So, I went to the Franciscan Action Network Page ...

I went to the Franciscan Action Network page to see what they are up to after seeing that they had updated it. They have been attacked and criticized so often by orthodox Franciscans I thought I'd give them a chance.

I clicked on the tab marked "Issues." Up came:

Peace Making

Care for Creation

Poverty

Human Rights

Other Issues

 

I have no objection to those - but I saw nothing about abortion, one of the most important moral issues of our time.

 

I clicked on "Other Issues." Up came mention of "Money in Politics" and "Human Trafficking."

 

No abortion.

 

I clicked on the other issues. Nope, no abortion.

 

So I looked at some of the other main tabs. I finally found an opinion piece published in January in the National Catholic Reporter coauthored by FAN's former head. The piece cited five (!) positions on abortion - but did not state that support should be given for the Church's position, the advocates of which were basically called "purists" at one "end of the spectrum." And the piece went on to argue that we should stop trying to make abortion illegal. We should just try to reduce it - the old position of the pro-choice Democratic Party.

 

Okay. My visit reconfirmed my sense of FAN.

 

A Democratic/progressive front seeking to weaken, maybe even undermine, Catholic teachings.

 

And the national Secular Franciscans support this group?

Pax et bonum