Question first
appeared on July 8, 2001
Orthodoxy is against abortion. Why is this church supporting an
educational room at Covenant House when they support and teach abortion?
Something is wrong here! Several articles have been in the WORD magazine
on this subject as well as sermons given by you against it. Isn't this
contradictory? The St. George Church should not be connected whatsoever
with this project. I know donations are being made by individuals, but
is it going to be given in the name of the church?
Our parish of St. George was among the founding congregations of the
Charleston Interdenominational Council for Social Concerns (CICSC), the
parent organization for Covenant House, over twenty years ago. I was one
of the original board members.
Covenant House now coordinates the various ministries associated with
CICSC. From the very beginning the congregations made a covenant to
coordinate and support outreach ministries as a group rather than try to
do them separately and individually. The covenant includes the
stipulation that any congregation can exclude itself from any program
when it conflicts with their beliefs.
Contrary to what you have written and to popular gossip, Covenant
House and its staff do not teach abortion. But, their programming has
expanded through the past twenty years, such that it is not solely
funded by the local congregations. Many of their programs now include
funding from private and public grants. As such, Covenant House is
required by law to present all alternatives, including abortion as an
option, if any client inquires about the subject of family planning.
Very little, if any, time is devoted by the Covenant House programs to
this subject.
Be advised that our parish stipulates exactly for which programs our
contributions can be used. The room that we are sponsoring in the new
Covenant House is an office for those individuals who are involved in
the rural education program, hence an "education office." This
program deals with keeping neighborhood schools open and limiting
transportation times of students to school. A plaque will indicate that
it was donated by individuals from St. George Orthodox Church.
We Orthodox Christians live in a society that is pluralistic and
governed by a representative democracy with its code of laws. We may
disagree with the law, state that disagreement and work to change the
law. But, until it is changed we have to be respectful and obedient to
the law.
As Orthodox, we can insist upon our own people being obedient to our
beliefs and the teachings of the Church. We can even invite our people
to leave our church if they insist on being openly disobedient to our
beliefs (excommunication). However, we cannot insist on non-Orthodox
being obedient to our beliefs. We can only try to enlighten them.
İVery
Rev. Fr. Olof Scott, Sunday Bulletin, July 8, 2001
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