Catholic World News News Feature

Red Nose Day July 01, 2003

By Tara Holmes

To the outsider it might seem a curious phenomenon, but every other year, schoolchildren throughout Britain will spend a day wearing a red plastic false nose, in a drive to raise money for charity. Learning will take a back seat while classes are disrupted or halted by a wave of sponsored events and fundraising activities to help relieve worldwide poverty. A carnival atmosphere will prevail, as the normal inhibitions of a school day gradually slip away.

The scheduling of one such fundraising gala every two years ordinarily would not provoke much comment. Even those who would have reservations about the loss of precious class time might be tempted to turn a blind eye if the funds raised were being donated to a good cause. But if it became known that some of the proceeds had been diverted into funds that support abortion and contraception, and this drive for immoral causes had been unwittingly supported by Catholic schools, there would be consternation and anger, maybe even a sense of betrayal.

Yet this is stark reality behind Red Nose Day, a high-profile national fundraising event, heavily backed by celebrities, designed to encourage the British public to give generously to charity. The appeal, which normally coincides with Lent, raises millions of pounds for charitable causes. Schoolchildren, in particular, are urged to wear a red nose and help raise money for a whole host of projects: from rehabilitating children who have been forced to serve as soldiers to promoting fair trade. What is much less well known, however, is that between 3 and 5 percent of the proceeds is channeled into projects linked to abortion and contraception.

THE BISHOPS' EXPLANATION

The bishops of England and Wales have been aware of this dubious link for some time. Yet they still endorse Red Nose Day as a charitable appeal that Catholics can support with a clear conscience. Why?

The bishops offer two arguments in defense of the fundraising drive. The first is that they have received "assurances" from Comic Relief, the charitable organization behind Red Nose Day, that no funds will be diverted into abortion services. The second is that the bulk of Comic Relief's funding "goes overwhelmingly to support work of which the Catholic community can wholeheartedly approve." The bishops do not deny that some funds will have a so-called "family-planning component," but they still insist that Catholics can give money to the appeal, easing any pangs of conscience by earmarking their donations for the "relief of poverty."

The bishops' logic is both extraordinary and flawed. Their stance has been met with dismay by Britain's pro-life organizations. For most Catholics, they point out, the idea that the pocket money of well intentioned schoolchildren could be channeled into funds promoting abortion and contraception is abhorrent. Even if Catholics are able to direct donations through Comic Relief toward a cause that can be supported with a clear conscience, their participation will simply free someone else's contribution to fund the promotion of abortion in the developing world. Would it not be better to give money directly to a particular organization? There are certainly many reputable Catholic charities crying out for donations. Why don't the bishops put the same energy into defending some of these smaller but energetic organizations?

As long ago as 2000, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales revealed that they had examined Comic Relief's accounts and were confident that no funds had been used to support abortion. They then issued a statement saying that Catholics could donate money with a clear conscience on Red Nose Day. Their statement read: "Through Red Nose Day, Comic Relief has introduced a new mode of charitable giving which expresses the solidarity of our national and Catholic community with those in great need throughout the world."

Although the bishops acknowledged that the charity did support family-planning projects and that this could cause concern to Catholics, they still insisted there was no link to abortion. For Catholics who wanted to make absolutely sure that their money did not end up in the hands of the population-control lobby, a special bank account was to be set up, so that people could specify how their money was spent.

If all this sounds a bit too good to be true, then it will come as no surprise to discover that the bishops and their advisors had not done their homework properly. A closer examination of Comic Relief's records by pro-life experts told a different story.

According to the charity's own report of its grants, entitled Where the Money Went, £24,000 was handed to Population Concern between July 2000 and June 2001. Population Concern campaigns for abortion in developing countries. The organization has supported projects involving the funding of abortions in Bolivia and Nigeria. It also promotes "sexual and reproductive health"a phrase that invariably indicates support for legal abortion on demand. Comic Relief made a further grant of £164,000 to One World Action, which has funded workshops on abortion for women in Nicaragua. In the past, Comic Relief has also funded the world's largest abortion promoter, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), which claims to "work in over 180 countries to fight against poverty by offering sexual and reproductive health and family-planning information and services." In the 12 months leading up to June 2000, £51,953 was paid to the abortion provider Marie Stopes International for projects in Africa. Comic Relief has also handed money to homosexual organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard.

Yet despite all that fresh evidence, the bishops have stood by their 2000 statement and dug their heels in deeper. In the run-up to this year's Red Nose Day, which was held on March 14, the bishops issued a new statement, saying:

In December 2000, the bishops conference declared itself satisfied with the assurances it received from Comic Relief that the organization in general, and the money raised through Red Nose Day in particular, does not fund and has never funded abortion services or the promotion of abortions.

The rest of the bishops' 2003 statement repeated almost word for word their previous statement in 2000. It also emerged that the bishops had been acting on the advice of the bishops' conference assistant general secretary, the Jesuit Father Frank Turner, and the former director of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod), Julian Filochowksi. (Filochowski himself is no stranger to controversy. In 2001 he embarrassed the British hierarchy by holding a widely publicized party to celebrate the anniversary of his "friendship" with another man. And in February of this year, CWR revealed that Cafod had, under Filochowki's direction, given a grant to another Catholic organization which had claimed that condom use was not contrary to the Church's teaching and could be seen as a "pro-life activity.")

In a joint letter sent to the Catholic Herald in February, John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) and the group's political secretary Anthony Ozimic, observed:

The Pontifical Council for the Family has recently warned that the term reproductive health is a code word for abortion. Even if some earmarked donations do go to genuine poverty relief, this simply frees up other monies for sexual and reproductive health programs. SPUC encourages Catholics to raise this money for causes which fully respect the sanctity of human life and the family.

Smeaton and Ozimic went on to explain how a sexual and reproductive health project in Zambia, funded by Comic Relief, was being run by the Reproductive Health Alliance (RHA), the coordinator of the International Consortium for Medical Abortion.

A BOYCOTT CALL

The bishops' dogged refusal to back down on this issue is puzzling. Anthony Ozimic observes: "If anything, the bishops have strengthened their position since Red Nose Day. We remain very concerned that monies raised for 'sexual and reproductive health' programs are being given to pro-abortion causes. We feel that the bishops have been ill advised."

In an interview with the Catholic Herald a month before this year's event, John Smeaton went further: "Comic Relief is treating Catholics with utter contempt, seeing Christians in general as a soft touch," he said. As for the fundraiser's connections with pro-abortion groups, he found: "The evidence is even more emphatic than last year." Smeaton urged Catholics to boycott the initiative. He spoke of how Population Concern UK, one of the bodies to have benefited from Comic Relief funding, had been listed as an endorser of the "See Change" campaign, orchestrated by the notorious Catholics for a Free Choice, which called for the withdrawal of the Holy See's permanent-observer status at the UN. According to the Scottish Catholic Media Office, Population Concern is also a "major contributor to China's one-child-per-couple policy."

In the weeks leading up to this year's Red Nose Day, SPUC wrote to parish priests across the country in a bid to raise awareness of their concerns at grassroots levels. One priest who took up the gauntlet was Father Guy Nicholls of Birmingham Oratory. The Oratorian father used his parish newsletter to urge his congregation not to support Comic Relief. He explained:

The trouble with Comic Relief is that it presents itself as a charitable event. Very often, the subject of population control is sneaked in under the carpet. I took to heart what SPUC was saying and relayed it to the people of my parish to raise awareness. I took a very firm line. There are far better ways of assisting the poor in the world than by our paying to abort their babies.

In the early 1990s Jim Caffery, then head of the Rosary Primary School in Birmingham, sent off a copy of Comic Relief's financial reports after being warned at a meeting that there was concern over how charitable monies were being spent. Caffery, who retired in 2001, discovered that Comic Relief had given substantial grants to family planning and homosexual groups. After he called for a boycott of Red Nose Day in his school, a group of parents contacted a local newspaper to complain. For the next two weeks Caffery was hounded by the media and bombarded with interview requests from newspapers and radio and TV stations nationally.

"I had many letters of support," the former headmaster now reveals. "But Im sorry to say I also had letters of abuse, including some from priests." Regardless of the abuse that he has endured, Caffery still believes that he was right to discourage participation in Red Nose Day. As he says, "I feel that Catholic schools have to be particularly vigilant about where their money is going. What sort of message does it send out to children if their pocket money is helping to fund abortions by Marie Stopes International?

Caffery, who spent 21 years in total as a Catholic headmaster, wrote to the Catholic Times in November 2001, shortly before it became known that the bishops had been in talks with Comic Relief. He repeated his claim that a substantial amount of the charitys funds were being diverted into the promotion of contraception and abortion in developing countries. He remarked: "There is no fun in wearing a red nose or anything else if the money raised is used to pay for an abortion of an African baby."

Now more than two years later, Caffery's concern has been vindicated. But he is saddened that the bishops are still closing their eyes to the truth about Red Nose Day. He observes: "Bishops must lead people in complete fidelity to the faith and help to sanctify them." The bishops' failure to take a clear stand regarding Red Nose Day, he believes, "typifies their lack of leadership."

Could it be that the Catholic leaders of England and Wales are facing a conflict of interest because several Catholic organizations have received Comic Relief funding? Comic Relief's own records show that between 2000 and 2001, Cafod, the bishops overseas development arm, received two grants: one worth £183,500 for an initiative in Ghana and another for £68,061 toward projects throughout Africa. Catholic Caring Services, the Church's welfare arm, received £9,500; African Catholic Refugee Community was allocated £3,000; and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), the overseas development agency of Scotland's bishops' conference, received £8,300. But while some relief organizations associated with the Catholic hierarchy may have been successful in attracting Comic Relief funding, not a cent has gone to any pro-life organization or pro-family cause.

[SLUG] Tara Holmes is the former deputy editor of the Catholic Times. She now works as a freelance journalist in the United Kingdom.