In case you needed another reason to leave/despise the Catholic Church…

A bishop from Toledo, Ohio will not allow parishes and parochial schools to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation (which helps fund the fight against breast cancer) because there’s a chance they may one day fund embryonic stem-cell research.

Bishop Blair, in his letter sent over the weekend to all priests and parishes in the 19-county Toledo diocese, stated that “at present the Komen Foundation does not fund” embryonic stem-cell research. However, he said, “their policy does not exclude that possibility” and the foundation “may very well fund such research in the future.” … “If we received a request to fund such research, we would weigh it very carefully, as we do all of our research proposals, for its likelihood to have a positive impact on breast cancer research and treatment,” [senior communications writer Andrea] Rader said by e-mail. … … Bishop Blair said Catholics need to find alternatives to the Komen Foundation for fund-raising efforts “in order to avoid even the possibility of cooperation in morally unacceptable activities.”

Because the Church knows all about avoiding “morally unacceptable activities”…

We often hear about how the Catholic Church supports good science — they don’t deny evolution and they (eventually) apologized about the whole Galileo thing. But then you see its representatives trying to prevent raising money for breast cancer research because they don’t like the potential methodology and you have to rethink all that.

Even beyond the science, this is just another item to add to the list of reasons women shouldn’t join or remain in the Church. They already ban birth control, their policy on handling ectopic pregnancies is jaw-droppingly scary (especially when you consider how Catholics are taking over secular hospitals), and now they don’t want to support breast cancer research?

I’d love to see some intelligent students from a local Catholic school find a way to raise money for the Komen Foundation regardless of what the bishop says. Circumvent authority. Make some metaphorical rainbow cupcakes. Tell the bishop that you refuse to be part of any organization that stands in the way of life-saving research that could help women everywhere.

That takes real courage.

(Thanks to Ian for the link!)



