Washington D.C., Jun 19, 2008 / 21:49 pm
A Virginia affiliate of Catholic Charities is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for helping a 16-year-old Guatemalan girl be fit with a contraceptive device and obtain an abortion, in possible violation of Virginia law and in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Catholic faith.
A story in the Washington Times reveals that four employees of Commonwealth Catholic Charities, Richmond (CCR) have been fired and one supervisor with the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services agency has been suspended, according to the Times’ federal sources and a secret April 19 letter written by three bishops to the 350 bishops of the United States.
Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond, Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City and Bishop Michael P. Driscoll of Boise, Idaho wrote the two page letter after a federal investigation was requested on April 23. The letter was publicized in the Catholic weekly The Wanderer.
The letter and other sources show that an unnamed Guatemalan girl, who already has one child, had been fitted with a contraceptive device provided by CCR members two months before the January 18 abortion. According to the Washington Times, CCR members signed the consent form required for a minor to have an abortion and also arranged her transportation to and from the abortion clinic.