the Church as articulated by the Holy See and the NCCB."

In response, the CFFC maintains that Roman Catholicism is an individual choice and that the CFFC is an advocacy group of pro-choice Roman Catholics, not a sanctioned Catholic organization. This emphasis on the individual and the individual conscience is a basis of CFFC's organizational mission. CFFC provides arguments they claim are based in theology, such as the Jesuit branch of casuistry known as probabilism, to advance the organization's ideas. However, some critics argue that they are directly opposed to Catholic hierarchy teaching. These critics respond to CFFC by stating that the organization's theological arguments directly contradict the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion. This teaching is described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Further, Diane Dew, on her personal website, has pointed out that through the 1970's, the majority of the organization's budget came from a New York foundation related to a Long Island Unitarian Universalist church, and that the organization first operated out of office space donated by Planned Parenthood. CFFC is funded by groups that critics say oppose the Catholic Church, such as the Playboy Foundation, and other groups supporting population control.

The Catholic League has labelled CFFC a fringe group with few followers. The Catholic League also points out that Frances Kissling, president of CFFC stated, “I spent twenty years looking for a government that I could overthrow without being thrown in jail. I finally found one in the Catholic church.”

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska issued an interdict in March of 1996 forbidding Catholics within his diocese from membership in twelve organizations, operating locally, where membership is described as "...always perilous to the Catholic Faith and most often is totally incompatible...", in a letter of formal canonical warning published in the diocesan newspaper, the Southern Nebraska Register. Catholics for a Free Choice was the last of the twelve named organizations. Members of the diocese were given one month from the date of the interdict to remove themselves from participation in the named organizations or face automatic excommunication. However, to this date, no other American bishop has made such a similar declaration, clarifying these issues.