Posted on 04/02/2002 4:57:13 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
Seattle, WA -- The Rev. Monica Corsaro doesn't look like a stereotypical minister. With her choppy blond hair, thick-rimmed hipster glasses and chunky black shoes, the Methodist minister won't even cop to her actual age ("30-something" is all she'll admit) because, she says, she constantly has to fight for respect.
Now this unconventional-looking minister has become a chaplain in what seems, at first blush, to be one of the most unlikeliest of places: Planned Parenthood.
Corsaro was recently appointed Planned Parenthood's "chaplain" for the state, making her the first full-time, statewide chaplain for the national abortion business.
As such, she will provide "pastoral counseling" to women seeking abortions and abortion facility staff, act as liaison with the religious community and lobby for abortion. She will play a pivotal role in the pro-abortion organization's public-relations battle against what its leaders claim is a false perception that most religious organizations are opposed to Planned Parenthood.
In fact, despite significant religious opposition by the Catholic Church and numerous protestant denominations, for instance, Planned Parenthood has a long history of working with religious organizations, its directors claim.
The portrayal of religion's position on abortion has been "distorted because of the heated and very vocal nature of the real extreme anti-choice members of the clergy," said Robert Harkins, executive director of the Washington state Planned Parenthood.
The outspoken Corsaro seems suited to such a controversial position. Raised in a liberal Methodist household in Geneseo, Ill., her pivotal moment came while attending Illinois State University. A friend asked her to attend a pro-life rally with a conservative Christian group. Meanwhile, other friends were protesting the rally.
Feeling like she didn't fully belong in either group, Corsaro asked herself: "Why can't I be pro-choice and pro-faith?"
"Why am I here with my political friends who can't stand Christianity, and why are my Christian friends on the other side?"
After receiving a master's degree in divinity from the Iliff School of Theology at the University of Denver, she served as associate minister at Audubon Park United Methodist Church in Spokane, where she also chaired the local Planned Parenthood's clergy advisory committee. Most recently, she served as minister of community outreach at University Temple United Methodist Church in Seattle's University District.
In January, Methodist Bishop Elias Galvan appointed Corsaro to the Planned Parenthood chaplaincy. The Methodist Church's official position is in support of abortion.
Corsaro said she was raised with the belief that God believes in each person's ability to make choices -- including "choices about one's body."
Most women who have a spiritual crisis at Planned Parenthood have "already made the decision to have an abortion but believe God will send them to hell," Corsaro said. "I try to focus on telling them 'God loves you, too.' " In her counseling, she claims she tries to lead the women to make decisions on their own, without badgering them.
However, pro-life advocates say there's no way a Planned Parenthood chaplain can be objective -- especially in light of the fact she lobbies for abortion.
"This is a minister who, from the get-go, agrees with Planned Parenthood's philosophy," said Genevieve Wood of the Family Research Council. "We would encourage women to seek counsel from their own ministers, not just take Planned Parenthood's word for it."
The Family Research Council also takes issue with Planned Parenthood's characterization of having broad-based religious support.
"The Catholic church, the largest Christian denomination in the country, and the Southern Baptist Convention, one of the largest mainline Protestant denominations in the country, are against abortion," Wood said.
Numerous other Protestant denominations including the Missouri and Wisconsin Lutheran Synods, the Assemblies of God, Wesleyan Church, Church of the Nazarene, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Pentecostal Church, Bible and charasmatic churches, the Mormon Church and other denominations all take strong pro-life positions.
But while Corsaro's appointment is the first time Planned Parenthood has established a full-time chaplaincy, it stresses longtime support from some religious groups for abortion.
In the 1940s, mainline churches and synagogues played a crucial role in popularizing family planning, said the Rev. Tom Davis, chair of the clergy advisory board for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In the 1960s, before abortion became legal, more than 1,000 ministers and rabbis formed an effort to help women obtain illegal abortions.
Today, Planned Parenthood has clergy serving on its boards and clergy advisory boards -- both nationally and locally. Most affiliates have clergy members who volunteer as chaplains.
"It's important to have someone (on staff) who can speak as a person of faith, speaking from her faith, for people of faith," Corsaro said. "And it's important to have a religious voice for choice."
Many patients request a remembrance of their baby to take home with them. when they have Late Abortion Care.
At Women's Health Care Services, our Fetal Indication Termination of Pregnancy program involves managing the pregnancy by the premature delivery of a stillborn. On the first day of the process, an injection of a medication is made into the baby to assure that it will be stillborn.
They do not care that they are killing innocent humans to accommodate immoral lifestyle choices of the heathen class. They are killing the wrong people IMO.
The number of unsaved clergy grows. The tares may look like wheat to the human eye..but those with spiritual sight will see the difference !.. It is a shame that these woman do not get godly counsel
The density of weasel words in this is astounding. "managing the pregnancy"? They aren't managing it, they're ending it. "the premature delivery of a stillborn"? "We kill your baby and induce labor" is the truth. "an injection of a medication"? It's not "medication," you dimwits, a medication is something to restore health. This kills; the proper word for that is poison. Even the Nazis weren't this addicted to weasel words. If they had been, it would have sounded like this:
"At the Reich Resettlement Office, we manage the Jewish question by resettlement and deportation to terminal destinations. On arrival at the terminal destination, a medication is administered to neutralize the subject, in preparation for final disposal."
Sometimes it's really hard to understand why God hasn't incinerated our entire sorry excuse for a civilization.
The passers-by had better be careful - Wesley's liable to spin fast enough to reverse the local gravitational field!
I accidentally saw this. As a rule, I seldom read your postings, and NEVER respond to them. But Emerson says that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, so I say this:
How much time do they spend working with God and how much time do they spend "spitting" in His face? In January, Methodist Bishop Elias Galvan appointed Corsaro to the Planned Parenthood chaplaincy. The Methodist Church's official position is in support of abortion.
Gosh, and I decided I couldn't be an Episcopalian because I was told the Bible was just a bunch of stories. I guess that if the Methodists are in support of abortion, then that must mean that they must believe that they are somehow doing God a service with abortion. Talk about "constructs".
Woody, I'm no longer Methodist, but I would encourage you to not lump "all" Methodists into this category. There are thousands of conservative United Methodists fighting from within the denomination to stop the slide into liberalism. They're just not the ones making the headlines. See my posts #14 and #19.
I'm on an email prayer list with several of my college classmates. About this time last year I "found" online a friend who had come out of the closet (I had known it for about 15 years, but had lost track of him). I shared that request to the prayer list and I got severely attacked (you think it gets hot here) by a UM Pastor who had come to realize that "God ordains some same sex relationships." That's one side - the wrong one. On the other side, I have classmates who are UM pastors who would be as conservative as anyone here on FreeRepublic, and who did not hesitate to tell me and this other guy that he was way out of line.
I'm not defending the UM Church, and I don't want to argue. Like I've said before, my wife and I couldn't find one where God was attending. All I'm saying is that this "pastor" doesn't represent all United Methodists.
Sorry, I don't mean to imply that all Methodist are pro-kill. Just like I don't believe that all Episcopalians believe the Bible is just a bunch of stories. However, there does come a time when you simply leave because the errors are just too much. The Bible teaches that the land is polluted because of such butchers.
I would rather stand alone on a island than stand with those who feel that butchering babies is somehow OK and become polluted by them.
Well, like I said, we haven't been "there" (UM Church) since the early 80s. Most of those that I know who are still there (with the obvious exception of the one I reference above) believe that there is still hope that they can bring the church to repentance. On a congregation by congregation basis, I do know some wonderful UM churches (none near us however).
He may be seriously considering that option.
Those whom are now considered the "enemies of civiization" and "evildoers" don't practice birth control and don't procure abortions but they do, in some cases, have multiple wives.
Very ironic that.
I would guess they are pro life I have never asked (I did enquire about starting a home bible study with them ..I may this summer).....
Let me tinker with your statement, just a bit:
Woody, I'm no longer Democrat, but I would encourage you to not lump "all" Democrats into this category. There are thousands of conservative Democrats fighting from within the party to stop the slide into liberalism. They're just not the ones making the headlines.
I could no more be a Democrat than I could be a United Methodist. Both groups are on the record as having official positions of immorality and both consider murder to be acceptable. I don't care how many "conservatives" are in either the Democratic Party or the United Methodist denomination, they need to come out and be separate from this evil.
Well, I guess you need to tell them that Jerry since I'm not one of them. See, in my response to Woody, I almost used the Republican party as an example.
I really can't speak for the UM Pastors I know. I do know their character, their values and their commitment to Christ. I can only assume that they, not entirely unlike what Luther's original intent was, are hoping to preach the truth and rid the church of corruption. But you'd have to ask them, not me.
Like I said, we left.
From the lead article: The Methodist Church's official position is in support of abortion.
I know that that if the official position of the Southern Baptist Convention was in support of abortion, that I would, at that moment, cease to be a Southern Baptist, and would do everything in my power to make sure that everyone knew that I had done so.
Why would the Methodist pastors you mentioned want to hang on to the title "United Methodist", when the official position of that group supports the murder of innocents?
By the time you condone murder, you are too far gone, and all the arranging of deck chairs is not going to stop the sinking.
"It's important to have someone (on staff) who can speak as a person of faith, speaking from her faith, for people of faith," Corsaro said. "And it's important to have a religious voice for choice."
One of the Ten Commandments that God laid down for us to follow is, "THOU SHALT NOT KILL." Surely God with all of his infinite wisdom, would have been able to let us know in some way, loud and clear, that the unborn was excluded. What pro-choicers are doing is looking for loopholes in the bible to countermand the word of God to justify the killing of the unborn and ease their conscience. Pro-choicers don't want to accept God's word -- Thou Shalt Not kill -- which means the killing of a human being i.e. the unborn. To accept it would mean that they have defied God's word and that they are a party to the killing of 40 million unborn babies.
Like I said Jerry, you'll have to ask them. I'm sure they think the position is wrong. But do you still call yourself an American even though the Supreme Court said a woman has a "right" to an abortion? We know that decision was wrong, but we're still here, working to correct that, even though the official position of our country says it's legal.
For different reasons your denomination has the Founders' Movement. Would you be there without it? Maybe you would. But, as I said, I can only assume that these folks believe that if they preach the truth from within then they have a greater chance of being heard, at least by the people, if not by the "leadership."
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