October 5, 2003

This is the month the United Nations promotes Hallowe'en fundraising for UNICEF, its principal organization for promoting child welfare. Well-intentioned charitable groups encourage children to give their "Trick or Treat" presents to help needy children throughout the world. The Catholic Church is the world's largest provider of health and social welfare services for children. Customarily, the Holy See would make a token contribution to UNICEF as a sign of goodwill. This stopped in 1996. The Vatican no longer approves what has happened through changes in UNICEF policies. Instead, its former support now is being spent on a study on infant growth and an anti-drug program.

The Church objects that UNICEF has become involved in global birth control and abortion programs. UNICEF disingenuously has said that its actions are "consistent with those of the Holy See." There was a time when that may have been the case. Under the former UNICEF director, the late James Grant, the organization focused on positive health interventions, such as oral rehydration for children suffering from often fatal intestinal disease, and massive immunization drives. He was replaced by N.Y. state senator Carol Bellamy who launched programs for abortifacient "emergency contraceptives" for refugee women and objectional sex education material for children in Catholic countries of Latin America.

The distinguished medical journal Lancet has recently charted the decline in UNICEF's good work since the mid-1990s, showing how the previous record of reducing child mortality has been slowed or even reversed. More than ten million children will die this year, most of whom are poor. "Two-thirds of these deaths could have been prevented if effective child survival interventions had reached all children and mothers who needed them." The medical writers plead for a return to former UNICEF policies, free of the politicized agenda which has tainted more recent programs.

Meanwhile, it is patronizing and misleading for U.N. officials to claim that they know more about Catholic moral teaching than the Catholic Church does. The critical report of medical scientists in the Bellagio Study Group on Child Survival corroborates the allegations of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, whose studies conclude that UNICEF's recent embrace of radical feminism has detracted from its main child survival mission.

As so many people involved with good works of the United Nations belong to our parish, it is fitting that everyone be aware of the importance of restoring what once was an important humanitarian initiative. Until this happens, it is unseemly that children be exploited by highly paid bureaucrats urging them to use "Trick or Treat" collections to fund programs hurtful to other children around the world. That is a trick and not a treat. It is better that the faithful direct their support, as we do through the Cardinal's Appeal and our mission collections, for the genuine promotion and protection of innocent life.

Fr. George W. Rutler