A Catholic and his Conscience.

10. 19. 2009  –  Janice Formichella

Jon O'Brien, President, Catholics for Choice

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Jon O’Brien, President of Catholics for Choice. The interview took place first thing on a Monday morning and, I have to say, listening to this activist’s enthusiasm and morally courageous approach to his work was the perfect way to begin my week.

Catholics for Choice (CFC) is an organization that seeks to represent Catholics who “disagree with the dictates of the Vatican on matters related to sex, marriage, family life and motherhood.” Jon states that the goal of CFC is to “be an example of Catholicism as lived by normal people” with “an understanding of the world in which we live.” Jon states the leadership have “misunderstandings about sex that have nothing to do with how people live.”

CFC is largely concerned about ending poverty and does a significant amount of work overseas. Jon points out that the Vatican’s attacks on choice do not make as deep an impact in the U.S. as they do internationally. For instance, in the U.S. a Catholic can easily practice the “right to disagree” with the leadership over birth control by going to any drug store to buy condoms or taking the pill, however those in the global south do not have such luxuries. This is why so many Catholics find it so offensive for the church leadership to lobby the UN against the distribution of condoms.

Although the “uber conservative” Catholic world vision states Catholics must obey leadership regardless of their views, Jon says that is not a Catholic teaching. In fact, Jon informed me that as a Catholic, “you are required to follow your conscience.”

Galileo

I asked Jon to give me an example of such a heritage in the Catholic faith. “Imagine how Galileo’s mother felt,” he said to me. After all, “it took the Vatican 1000 years to forgive him for having scientific integrity and speaking the truth.”

Jon also gave the examples of Ted Kennedy and Kevin Dowling, a priest in South Africa who believes that the Catholic hierarchy must change their teachings from one that claims to be “open to life” to one that tries to prevent death.

Similar to Dowling, Kennedy, and Galileo; CFC has come under severe scrutiny from the hierarchy of the Church. However, Jon derives his moral courage comes from the “knowledge that what we are saying is the truth.”

Having come from a religion with similar troubling positions regarding women and sex, I was curious where CFC stands on working with Catholics who choose to leave the faith. Jon says he is “deeply hurt” to hear of people who have been wounded by the leadership of the church, especially women and gays. However, Jon says that he respects “the moral courage involved in saying ‘I need to go.’”

Bishop Kevin Dowling

According to Jon, those who have left the faith “have a great sensitivity of how the institution hurts people” and “of course” they can stay involved in the movement.

On the other hand, Jon says that he and others at CFC stay in the Church not because they are afraid to leave, “but because we are the Church. The Church is a community of people, the hierarchy and ownership does not reside in the Bishops.”

Jon joked that CFC should be given a retainer for all those who have remained in the faith because of the presence of the organization. Jon meets Catholics all the time who have been struggling about “how to stay Catholic” given their views. People often express relief after discovering CFC and remark how great it is to have “representation” after feeling alone in their views for so long.

I was touched by Jon’s dedication to his religion despite the seemingly many roadblocks to his faith. It all seemed to come together, however, when he put it this way: “We are each asked to stand up. If we don’t, there will be nothing left to stand up for.”

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