Catholic Organizations, including the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, Support Girl Scouts

Media Contacts:

Janice Sevre-Duszynska, 859-684-4247, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests

Erin Saiz Hanna, 401.588.0457, Women’s Ordination Conference

Marianne Duddy-Burke, 617.669.7810, DignityUSA

Jon O’Brien, 202.332.7995, Catholics for Choice

Nicole Sotelo, 773.404.0004 x285, Call To Action

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 15, 2012

Catholics Come Out in Support of Girl Scouts

“These are exactly the type of young women needed in the Church today.”

As Catholic organizations we congratulate the Girl Scouts on their 100^th year anniversary and thank them for modeling the best of what girls can be: strong, bold, value-based young women. What a shame that Catholic officials cannot see these young women for the gift they are to the church and world.

The Bishops’ attempt to exert pressure on the Girl Scouts is the most recent episode in an increasingly troubling sequence of attacks against women and girls, both inside and outside the Church. From the hierarchy’s mandate against the nuns to its most recent heavy-handed inquiry into the Girl Scouts, the Bishops’ actions not only reveal the growing gap between the hierarchy and the faithful, but also sends harmful messages about womanhood to our daughters in faith. We urge the Bishops to cease the investigations.

As Catholic organizations that seek a more just and inclusive church, we stand in solidarity with the 59 million women and girls who have been a part of the Girl Scouts. We thank these women and girls—our sisters— for their witness of what it means to be a woman who knows her own giftedness in the face of a religion or society that too often undervalues her self-worth.

We invite those who would like to thank the Girl Scouts for their contribution to the church and society to join us in our Twitter campaign #GodLovesTheGirlScouts.

The Girl Scouts mission states that it “builds girls of courage, confidence and character” and for that we are grateful. These are exactly the type of young women needed in the Church today: those who know their self-worth goes beyond that which is measured by the Bishops’ investigation, but that is rooted in the simple fact that they are beloved children of God.

This statement is signed and supported by the following Catholic organizations:

Jim FitzGerald, Executive Director

Call To Action

Jon O’Brien, Executive Director

Catholics for Choice

Allen and Sylvia Moore, Co-Presidents

CORPUS

Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director

DignityUSA

Anne Harter, Coordinator

Faithful of Southern Illinois

Tom Quinn, Liaison

Federation of Christian Ministries, Roman Catholic Faith Community Council

Ruth Steinert Foote

Greater Cincinnati Women-Church

Jeannine Gramick and Donna Quinn, Co-Coordinators

National Coalition of American Nuns

Francis DeBernardo, Director

New Ways Ministry

Gloria Ulterino

RAPPORT

Suzanne Thiel, President

Roman Catholic Womenpriests, USA

Karen Schwarz

San Francisco Bay Area Women-Church

Regina Bannan, President

Southeastern Pennsylvania Women’s Ordination Conference

Mary Hunt and Diann Neu, Co-Directors

Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual

Erma Durkin

Women-Church Baltimore

Erin Saiz Hanna, Executive Director

Women's Ordination Conference

Janice Sevre-Duszynska, 

Media Contact, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests