Pittsburgh, Pa., May 25, 2017 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- On Tuesday, a “Consistent Life Ethic” group was booted from sponsorship of the Pittsburgh March Against War after Facebook complaints against their pro-life stance.
Rehumanize International, previously Life Matters Journal, is a group that opposes all violence against human beings, including abortion, war, euthanasia, torture, capital punishment and human sex trafficking.
They were invited to co-sponsor the Pittsburgh March Against War, set to take place this summer, and were then removed from sponsorship after a vote of the other co-sponsors, following several complaints on the event’s Facebook page.
By Wednesday afternoon, the Facebook page for the March event had been deleted.
The Pittsburgh March Against War was organized by the Pittsburghers in Solidarity Against War, a coalition consisting of several organizations: the Anti-War Committee of the Thomas Merton Center, Veterans for Peace, CAIR Pittsburgh, International Socialist Organization – Pittsburgh, Socialist Alternative, Party for Socialism and Liberation, ANSWER Coalition, WILPF Pittsburgh, the Democratic Socialists of America, and Redneck Revolt.
CNA reached out to all of the co-sponsor groups and the March event’s main e-mail for comment on this story, but did not receive any responses, aside from the Thomas Merton Center, by press time.
Aimee Murphy, Executive Director of Rehumanize International, said that she was first invited by one of the co-sponsors to a meeting about the Pittsburgh March Against War, a grassroots event scheduled to take place July 1 at the Schenley Plaza. Murphy previously hadn’t heard about the March, but wanted her organization to get involved after attending the meeting.
Murphy said she introduced herself, as well as the vision of Rehumanize, at the meeting and handed out her card to multiple people before her organization was added to the sponsors of the event.
“I handed out my card and said yeah, we’re kind of new to this, but check us out. So people in the roundtable had ample opportunity to vet us before they ever added us to the event, and they didn’t,” Murphy told CNA.
Once the group was added to the list of sponsors on the Facebook event, attendees began researching the group and complaining about Rehumanize’s pro-life stance in Facebook comments.
While the event page was deleted Wednesday, Murphy saved screenshots of some of the comments.
“…I can’t and won’t march alongside a group that equates my choices as a person with a uterus and my work as a scientist with war and imperialism. It’s dehumanizing and detrimental to the anti-war and anti-imperialist movement overall…” Abby Cartus wrote in Facebook comments on the event.
“I definitely believe Rehumanize was passed off as an anti-war group,” wrote another commenter, who amended her comment to be “an anti-war group only.”
In a Medium post, Patrick Young said that most people involved in Rehumanize “seem like caring and loving people. I do believe that they genuinely intend to be loving and compassionate in their work. They’ve gone to great lengths to separate themselves from the hateful and aggressive anti-abortion advocates that have been so persistent for decades and train volunteers on what they believe is a compassionate approach.”
Nevertheless, he said, they engage in the “abhorrent” practice of approaching women outside of abortion clinics “to guilt and shame women out of choosing to have an abortion,” and therefore he believes they were rightly removed from co-sponsorship of the anti-war march.
The Thomas Merton Center (TMC), which created the event Facebook page, responded that they were listening to concerns and that many of the groups planning the event only became aware of Rehumanize’s ideology “that stand against our human rights” after the Facebook comments.
On Tuesday night, a democratic vote was held with the co-sponsors of the event on whether or not to remove Rehumanize from sponsorship. Murphy said she was included in the call, and the thread of the conversation was whether or not an anti-abortion group could be allowed to sponsor the anti-war March.
As stated on the event page, before it was deleted: “The votes consist of 8-remove, 1-abstain, 2-absent, and 1-remain. Rehumanize International was removed as a member of the organizing group and sponsor of the Pittsburgh March Against War.”
A statement on the Rehumanize International Facebook page reads: “Though we know that this is not meant as a personal slight against us, we are disappointed in the decision to exclude pro-life anti-war organizers as we fear it sends a signal to grassroots pro-peace, pro-life people that they are not welcome in the anti-war movement. [As with any social movement dedicated to the abolition of violence,] in order to end the atrocity of war, we need everyone committed to peace.”
Murphy said she was “flabbergasted” that a representative of the TMC voted to “remove” Rehumanize, because Thomas Merton was a Catholic, pro-life Trappist monk who believed in a consistent life ethic.
“It seems a little strange that we are so wildly exercised about the ‘murder’ (and the word is of course correct) of an unborn infant by abortion… and yet accept without a qualm the extermination of millions of helpless and innocent adults… I submit that we ought to fulfill the one without omitting the other,” Thomas Merton wrote in a letter to fellow activist Dorothy Day on Dec. 20, 1961.
Antonio Lodico, Executive Director of the TMC, told CNA that the involvement of the center in the March was largely through their anti-war committee, which consists of volunteers. Lodico said the TMC did not cast a vote regarding whether or not to remove Rehumanize because they had not had a chance as an organization to meet and discuss beforehand.
The TMC vote was likely a provincial vote cast by a representative of the volunteer group, but one that is considered binding unless the group changes their vote in the future. CNA asked the TMC to be put in contact with their volunteer anti-war committee but did not receive a response by press time.
Lodico added that while the TMC created the Facebook event for the March, they had given admin access to several of the co-sponsor groups and are unsure which group deleted the event.
“You may have received a notification that the Thomas Merton Center deleted the Pittsburgh March Against War Facebook event page. We did not approve deleting this event. A co-host deleted the event. The groups involved in planning this event are just finding out about this now. We acknowledge the labor that went into the education and conversation on the Facebook page and we regret that this effort was lost,” the TMC said in a Facebook post on their page.
This is not the first time that Rehumanize International has been excluded from sponsoring or organizing marches and protests. According to a press release from the group, “leading up to the Women’s March earlier this year, they were summarily ignored despite their support of women’s rights and nonviolence (while their sister group New Wave Feminists was accepted, then removed as a partner).”
Murphy noted in the press release that Rehumanize will attend the anti-war march regardless of whether or not they are sponsors.
“We are anti-war for the same reason we are anti-abortion: we believe in the inherent dignity of human beings and therefore, that all violence against them is contrary to that dignity,” Murphy said.
“Because those who are bombed, aborted, and killed by other acts of aggression cannot afford for us to cease our holistic, human-centered work, we will march on July 1, even if we are unwanted. We will be there, supporting a message for peace and all life.”
Following the deletion of the Facebook event, it is unclear whether the March will continue.
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I still want somebody to define “credibly accused” for me – officially, in these statements. Credible to whom? Based on what evidence? What would have made a claim *not* credible?
The tip of the iceberg by a guilty party – he’s thrown some raw meat to help cover his trail. In addition, those priests must be turned 0ver to the civil authorities for prosecution. They are sex predators and must be treated that way.
What about credible allegations of abuse against adults – and not only ‘vulnerable’ adults, any adults, including seminarians?
My question exactly! I keep thinking this is not just pedophilia that’s a problem; it also includes perderasty, and nothing is mentioned at all, even though, time and again, homosexuality has been shown to be the problem.
“Credible” is an EXTREMELY LOW STANDARD. It’s likely that among those “credibly” accused, are priests who are innocent of the accusations.
For an accusation to be deemed “credible” in the U.S. Catholic Church, all that is necessary is that it can be demonstrated that the accused and the accuser (or subject) had sufficient time during which they were in the same location and the alleged event COULD HAVE POSSIBLY taken place. Absolutely NO evidence of the alleged event actually occurring is required before an allegation is deemed “credible.”
As a chilling example, if you have ever been alone with another human being on an elevator for 30 seconds, the other person could — under present practice in the Church — accuse you of inappropriately touching him (or her), and it would be “credible” because you had time and opportunity.
Another little known and chilling aspect of this curious lack of “due process,” is that from the moment an allegation is deemed “credible,” the entire burden of proof shifts to the ACCUSED. The priest must either PROVE he DID NOT do that of which he is accused, OR he can simply languish in a state of suspension from ministry for the rest of his natural life.
A canon lawyer/priest friend of mine told me, “You very likely cannot PROVE that you DID NOT eat a ham sandwich yesterday. Unless you have eye witnesses who can account for every single moment of a given day, you cannot DISPROVE any accusation made against you.”
you make a very good point. Today, in the Church and in the political arena it seems that you are GUILTY until you can prove you are innocent. When did that law change.
I’ve been a Catholic for 65 years…I attended Catholic elementary school and been involved in parish life for the past 40 years. I’ve only know faithful, loyal pastors and religious that formed me in the faith.
I understand there are other stories–those that have been abused and I pray for them as well as their predictors. Still I am sure, in the depth of my heart, that the Holy Catholic Church has done much more to advance society and care for God’s people, than it has to hurt the flock. Again, I am not insensitive to those who have been victims of these horrific crimes. But I am confident that prayer is the answer for the victims, the perpetrators and the entire faithful. Pray for healing and forgiveness!
Waiting – but not holding my breath – for the chancery to acknowledge the homosexual behavior of Walter Rossi and Michael Bransfield during their respective tenures as rector of the National Shrine as well as the rest of the gay mafia in the Archdiocese.