Group finds consensus on sexual health difficult but not impossible

Published: 2006-06-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- If you put representatives of 18 groups with widely different views on sexual health issues in the same room for a while, you might expect fisticuffs rather than a free exchange of ideas, angry rhetoric before reasoned discussion. Participants in the eight meetings over two years spoke from diverse perspectives, from the Catholic viewpoint to that of groups supporting legal abortion, such as Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women. But under the guidance of Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. surgeon general and interim president of Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, participants in the National Consensus Process on Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior built relationships over the past two years and ultimately found much on which to agree. The participants included a priest of the Chicago Archdiocese, Father Michael D. Place. He was president of the Catholic Health Association when Msgr. William P. Fay, then-general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, approached him about bringing a Catholic perspective to the work that Satcher was beginning. He could not speak in the name of the USCCB, under the conference's bylaws, but could serve at the request of the USCCB.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .