Vatican Investigating Girl Scouts for Links to Safe-Sex Education Groups
The Catholic Church is not investigating the Girl Scouts for their sinfully delicious cookies, but rather for the organization’s ties to nonprofits such as Médicins Sans Frontières.
Should there be any doubt left about how the Vatican views women after clamping down on American nuns late last month, the leaders of the billion-strong Catholic Church have now set their sights on the devilish Girl Scouts. No, it’s not about the sinful cookies,
but a claim that the Girl Scouts are associating with “questionable”
groups that the church believes do not strictly adhere to their tenets.
In particular, the Vatican believes that several groups the Girl Scouts
endorse, including Médecins Sans Frontières and Oxfam,
both of which cater to the poor but also advocate safe sex and condom
use to stop the spread of AIDS, might be a bad influence on the
impressionable young women.
In late March the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
issued a stern letter to the Girl Scout leadership advising them of the
official Vatican inquiry, which is being conducted by the Bishops’
Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, under the direction
of Kevin Rhoades, a bishop from Fort Wayne, Ind. The Bishops’ letter
follows a complaint lodged by Indiana state Rep. Bob Morris last
February, in which he complained to the Republican Caucus that the Girl
Scouts and their sister-group World Association of Girl Guides and Girl
Scouts, known as WAGGGS
had forged a secret bond with Planned Parenthood and should be stopped.
“You will not find evidence of this on the GSA/WAGGGS website—in fact,
the websites of these two organizations explicitly deny funding Planned
Parenthood,” he wrote in a letter dated Feb. 18, 2012.
“Nonetheless, abundant evidence proves that the agenda of Planned
Parenthood includes sexualizing young girls through the Girl Scouts,
which is quickly becoming a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood.”
Morris was particularly troubled by some Girl Scout troops’ use of the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s pamphlet “Happy, Healthy, Hot”
for young women afflicted with HIV. Morris wrote, “The pamphlet
instructs young girls not to think of sex as ‘just about vaginal or anal
intercourse. There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun,
explore and be yourself!’”
There
is no official link between the Girl Scouts and the Catholic Church,
but since many troops hold their meetings in church facilities, the
Vatican can easily justify its inquiry. They are looking at "possible
problematic relationships with other organizations." If they determine
that membership in the Girl Scouts does not jibe with Catholic
teachings, they could either demand that the Girl Scouts change their
practices or, in lieu of that, recommend that young Catholic girls drop
out of the Girl Scouts. About one quarter of the Girl Scouts’ 2.3
million membership is Roman Catholic.
There is no official link between the Girl Scouts and the Catholic Church, but since many troops hold their meetings in church facilities, the Vatican can easily justify its inquiry.
The National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry
has pledged to liaise between the church and Girl Scouts in an effort
not to break ties and damage membership. "I don't think any of this
material was intentionally mean-spirited,” NFCYM executive director Bob
McCarty told the Associated Press about the Vatican accusations. “It's
easier to step back and throw verbal bombs. It takes a lot more energy
to work for change."
The Girl Scouts, which celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, has been under intense scrutiny during this election campaign. As first lady, Michelle Obama is the national honorary president of the Girl Scouts,
and her husband’s support of reproductive rights and his recent
endorsement of gay marriage has caused some Girl Scout heavies to worry
that Mrs. Obama will somehow influence the young women. At her
inauguration, she commended the Girl Scouts for their work. "With their
innovative new programming, ground-breaking research, and emphasis on
service and leadership, Girl Scouts is preparing the women of tomorrow
to be a positive force for change,” she said, “in their own lives, their
communities, and across the globe.”
The
Girl Scout leadership is waiting to learn more about the U.S. bishops’
inquiry, but they maintain that they do not have an official
relationship with Planned Parenthood, and that each individual chapter
is free to choose resource materials that are suitable to their members’
base communities, meaning the Catholic troops don’t have to use the
“Healthy, Happy and Hot” booklet or any materials that contradict the
local leadership bylaws. "We have had a very strong relationship with
the Catholic Church for 98 years, and we don't expect that to change,"
said Girl Scout spokesperson Michelle Tompkins in a statement. "We are
working very closely with the Council of Bishops to address the issues
they have raised and that work continues. We share a common belief that
working together, we can have a very positive impact on the lives of
millions of girls and women."
That’s certainly more than the Vatican can say of its own agenda on women’s rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment