Misinformed Monsignor makes apology to Komen
Last week, I was outraged to hear that a Catholic priest in Arkansas was telling his congregation not to donate to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure because he was worried the group supported Planned Parenthood. Well, the misinformed Monsignor apologized today:
The leader of Little Rock's Roman Catholic diocese apologized to a national breast cancer organization, saying he made a mistake when he said donations to the group could help fund abortions.The Komen foundation thanked the diocese for reaching out... but I run an anonymous blog... I don't need to be so diplomatic. So, let's call a spade a spade. The real injustice is that this guy Monsignor Hebrt has a job after making ignorant remarks like he did. That's the real injustice. I wonder if Little Rock's Roman Catholic diocese has any skeletons in their financial books...
Monsignor J. Gaston Hebert issued the statement Thursday after a meeting with staffers from Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a Dallas-based organization known for its Race for the Cure events. In a letter last month, Hebert had asked parishioners to withhold their donations as Komen gives money to Planned Parenthood to provide breast exams and offer education to women in its clinics.
Hebert said his earlier contention _ that those donations could free up funding for abortions and contraceptive services _ "turned out not to be true. ... To let that statement stand would be an act of injustice."
2 comments:
Do your own research before you call a spade a spade. Susan G Komen DOES give grants to Planned Parenthood. This DOES allow Planned Parenthood to divert money from a portion of their business and apply it to a different portion. However, while the organization as a whole DOES provide grants to Planned Parenthood, not ALL Planned Parenthood affiliates in ALL locales benefit from these grants which are awarded and distributed by local offices. I would imagine that is why the apology was issued. Because this bishop's jurisdiction does not have a Susan G Komen sponsored Planned Parenthood so if his parishioners give to their local affiliate then their donations will safely go to actually funding the cause they are donating to as opposed to the 30+ grants issued yearly where Planned Parenthood could possibly misappropriate funds. Some of SGK's local affiliates have admitted that reporting from Planned Parenthood's which received the grants show that the funds HAVE INDEED been misused, yet those same affiliates still administered grants to Planned Parenthood the next year.
I agree that a little more prudence could have been used, but on the surface Susan G Komen admits to these donations and grants. If you do a search under their grants page at komen.org for Planned Parenthood, you will easily find years worth of gifts.
This can make it easy to jump to conclusions.
I do a fundraising walk for Susan G Komen yearly and this has been brought to my attention more than once. Sadly, since it is area specific, my team must be careful where we walk in order to assure our donors that their money WILL be used to Find a Cure.
Please check the fine print before you agree to participate in the Susan G Komen walks. It may be very expensive for you. Here is a link to a report from KIRO in Seattle about several women there who could not participate because the walk required a $2200 minimum for money raised.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/17457524/detail.html
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