Groups Plan Protests During Papal Visit

Angered by the Roman Catholic Church’s stand on birth control, abortion, homosexuality and other issues, a coalition of women’s and lay Catholic groups announced Thursday a series of protests before and during Pope John Paul II’s visit to the United States in September.

“It’s bad enough that we’re second class in the church,” Eleanor Smeal, outgoing president of the National Organization for Women, said at a news conference. “To perpetuate that second-class status under the law is outrageous.”

NOW, 40% of whose members are Catholic, is one of 15 women’s and religious organizations that will stage demonstrations beginning at the Vatican Embassy in Washington during the Pope’s trip, his second U.S. visit. His first trip, in 1979, did not draw protests because the then-newly elected Pope’s views were not well known, organizers said.

Strong Traditional Views

Since then, however, the Pope has taken strongly traditional church stands on a number of controversial social issues, opposing any relaxing of dogma on birth control and abortion, despite polls showing that a majority of Catholics oppose those views.

In a Vatican letter last October, the Pope said that the church accepts Catholics who are homosexual but condemns homosexual behavior as “intrinsically disordered.”

Sue Hyde, privacy project director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, vowed to fight the edict, noting that a Catholic organization for homosexuals had been prevented from conducting its services at a church in Cincinnati after the letter was issued.

“We will not bow down to injustice, we will not give up, we will not shut up, we will not go away,” Hyde said.

Organizations joining the protests include the National Assembly of Religious Women, the Women’s Ordination Conference and the National Abortion Rights Action League. The demonstrations will start Aug. 26, Women’s Equality Day, in Washington and will run until Sept. 9.

They are expected to be followed by similar protests by local groups in all nine cities the Pope visits during his Sept. 10-19 trip, including Los Angeles on Sept. 15 and 16.