An American bishop last week said local Church leaders in Madagascar have given their assurances that the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) adheres to Catholic teaching.
Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, said he and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York had spoken to Madagascar’s Archbishop Odon Razanakolona of Antananarivo and Archbishop Désiré Tsarahazana of Toamasina about allegations that the CRS was involved in contraception and abortifacient distribution.
“They assured us clearly that they did not feel that this was something that CRS was doing, that they had great respect for CRS and great regard for the work that was being done,” Bishop Kicanas told the Catholic News Service.
The prelate’s comments counter a report from the Population Research Institute which contended Madagascar’s Catholic Church was alienated from the US-based Catholic relief agency and believed its work to be violating Catholic teaching.
The Washington, D.C.-based institute on July 26 charged that the relief agency was “using funding from American Catholics to distribute contraceptive and abortifacient drugs and devices in concert with some of the world’s biggest population control / family planning organizations.”
Sources
Image: CNS/USA Today
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