The following is a Catholic Action League of Massachusetts news update…
In 2017, the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts issued a Special Report on how Catholic institutions in the Commonwealth routinely betrayed the dedicated defenders of the unborn in the pro-life movement. Today, that culture of betrayal is alive and well in the Archdiocese of Boston.
As the New Boston Post reported in January, the eight members of the Boston City Council have signed an order requesting a public hearing to investigate pro-life crisis pregnancy centers in the city.
This is the latest offensive in a malevolent campaign, initiated by the anti-Catholic bigots of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), to defame, demonize, and ultimately suppress—through restrictive regulation and costly litigation—pro-life centers which offer women, in troubled pregnancies, compassionate alternatives to abortion.
This campaign against crisis pregnancy centers, if successful, will likely increase the number of innocent children killed through abortion, by crippling or eliminating groups which effectively oppose the abortion industry. It will also directly impede the constitutional rights of Catholics and other pro-life advocates.
The oldest pro-life pregnancy center in Greater Boston, dating back to 1973, is Pregnancy Help, which is a ministry of the Archdiocese of Boston.
The sponsor of the City Council order to investigate pro-life centers was City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, a former Elizabeth Warren campaign aide. Louijeune’s longstanding advocacy of abortion however, has never been an obstacle to cordial relations with the Archdiocese of Boston.
On February 4, 2022, Councilor Louijeune was a guest speaker at Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy in Dorchester. Louijeune spoke before her nephew’s sixth grade class for Black History Month.
According to its website, Saint John Paul Academy was “established as a new pilot for transforming Catholic education in Boston under the direction of Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley.” Its mission statement promises an “Enhanced faith formation curriculum in the Catholic tradition.”
The school’s Board of Trustees includes the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Boston; the President of the Catholic Schools Foundation; the Pastor of Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Boston; and the Assistant Vicar for Administration of the Archdiocese, the Reverend William P. Joy.
This is the same Father Joy who dodged, weaved and deflected when pro-lifers complained in 2022 about Catholic Memorial School conferring an award on pro-abortion Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.
In its 2004 statement, Catholics in Political Life, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops enjoined: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.“
This was not the first interaction between Councilor Louijeune and the Church. In January of 2022, Cardinal O’Malley, from the altar of Holy Cross Cathedral, publicly acknowledged the pro-abortion Councilor during a Mass commemorating Haitian Independence Day.
An even more disturbing development in this controversy is a 2022 statement from the Director of the Pro-Life Office of the archdiocese, which seemed to signal that the Church was less interested in defending crisis pregnancy centers, than it was in carving out an exemption for itself.
Marianne Luthin told NBC 10 Boston, “It’s unfortunate that Pregnancy Help is lumped in with a generic category of so-called centers doing horrible things. We are truthful, we are a ministry of the church, and we are very proud of the work that we do for women.“
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “An institution that is genuine in defending the right to life would never permit an abortion fanatic to address a group of sixth graders. As the League has said before, no rational person can reasonably be expected to take seriously Catholic opposition to abortion in the Archdiocese of Boston.”
“Luthin’s statement confirms what we already know—that pro-life Catholics should expect no reciprocity from the Church in Boston. The Archdiocese will sacrifice others to protect its own interests.”
The seven members of the City Council who, on January 11, 2023, joined Louijeune in calling for an investigation of crisis pregnancy centers were Councilors Ricardo Arroyo, Kenzie Bok, Liz Breadon, Tania Fernandes Anderson, Gabriela Coletta, Brian Worrell, and the Council President, Ed Flynn.
