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For Immediate Release
30 May 2001

Prochoice Catholics Repudiate Conservative Catholic Attack on Dolores Cross

Call on Ray Flynn, former US Ambassador to the UN, to Apologize

Catholics for a Free Choice President Frances Kissling issued the following statement today: 

As prochoice Catholics, we are shocked at the intolerance and insensitivity shown by former UN Ambassador and current President of the Catholic Alliance Ray Flynn in his attack on Seton Hall University for awarding an honorary degree to Dr. Dolores Cross.

In objecting to Dr. Cross' participation in the National Commission on an America Without Roe, a group organized in 1992 by NARAL, Flynn ignores the fact that most Catholics are both in favor of legal abortion and committed to social justice for the poor, minorities and women.  Dr. Cross' distinguished career honors that tradition and Seton Hall was right to honor her.

Most appalling is the double standard inherent in Flynn's call for Seton Hall to disassociate itself from Dr. Cross for her prochoice views.  Flynn did not disassociate himself from the prochoice administration of President Clinton.  To the contrary, he campaigned vigorously for the president in spite of Clinton's prochoice views and served as the administration's ambassador to the Vatican.  We applaud the Ray Flynn of 1992 who understood that there is more to look at in determining a person's goodness than their position on abortion.  We rebuke the Ray Flynn of 2001 who has apparently forgotten that lesson.

Sadly, Flynn's call for Dr. Cross to be stripped of her honorary degree puts him squarely in the tradition of the church's more intolerant past.  The days of Galileo are over; as the pope apologized for the way in which the church treated Galileo, we call on Flynn to apologize for the way in which he has treated both Dr. Cross and Seton Hall University.  Flynn's comparison of Dr. Cross with racists and anti-Semites just because she believes women have the right to choose cannot be tolerated.

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For more information:  www.catholicsforchoice.org 

Catholics for a Free Choice is an independent, nonpartisan educational organization that 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.  Through discourse, education, and advocacy, CFFC works in the United States and internationally to infuse these values into public policy, community life, feminist analysis, and Catholic social thinking and teaching.