Catholic Leaders Call for State Department Commission to be Dismantled
July 22, 2019. Over 125 Catholic theologians, community leaders and activists have sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlining strong concerns to the recently announced Commission on Unalienable Rights. Mary Ann Glendon, a Catholic known for advocating “natural law” as a basis for policy, has been tapped to head the commission.
The letter’s signers state, “Our faith and our commitment to the principles of democracy require us to view every person on earth as a full human being. We staunchly support the fundamental human rights of all people and proudly carry on the long tradition in our country of advocating for expanding human rights around the world. Our concern is that this Commission will undermine these goals by promoting a vision of humanity that is conditional, limiting, and based on a very narrow religious perspective that is inconsistent with the beliefs and practices of billions in this country and around the world.”
The letter outlines the endorsers’ concern that the Commission as currently constituted “will lead our State Department to adopt policies that will harm people who are already vulnerable, especially poor women, children, LGBTI people, immigrants, refugees, and those in need of reproductive health services. These policies will be embedded in everything from visa and immigration laws to international aid programs and will further undermine true human rights in the name of a very partial version of Christianity that is being promoted by the current Administration.”
The letter was born out of discussions among four Catholic leaders, Miguel Diaz, Marianne Duddy-Burke, Mary E. Hunt, and Bryan Massingale. “We were appalled by what we heard and read about this Commission and its appointees, said Mary E. Hunt. “We felt we had a duty to act, and to create a forum that would allow other Catholics to make their objections and concerns known.”
Bryan Massingale, James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics at Fordham University added, "It should be unthinkable that a U.S. Cabinet member would question a landmark principle in our nation's founding document, the 'Declaration of Independence.' To undermine the conviction that all human beings, created in the image of God, possess inherent rights to life and liberty, is both disturbing as an American and offensive as a Christian."
“The four of us had just participated in an international gathering, the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics held as part of DignityUSA’s 50th anniversary commemoration, in which leaders of the Catholic LGBTI movement from around the world outlined the challenges, often horrific challenges, they face,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke. “Throughout the meeting, there were five chairs facing everyone present, empty except for the names and countries of delegates refused visas by the U.S. government. All of them were from Africa and were victims of the exclusionary and racist policies of this Administration. It was very clear to us that this type of discrimination may very easily be expanded under this Commission. As American Catholics, we reject this and welcome global colleagues to our shores.”
"Care for the most vulnerable and the rejection of human indifference must inform the soul of our nation and must guide us to enact just laws and policies in the area of U.S. international and diplomatic relations,” said Miguel Diaz, former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, currently John Courtney Murray University Chair in Public Service at Loyola Chicago. “We have an ethical obligation to love our neighbors and protect their unalienable rights, regardless of their particular ways of being human with respect to gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religious perspectives, ethnicity, physical ability, immigration status, and any other particularity used to discriminate.”
Diaz continued, “The defense of fundamental human rights has been enshrined in our country’s most cherished documents. As Catholics we also draw from the recognition and commitment to a broad range of human rights due to all persons expressed in Catholic Social Teaching. All human beings have been created in God’s image and all have been endowed by their Creator with the fundamental right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. No person speaking in the name of government or in the name of God can do so to undermine or deny this right.”
The signers call for “the immediate dismantling of this Commission and for the development of a broadly consultative process that will examine the important human rights issues our country encounters in our international engagements, and make recommendations that reflect the diversity of faith perspectives on human rights that exist within our country.”
TEXT OF LETTER AND SIGNATORIES BELOW
SENT VIA OVERNIGHT MAIL
July 19, 2019
The Honorable Michael R. Pompeo
Secretary, U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Pompeo,
We are Catholic theologians, community leaders, and advocates working on a variety of human rights concerns. As persons who live and serve in this nation, we cherish and affirm the American Declaration of Independence's assertion of the truth that all persons “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We write to express our strongest objections to the goals and composition of the new Commission on Unalienable Rights.
Our faith and our commitment to the principles of democracy require us to view every person on earth as a full human being. We staunchly support the fundamental human rights of all people and proudly carry on the long tradition in our country of advocating for expanding human rights around the world. It is our belief that this Commission will undermine these goals by promoting a vision of humanity that is conditional, limiting, and based on a very narrow religious perspective that is inconsistent with the beliefs and practices of billions in this country and around the world.
Of most urgent concern is that the composition of the Commission indicates that it will lead our State Department to adopt policies that will harm people who are already vulnerable, especially poor women, children, LGBTI people, immigrants, refugees, and those in need of reproductive health services. These policies will be embedded in everything from visa and immigration laws to international aid programs and will further undermine true human rights in the name of a very partial version of Christianity that is being promoted by the current Administration. We cannot allow this to happen in our names and pledge our ongoing efforts to prevent this from being how our nation’s human rights stance is communicated to the rest of the world.
We call for the immediate dismantling of this Commission and for the development of a broadly consultative process that will examine the important human rights issues our country encounters in our international engagements, and make recommendations that reflect the diversity of faith perspectives on human rights that exist within our country.
Thank you for your consideration of this urgent request.
Sincerely,
Jorge Aquino, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Francisco
Regina Bannon
Barbara Battista, SP, Sisters of Providence, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Indiana
Trevor Bechtel, University of Michigan
Elizabeth Begley
Rev. Dr. Bev Bingle
Mary A. Breen
Deacon Amy Bruner, RCWP
Ken Butigan, Ph.D., Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies, DePaul University
Fr. Jose Gabriel Castro, Iglesia Catolica Ortodoxa de America
Dolores L. Christie, Ph.D., CTSA Executrive Director (retired)
C. Cook
Francis X Clooney, SJ, Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard University
Margaret Cooper, Southeastern Pennsylvania Women's Ordination Conference
Professor M. Shawn Copeland
Tom Cordaro, Pax Christi Ambassador for Peace
Mary Grace Crowley-Koch, RCWP, Co-coordinator, Women-Church Convergence
Charles E. Curran, Professor, Southern Methodist University
Paula vW. Dail, Emerita Research Professor of Social Welfare and Public Policy
Sister Patricia Daly, OP
Antoinette L Daniele
Rev. Marie David, RCWP
Maria Teresa Davila, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the Practice, Merrimack College
Francis DeBernardo, Executive Director, New Ways Ministry
Nick De Los Reyes, Co-Chair Executive Committee, CORPUS
Marie DesJarlais, FSPA
Miguel H. Diaz, Ambassador
Mary Kay Dobrovolny, RSM
Anne Doucette
John Doyle
Heather DuBois
Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director, DignityUSA
Heidi Erdmann
Orlando O. Espin. Th.D., Professor of Theology, University of San Diego
Theresa Evans, OPA, Tacoma Dominican Associates
Dr. Joseph J. Fahey, Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice
Ruth Steinert Foote
Dr. Peter R. Gathje, Vice President of Academic Affairs/Dean, Memphis Theological Seminary
Mark Gotvald, Christ the King Church, Faith In Action committee
Leo Guardado, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Theology, Fordham University
Jeanette L Hagelskamp, Sisters of Providence
Hille Haker, Richard McCormick Endowed Chair of Catholic Moral Theology, Loyola University Chicago
Eleanor Harty
Brenda Hepler
Jacqueline M. Hidalgo, Associate Professor of Latina/o Studies and Religion, Williams College
I.J. Hill
Mary E. Hines, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Theology, Emmanuel College
Rosalind Hinton, Religious Studies Teacher
Bradford Hinze, Professor of Theology, Fordham University
Dr. Elizabeth A. Johnson CSJ, Distinguished Professor, Fordham University
Suzanne Holland, Ph.D., University of Puget Sound Department of Religious Studies
Mary E. Hunt, Ph.D., Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER)
Andrea and Spencer Johnson, Treasurer, CORPUS
Zach Johnson, Executive Director, Call To Action USA
Dr. Thomas Kelly
Gail P. Kennon
Mary Beth Klingel, SP
Alice M. Knowles, Immediate Past Vice-President, DignityUSA
Rev. Mary Kay Kusner, RCWP
Elizabeth Linehan, RSM
Fr. Bernárd J. Lynch
Daniel C. Maguire, Emeritus Professor of Moral Theology, Marquette University
Linda and Phil Marcin, Secretary, CORPUS
Bryan N. Massingale, James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics, Fordham University
Dannis Matteson, Loyola University Chicago
James P. McCartin, Fordham University
Rev. Maria Thornton McClain, RCWP
Dugan McGinley
Tom McLoughlin
Ginger Megley
Gina Messina Dysert, Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Rev. Dr. Susan Mielke
Alex Mikulich, Catholic Social Ethicist
Mark Miller, Associate Professor, University of San Francisco
Dr. Diann Neu, Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER)
Cheryl Nichols
Darlene Noesen, Chicago Women-Church
Jon O’Brien, President, Catholics for Choice
Rev. Jennifer O’Malley, Holy Wisdom Catholic Community
Kate Ott, Associate Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Drew Theological School
Elaine Padilla, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion/Latinx and Latin American Studies, University of La Verne
Beatrice Parwatikar, Pax Christi Ambassador of Peace
Russ Petrus, Co-Director, FutureChurch
Christopher Pett, President, DignityUSA
Linda Pinto, Co-Chair Executive Committee, CORPUS
Dolores Pomerleau, Co-founder, Quixote Center
Dr. Virginia Kaib Ratigan, Religious Studies, Claremont College (Retired)
Pastor Kathy Redig
Kathleen Blank Riether
Sergio Romero
Deborah Rose-Milavec, Co-Director, FutureChurch
Patricia Russell
Joseph A. Sannino, Community of the Christian Spirit
Roe Sauerzopf, Vice President, Call To Action Metro New York
Karen J Scheer, RSM, MD
Rev. Kathleen Gibbons Schuck
Dr. Karen Schwarz, Coordinator, San Francisco Bay Area Women-Church
Rev. Irene Senn, RCWP
Rev. Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP
Robert Shine, Associate Director, New Ways Ministry
Ursula L. Slavick, SHSD Haiti Project
Prof. William H. Slavick, Pax Christi Maine
Melinda Spataro
Lewis Speaks-Tanner, Immediate Past President, DignityUSA
Lisa Stallings, Sisters of Providence
Jeffrey Stone
Anthony Suárez-Abraham, Dominican University
Leonard Swidler, Professor of Catholic Theology, Temple University
Jonathan Tan, The Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan Professor of Catholic Studies, Case Western Reserve University
Emerita Tejano
Yannik Thiem, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Columbia University
Terrence Tilley, Emeritus Professor of Theology, Fordham University
Cristina L.H. Traina, Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Northwestern University
Rev. Dr. Joanna Truelson, RCWP
Rev. Roger Vaughn, Orthodox-Catholic Church of America
Rt. Rev. Dr. Lynn Walker, Orthodox-Catholic Church of America
Kathleen Maas Weigert
Katherine Wojtan, Executive Director, Mary’s Pence
Rev. Constantine Wright, Orthodox-Catholic Church of America
Mary T. Yelenick, Esp.
Theresa Yugar, Ph.D.
Martin Zatsick
Signed after letter was sent:
Margaret A. Farley, Ph.D, Emerita of Christian Ethics, Yale Divinity School
Sister Jeannine Gramick, SL, National Coordinator, National Coalition of American Nuns
Peter Mena, Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego
Paula Trimble-Familetti, D.Min., International Feminist Theology, St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Community
To follow up, please contact Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director, DignityUSA, P.O. Box 376, Medford, MA 02215, [email protected] or Miguel H. Diaz, Ph.D., Ambassador to the Holy See, Ret., The John Courtney Murray Chair in Public Service, Loyola University Chicago, 1032 W. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60660, 773-274-3000