CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : NOW Targets Catholic Church

The California National Organization for Women is urging members to withhold contributions to the Roman Catholic Church to protest its $5-million national anti-abortion campaign, the group announced. State coordinator Linda Joplin said NOW objects to the bishops’ attempt to enlist non-Catholics and Catholics alike in supporting legislation that would make abortion illegal. The women’s group suggested that instead of giving money to the church, Catholic supporters of legal abortions put protest notes into Sunday collection plates, pledge envelopes and offering boxes. Earlier this week, Cardinal John O’Connor of New York, chairman of the church’s Bishops Committee, said the planned anti-abortion advertising campaign is the only way to fight “the torrent of anti-life propaganda” in American media.