http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/us-bishops-relief-agency-defends-alliance-with-aid-organization/

Washington D.C., Jul 21, 2012 / 05:02 pm (CNA).- Catholic Relief Services, the official overseas relief agency for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, says that it worked with a leading Catholic bioethics group in conducting careful reviews to ensure that its funding decisions were in alignment with Church teaching.

“Catholic Relief Services, in communion with the Church, strictly upholds Catholic moral teaching,” the organization said.

“All of the CRS programs and all of the funds used by CRS are entirely consistent with Church teaching.”

In a statement provided to CNA, the group responded to recent concerns raised about its funding of CARE, an international humanitarian organization that provides relief to the needy in developing nations but also offers contraception and early abortion-inducing drugs.

Catholic Relief Services said that it has “always has taken very seriously decisions we make about the groups with which we collaborate or form partnerships to ensure that we are not violating the Church teachings.”

The agency stressed that it promotes “abstinence and Natural Family Planning as embraced by the Church” and reiterated that it does not “fund, support or participate in any programming or advocacy that is not in line with Church teaching, including artificial birth control.”

The organization said that concerns over CARE had previously been raised. In response, it teamed with Dr. John Haas of the National Catholic Bioethics Center to undertake “a thorough review” of all its partnerships.

The resulting report determined that the activities being reviewed did not “suggest support of or involvement in immoral activities” and that there was “no material cooperation with evil.”

In addition, it found that the funding from Catholic Relief Services was not “fungible,” meaning that there was “little to no risk” of the grant money being used for purposes beyond those listed in the grant request or freeing up money for immoral purposes within the receiving organizations.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center did, however, determine that “there could be a risk of controversy or scandal over such partnerships if people become confused and wrongly assume that CRS was endorsing a partner’s position on other issues.”

To prevent such a misunderstanding, Catholic Relief Services worked with the bioethics groups and the bishops to make their adherence to Church teaching clear through their mission statement and communications.

“Faithfulness to Church teaching always has been and always will be our policy,” the group emphasized.

http://www.care.org/newsroom/articles/2012/07/CARE-London-Summit-Family-Planning-Commitments.asp

CARE Commends Groundbreaking London Summit on Family Planning

CARE applauds global community for standing by girls and women and urges the global community to honor commitments made at the summit
 

LONDON (July 11, 2012) - At the close of the London Summit on Family Planning, CARE, one of the world's largest humanitarian aid organizations, applauds the global community for standing by girls and women to ensure that they can decide if, when and how many children to bear.

CARE participated in the daylong summit where it was announced that more than 150 leaders from donor and developing countries, international agencies, civil society, foundations and the private sector raised the resources to deliver contraceptives to an additional 120 million women around the world by 2020.  Also at the summit, more than 20 developing countries made bold commitments to address the policy, financing and delivery barriers to women accessing contraceptive information, services and supplies. Donors also made new financial commitments to support these plans amounting to $2.6 billion.

"I was impressed that women's rights and the voices of women were at the heart of our discussions at the summit," says Christine Galavotti, CARE's director of sɛҳuąƖ and reproductive health, who attended the event. "Now we must channel the momentum of the summit, hold ourselves and others accountable, and take steps to provide contraceptives to the women who want it around the world."

CARE released a report at the summit arguing that while additional resources are essential, any family planning strategy must have at its core women's rights and empowerment and be linked to approaches that lead to greater effectiveness and sustainability. In addition to supplying the contraceptives, these include vital, yet often overlooked, strategies that involve: addressing pervasive and deeply ingrained gender and social norms that inhibit women and couples' use of family planning services, strengthening systems of governance and accountability, and ensuring women's reproductive health needs are met in development and emergency contexts where women are often more vulnerable yet have less options.

"CARE is committed to working with communities, governments and other partners to catalyze and support action at the local, national and global levels," says Galavotti. "There is no time to lose. Too many girl's and women's lives are at stake."

About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty and providing lifesaving assistance in emergencies. In 84 countries around the world, CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to help lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. CARE has been working on sɛҳuąƖ, reproductive and maternal health programming for over 50 years, and is currently working in more than 30 countries that have some of the highest unmet need for family planning services, and some of the lowest contraceptive prevalence rates in the world. To date, CARE has reached 15 million women and children through our maternal and child health programs. To learn more, visit www.care.org.