Dear Bishop Fays:

The secular press reports that you have barred Northern Kentucky Right to Life from any activities in the churches of this Diocese, and that in your monthly letter to Priests you have ordered them to exclude us and our materials from the churches, giving as your reasons: (1) that "there is often confusion among people regarding their [NKRTL’s] status, (2) that when you first came to the Diocese you had "several meetings with NKRTL leadership in an attempt to reconcile them with the Diocese...futile, " (3) that "there are many good people involved in NKRTL who are being misled," and (4) that you disapprove "of the tactics of some of the leadership of NKRTL."

This 11-line paragraph written by you to the Priests states only generalities and fails to set forth any specific facts on which these "reasons" were based. It fails to cite any examples of how people are being misled or what unacceptable tactics are being used. Nor have you ever given NKRTL personal notification of these instructions of yours to the Priests, contrary to Christian charity and Biblical teaching (Matthew 18:15), which requires personal notice of a grievance before publication.

To refute the inaccurate generalities made by you and your spokesman, Tim Fitzgerald, to the press in October 2006, and the adverse implications of the nonspecific public statements made by you and him against "some of the leadership of NKRTL," NKRTL publishes this ad. The contents of this ad have been a shared responsibility by the entirety of the Board of Directors of NKRTL. The Board has, by a specific unanimous vote, approved this ad.

On August 7, 2002, we wrote you a welcoming letter, describing the efforts and history of Northern Kentucky Right to Life (founded more than 30 years earlier by Bishop Richard Ackerman, who called NKRTL’s activities "Covington’s finest hour"), and transmitted newspaper ads, videotapes, and publications documenting our goals, principles, and activities, and showed the breadth and depth of NKRTL’s support. The 35 signers of that letter included 12 active Priests in the Diocese (including a Diocesan Vicar General), and multiple doctors, lawyers, public officeholders, and community leaders, who attested to their membership in, and support for, NKRTL.

In advance of our November 2002 meeting with you, we wrote you an 11-page letter, signed by our Executive Committee and two active Priests of the Diocese, factually documenting specific and detailed egregious conduct carried out by official agencies of the Diocese for the past quarter century, including the Diocesan Pro-Life Commission (PLC), St. Elizabeth Hospital, and two of your immediate predecessors, showing: (1) abortions conducted at St. Elizabeth Hospital; (2) pro-abortion Catholic physicians on the Health Board voting contrary to the teachings of the Church and pro-abortion Catholic physicians sitting on the PLC; (3) PLC Director, Karen Riegler, publicly supported in the secular press the reelection of Barbara Black, a politician who was our primary opponent in the Health Board fight over the abortifacient drugs distributed to minors without even parental knowledge; Riegler stated that Black was "a great pro-lifer"; and (4) pro-abortion speakers sponsored on Catholic premises in the Diocese. The letter made specific requests regarding future policy, pastoral letters, and instructions to Catholic officeholders as to their duties.

Then, in November, you met with our three-member Executive Committee and two of your Diocesan priests who have been active and supportive members of NKRTL. You patiently listened to our review of that massive documentation previously forwarded to you, following which you stated that you had reviewed the materials, that they were self-proving, that the conduct of NKRTL over the past quarter of a century could be denominated as nothing less than "heroic," that you understood that there was much in need of correction in this Diocese, and that it would be corrected by you.

Our subsequent contacts with you included a lengthy personal meeting of March 8, 2003, and multiple letters from January 15, 2003, to July 27, 2006. We raised serious concerns regarding multiple actions and positions by the Covington Diocese which were grievously harmful to the Pro-Life movement, and unequivocally contrary to authentic Catholic teaching:

Your high profile participation in an assembly in Cincinnati which featured, as a speaker, a pro-abortion politician (whose record we had documented for you). You were challenged by a priest who had taught that it was inappropriate to participate in such a meeting. This priest was then challenged by parishioners, who pointed out your participation.

The public statement of your PLC Director in support of the politician who was the main proponent of the immoral and disastrous policy of the Northern Kentucky Independent District Health Department (NKIDHD) calling for the distribution to children, with tax dollars, of abortifacient drugs and materials, without even the knowledge of their parents. We had repeatedly requested your involvement in NKRTL’s opposition to that program and your correcting the public scandal given by the PLC Director. You did neither.

The report in the Diocesan newspaper, The Messenger, that you had "applauded" the recent decision of the Kentucky Supreme Court, which erroneously equated food and water with medical care, and authorized their withdrawal from a comatose patient who was not dying. We submitted a professional article, authored by three Catholics (one physician and two lawyers), documenting the errors advanced, and requesting its publication. The article was not published, and you made no response to us.

We called to your attention the distribution at St. Elizabeth Hospital of end-of-life documents which authorize the withdrawal of food and water from non-comatose patients, and the defense of that position by your Diocesan theologian, Fr. Ron Ketteler, all of which is diametrically opposed to the definitive teaching of Pope John Paul II. Again, you made no dispute with us concerning the accuracy of our position, nor did you take any corrective action. In fact, you signed into Diocesan law the Covington Diocesan Synod policy: "The Diocese of Covington shall fully implement the papal teaching on the administration of food and water as a moral obligation to sustain and comfort those persons who are in a terminal condition. The moral obligation to provide nutrition and hydration is clearly and eloquently expressed in Pope John Paul’s papal address, March 20, 2004." (Gospel of Life/Respect Life Policy Statements, No. 52). This Synod document also states: "The Diocese shall publish a model Durable Power of Attorney Form for use in healthcare-related situations, in complete accordance with Vatican directives on nutrition and hydration." But the contrary anti-life documents are still being used at St. Elizabeth Hospital, authorizing the withdrawal of food and water.

Bishops of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky (CCK) issued a signed public statement approving the administration of the abortifacient drug (denominated as "emergency contraception") in Catholic hospitals. We wrote to you, with medical, legal, and theological documentation, requesting a reversal of that policy. We pointed out that you had just opposed legislation for the public distribution of that drug since "The primary function of the drug is abortifacient." This issue likewise remains unaddressed.

We called to your attention (as did others) pro-abortion actions of members of the PLC, appointed by you – again with no response and no action taken.

We submitted to you a Statement of Principles, with authoritative citations to Papal documents and the Catholic Catechism. We stated that it was our belief that these represented authentic Catholic teachings on these core moral issues regarding the sanctity of innocent human life and respectfully requested: "If there is an error in our effort to articulate these Catholic principles, we would earnestly petition you, as our teacher, to so inform us. If they are correct, then we petition you to inform the Pro- Life Commission." You did neither.

Pursuant to your specific suggestion that we write you with requests of ours for specific action, we later wrote you with the following specific requests:

a. A clear public statement by the PLC which would state that the Catholic Church condemns all abortion, whether surgical or chemical.

b. Full and frequent treatment of these issues in The Messenger by you, so that the laity can be informed and energized.

c. A private meeting by you with Catholic politicians so that they will understand their moral duties as taught by the Church and recently restated in the Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life.

d. Appropriate public teachings to Catholic doctors and all staff personnel at St. Elizabeth Hospital, regarding these doctrinal issues.

e. The presentation of a Statement of Principles, approved by you, to all persons who hold positions of authority in any Diocesan agency, requesting their compliance.

f. That the public statement of the Diocesan Family Life Ministry, to the effect that the Catholic Church does not oppose abortion in all instances, be publicly corrected.

g. That you promulgate an unequivocal policy prohibiting the honoring, on Catholic premises or at a Catholic event, of a speaker or guest who has a known record of contradicting the Church’s teaching that abortion is always morally unacceptable.

h. That the Diocese make a public stance opposing the tax-funded distribution of abortifacients by the Health Board.

Again, you made no response to us.

On July 27, 2006, we wrote you regarding the public scandal of a pro-abortion speaker being given the platform at Mother of God Church, with the program advertised also in the Cathedral bulletin as well as in The Messenger – specifically contrary to the June 18, 2004, policy adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had been in place for many years by the Knights of Columbus and by many dioceses (also recently adopted by the 2006 Diocesan Synod), prohibiting the appearance of such persons on Catholic premises. The reason for this policy is to avoid giving credibility and acceptability to those who publicly oppose Catholic moral teachings, and to avoid confusing the faithful as to the severity of the issue of abortion. Again, you neither corrected us, nor did you correct those who violated this policy.

Most recently, on October 30, 2006, The Messenger refused to publish, for the first time in 25 years, the paid political ad of NKRTL-PAC, carrying its endorsements of candidates – at your specific direction, although no reason was furnished. It is tragic that The Messenger thus serves as a conduit for deception of the faithful since it has accepted ads from candidates for public office who call themselves "pro-life," contrary to the record, but NKRTL-PAC is now precluded, by your order, from furnishing its endorsements to the voting Catholic population.

 

Now you chastise us, publicly, by giving an interview to the secular press, without even bringing to our attention your complaints, and indeed refusing to make your complaints specific. The character and reputation of many of us have been attacked individually, specifically in some cases, and by clear implication in others. More importantly, great harm has been done to the integrity and credibility of NKRTL, which everyone understands has been the backbone of the pro-life movement in Northern Kentucky, and indeed in the state, for 35 years. You have left us no option but to publicly correct these unfounded accusations and misleading implications.

THESE QUESTIONS, REQUESTS, AND PETITIONS FOR GUIDANCE HAVE BEEN REPEATED BY US TO YOU SPECIFICALLY, IN TWO MEETINGS, AND 20 LETTERS, OVER A FOUR-YEAR PERIOD OF TIME, AND NOT ONE OF THEM HAS EVER BEEN ANSWERED BY YOU:

Respectfully,

Northern Kentucky Right to Life, Inc., by unanimous vote of its Board of Directors

EPILOGUE