Clergy Voices: Volume 9, Issue 1

By Rev. Ignacio Castuera, PPFA National Chaplain

"You were prescient in naming a chaplain for your organization!" declared Anthony Romero, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, when he addressed the Planned Parenthood post-election summit last November. Prescient or not, Planned Parenthood has been in the business of values, and religious leaders have been active supporters, from the very beginning.

It is an honor to be the first national chaplain of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). Yet it is also humbling to realize the path of religious heroes who preceded me without titles and often without recognition. Thanks to the work of the PPFA Clergy Advisory Board chair, the Reverend Tom Davis, a measure of acknowledgement is coming to all those faithful and courageous pioneers. Tom's book is a tribute to those who labored in the past and an invitation for us to be, in our time, what they were for their era.

Prescience aside, what does the chaplain do? The chaplain is first of all a symbol, a living reminder of the close relationship between progressive religious forces and the struggle for sexual and reproductive freedom for women. This symbolic function, though difficult to quantify, is evident in its impact within and outside the organization.

The great enthusiasm with which I have been welcomed in religious circles is a clear indication of the power of symbols. Our opponents are also keenly aware of the power of symbols, and they immediately reacted to the announcement of the chaplaincy by calling it a "veneer." But PPFA did not cover itself with a religious veneer; it acknowledged and symbolized the partnership with progressive people of faith.

The power of the symbol must be multiplied by greater and greater exposure. Accordingly, I attend many conferences, colloquia, celebrations, and demonstrations to inform people about the history of our collaboration. Through these encounters, we broaden our support from communities of faith and connect with key players in these organizations.

I also travel around the country speaking with religious leaders and meeting with Planned Parenthood staff. For example, when an anti-choice group threatened to have "the largest Pro-Life gathering Planned Parenthood has ever seen in Bryan/College Station, Texas," I was asked to secure the presence of friendly clergy for the event. What a sight it was to see the Planned Parenthood staff surrounded by clergy as they entered the hotel for their event!

And, as part of PPFA's Office of Special Projects, I work with my colleagues in this department and with Tom Davis to coordinate our interfaith breakfasts at the Planned Parenthood annual conferences and to publish this newsletter.

Much of my time last year was spent in activities leading to the very successful March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. One of the first things I was asked to do at the march was to pray for the rain to go away when it threatened the march. I responded that I could not pray for that but instead I would pray for courage for all the people to show up, rain or shine. More than a million people did just that!

It is in the courage of the daily grind, of facing detractors undaunted, in carefully studying bills that might threaten the women we support, in forming coalitions with others who are also committed to ensure the well being of women, that I most clearly discern the values in which I believe so strongly. It is in the "sacred work" of Planned Parenthood that I personally fulfill my call to further peace and love and compassion. What does the national chaplain do? He learns and grows through the witness of the past, the courage of his colleagues and collaborators, and the hope of strength and courage for the days ahead.

I would value your thoughts. Please feel free to contact me at ignacio.castuera@ppfa.org.

By Rev. Tom Davis, PPFA Clergy Advisory Board Chair

Since the election there has been a flood of stories analyzing the motives and core beliefs of the American People. Most have tried to say that moral issues are now predominant. It is doubtful that this is true. The Economist magazine pointed out that the concern with moral issues was actually less in this election than it was in the elections of 2000 and 1996. ("The Triumph of the Religious Right", Nov. 13, 2004, pp 29-31.)

And there may be a far deeper problem. For even the best analyses do not often appreciate the war between the heart and the mind of many Americans when it comes to serious questions of morality. The simple truth is that on a number of serious moral issues people's minds are often in one place when their hearts are in another.

For example, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting there were two speakers. The first question asked of them was, "Can people who don't use much alcohol, but are addicted to other drugs, come to AA?" Now some members feel all drug addicts should be welcomed while other more traditional members say no.

The first speaker answered the question by saying that AA was only for alcoholics. The questioner then said, "But I never drank much. Cocaine was my problem. This group has really been my salvation, but should I not come here anymore?" There was a long suspenseful pause and then the speaker responded, "Oh no, I didn't mean you." When it came to denying help to a person right in front of him, he wouldn't send her away. His answer was not logical, but it was compassionate. His mind was one place, but his heart was in another.

He is not alone. There are quite a few religious people whose hearts and minds are barely acquainted. In the struggle for reproductive rights, one can see this phenomenon. While there are certainly anti-abortion activists who really want punitive laws denying abortion rights, there is evidence that many other so called "right-to-life" people would be horrified if they got what they say they want. Examples are abundant.

A minister reports a not a-typical experience that occurred when he was asked for help arranging an abortion by the parents of a 13-year-old girl who was pregnant. They came from another state where they were activists in the anti-abortion movement. They firmly believed that abortion was wrong, but they said, "Please understand, our daughter is only 13! She is just too young to be a mother." What is the locus of their deepest beliefs — the mind or the heart?

If, God forbid, the "right to life" people actually get what they say they want — the criminalization of abortion — millions of them may be stunned at their reactions when they see or read about:

• Women forced to testify at the trial of doctors accused of doing abortions. Refusal to testify could result in charges of contempt.
• Hospitals required to report suspected illegal abortions.
• A startling increase in teen births on the part of women who cannot afford to travel to a state where abortion is still allowed.
• Police coming to the emergency room to question women who are suffering infections or other damage due to an illegal abortion.

Some will question whether all of these things will happen. Perhaps the enforcement will not be thorough at all. But if that proves to be the case, if the law is largely ignored and illegal abortions occur in great number, then what was the point of the law? Clearly it was not to stop abortions. It was to institutionalize a principle, the principle that women do not have this right. That principle is something that the mind can understand abstractly, but it also produces consequences that fill the heart with revulsion.

Those of us who advocate for women's reproductive rights can take some encouragement from this situation. It is, in fact, the soft ground beneath the anti-abortion movement. If much of the public — and even many of our opponents — have this split between heart and mind, it means that their arguments are not based in the reality of their own lives. Our task is to lift up that reality, to show them that justice in the world of abortion is more complex than they think it is, and that — at least for some of them — their hearts are far more compassionate toward women than their politics.

Chaplaincy at Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region

By Dr. Barbara Coeyman

I have been serving as chaplain at Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region (PPTCR) in Austin since September. This is a new position, so it is a work in progress.

My chaplaincy has three components. One is providing pastoral presence and pastoral care to staff and clients. Pastoral presence is especially important at this point in time because two of our three clinics have just started abortion services, and we want to make it clear to our clients and the community that all the services we provide have the support of the clergy.

A second area of chaplaincy responsibility is advocacy in the community, particularly crucial here in Austin. Getting the liberal religious voice heard in the public media is often challenging, but we have been successful by working with other organizations in Austin that also support the interconnections of religion, public affairs, and reproductive rights.

A third aspect of this chaplaincy is education. I work with the sex educators in presenting workshops and programs for staff and the community. And I am in the process of establishing programs with two of the seminaries in Austin to promote the role of reproductive rights and sexuality in ministerial training.

I am not doing this work alone. We also have an interfaith Clergy Advisory Group, which operates at several levels. At the broadest level, about 20 ministers in the area have signed a pastoral letter indicating their support of the work of Planned Parenthood and offering pastoral counseling free of charge to Planned Parenthood's clients. Copies of this pastoral letter are available in all PPTCR clinics.

Additionally, about 10 of our ministers — representing Baptist, Episcopal, Jewish, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Zen Buddhist congregations — are part of a core group who meet monthly (this is how I first connected with this affiliate.) Our meetings include discussions about our own theological positions on reproductive rights and how we can take these positions into our own congregations, especially through preaching. This core clergy group is also available on-call for coverage at our clinics. And about every six months this core group presents an interfaith worship service of renewal for women and their loved ones affected by abortion. Nationally, statistics show that up to 98 percent of women who have abortions have no regrets, but we are happy to be able to help those women in our community who may experience regret or confusion after their abortions. Our last service was in October. Even though I was involved in every step of the planning, I was deeply moved by some of the unexpected spiritual resonances during the service as we conducted a liturgy that brought together our various faith traditions. (Contact me at barbara.coeyman@ppfa.org for a copy of this order of service if you are interested in planning a similar event.)

Our clergy group also participated in other important celebrations at our affiliate this fall. In October, several clergy attended the ribbon-cutting of the new PPTCR clinic in south Austin (a project which opened on time in spite of serious boycotts by builders during the past year). Looking like clergy — that is, wearing stoles and collars — was good planning on our part at the ribbon-cutting. Several local TV stations caught us on camera, sending a visual message to the community that there are ministers who stand with Planned Parenthood. Members of our clergy also attended the annual luncheon for major donors luncheon, where Arianna Huffington was the featured speaker. This past summer, some of us clergy testified at the Texas State Board of Education hearings over the passage of new high school health textbooks for the state, an issue that received national attention. Of course, any and all of us in the core clergy group stand ready at any of these events to give interviews to radio and television reporters.

I am grateful to my clergy colleagues. They also function as my minister, as I come upon questions and issues for which I need a listening ear as this chaplaincy program develops. As for me, I will be ordained to Unitarian Universalist ministry in March 2005. Ministry represents a career change for me: previously I was a professor of music history at West Virginia University.

The chaplaincy at PPTCR is still a work-in-progress, but it is clearly very needed work. I hope every Planned Parenthood affiliate in our organization may someday have clergy presence and staff chaplaincy. This is indeed sacred work.

The Loss of the Rev. George Gardner

In late October, The Rev. George Gardner succumbed to cancer.

Rev. Gardner joined the board of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri in 1973 and served until 1987. He was an honorary member for the next eleven years.

Gardner displayed great courage in the summer of 1991 when he defended the clinics during the long siege by Operation Rescue. He was personally subjected to threats, harassment, and vandalism. In the summer of 2001, when the anti-abortion demonstrators returned, he made his church facilities available to Planned Parenthood and the Wichita Choice Alliance for volunteer training and coordination.

In March 2002, The Rev. George Gardner became the first clergyperson to receive the Reverends Betsy M. and Thomas R. Davis Award for commitment to the pro-choice cause.

Sacred Work: Planned Parenthood and its Clergy Alliances

PPFA very pleased to announce the publication of Sacred Work, Planned Parenthood and Its Clergy Alliances written by Clergy Advisory Board chair and former national board member Tom Davis. Sacred Work was published in February 2005, and is available to Planned Parenthood supporters at a discount. Tom wrote this book to describe the profound moral and religious roots of the kind of work that Planned Parenthood has done since its inception. It is his hope that it will help affiliates in their response to criticism by religious bodies.

ABOUT SACRED WORK

In the struggle for reproductive freedom, there are religious extremists at one end and liberal secularists at the other. Lost in this battle and often invisible to the public eye are the religious leaders and institutions that have worked in favor of protecting reproductive rights. Tom Davis offers a Biblical basis for his claim that work on behalf of social justice for women constitutes sacred work in the Judeo-Christian tradition; he illustrates that sexism is the real driving force behind the religious anti-choice movement.

In Sacred Work: Planned Parenthood and Its Clergy Alliances, Davis brings to light the ways in which the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the clergy are not as incongruent as they often are construed to be: "Planned Parenthood is a secular organization engaged in the sacred work of promoting social justice," says Davis. "It is this sacred work that has repeatedly brought clergy into alliance with it."

TO ORDER

To purchase single copies at a 20% discount, please contact Rutgers University Press at (800) 446-9323 and mention order code PPFA. For sales at events, you can receive a 40% discount off the list price. Rutgers Press will also help you promote your event. And if you are planning a large gathering (at least 50 people), Rutgers University Press will contact a local bookstore to discuss the store's interest in selling books at your event. Contact Jessica Pellien at (732) 445-7762, ext. 625 or pellien@rci.rutgers.edu. If you want to make a bulk purchase or buy on a non-returnable status, Rutgers University Press may be able to negotiate an even larger incentive than the 40% event discount. Contact Gary Fitzgerald at (732) 445-7762, ext. 627 or garyfitz@rci.rutgers.edu.

PRAISE FOR SACRED WORK

"Read [this book] for its historical insights, for its timely observations, and for its unprecedented account of an alliance that continues to be a defining force of the pro-choice movement."
         –Sarah Weddington, winning attorney, Roe v. Wade

"An extraordinary work. Carefully researched, clearly written, factually honest. Davis puts in proper spiritual context the supportive role of America's mainstream clergy in the struggle for women's reproductive freedom."
         –Rabbi Balfour Brickner, Author of Finding God in the Garden