Simcha, it’s like you are invading my mind on a daily basis.  Are you?  I wrestle with this each and every day.  I don’t buy Starbucks because they worship same-sex marriage.  I try to avoid patronizing products donating to Susan G. Komen because they love PP.  There are many other places that support evil but aren’t necessarily marketing it like Starbucks, etc.  There are also home considerations…my wife doesn’t “get it” about most spiritual things (yes, I’m always praying for her conversion).  Domestic boycotts usually cause much upheaval in our home, so I save them for the worst offenders.  My constant battle is more with my spouse…what balance do I strike in my boycotts and in keeping peace at home.  It sucks, really.  :)

This is a tough one.  I feel as though if I avoid every store or product you mention my family will go hungry, naked and penniless.  We try to avoid buying things made in China (mostly because it’s so poorly made, but also for the reasons you mention) but there are some products for which EVERY brand is made in China.  So then what do you do?  There are some things you can’t go without and there are some things you can.  Making those choices is I suppose one reason God gave us intellect and the power the of the internet search engine.  ;)  I agree it isn’t always an easy call and you have to make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.  Thanks for giving us some food for thought.

I don’t boycott any specific thing.  I just generally try to be less consumerist, and buy less overall.
Although, Girl Scouts is something different entirely.  That’s not just an exchange of money, that’s handing over a child to an organization that clearly supports things I oppose. 
If I buy a box of cookies and some very small portion of that money goes toward abortion, well that sucks, but I’m not losing any sleep over it.  I can’t control where every penny I spend ends up.  And I don’t think God asks me to.
If I put my daughter in Girl Scouts and their ideology trickles down and affects my daughter, well that’s something to worry about.  And raising my children IS something that God has entrusted to me.

Simcha, thanks for bringing this up because I’m sure it’s on most Catholics’ minds.  I didn’t know about Target - but my Small Town doesn’t have one anyway.  I don’t buy Starbucks, and because I’m a breastfeeding advocate, I’ve sworn off Nestle.  Well, except if the products have already been purchased and not by me.  You know, most really tasty candy bars are Nestle. :( But *I* don’t buy them.  Does that count? 

And Girl Scouts… it breaks my heart as I was “bleeding green” through high school and college, but no, I don’t support Girl Scouts anymore.  More than the PP ties, they really have strayed from their values.

I talked to my priest about this issue - specifically, whether I had a moral obligation to inform peers about organizations that have PP ties of which they might be unaware.  He basically said no, because 1) it would be impossible to cut them out totally and 2) one’s INTENT is not to give money to PP but to buy computer software for one’s business or to cancer research, etc.  Still, I boycott eh bigger ones and try not to think about the smaller ones.

I refused to let my daughter join the Daisies (Girl Scout Kindergarten troop) and she still lets me hear about it 10 years later.  In retrospect, I probably should’ve let her do it while it was all crafts and games and singing.  They met in the parish cafeteria during school hours.    She’d have done it for one year and then that would’ve been over and done with - by first grade they met after school and I could have easily said no at that point without traumatizing her.     
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We generally don’t buy products made in China if we can help it.  We’ll pay more to buy items made elsewhere.  But Christmas presents like the Batcave or Nerf guns that my little boys really want, I just bite the bullet.  If I’m buying a religious gift (like a cross) for someone, I’ll generally find a fair trade item. 
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I’ve recently heard that Target is now supporting gay marriage.      I haven’t shopped there since but if I’m honest with myself I probably will.  My husband isn’t crazy about me shopping (for groceries) at Walmart, but I probably do it once a month.  I won’t support Unicef at Halloween.  I’m all over the place on this boycott stuff.

This was something I was troubled about for a while, now less so. I focus on companies that are vocal about their support for evil. Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s and now Target all have very public “we support evil” policies (as in you walk in the front door and are confronted by it). There are other groups, like Komen, that very publicly support PP and thus I refuse to support.

There is that feeling though that nearly every company supports these evils, so I do what I can with the more public ones given that it will be most obvious why these companies are suffering.

American Heritage Girls (www.ahgonline.org/) has the support of the Boy Scouts and is gaining speed as a girls’ scouting option. There’s finally a Catholic troup starting around here, and I can’t wait! (Because I couldn’t justify the GSA, but this is basically cub scouts for girls. Merit badges, patriotism, service, nature!)

Here’s an alternative to Girls Scouts in case someone is interested. It’s called American Heritage Girls and our daughter participated until logistics made it not possible:

http://www.ahgonline.org/

Very good program. What the GS was and should be.

We try to boycott the most blatantly culture of life organizations. I hope very much that Lowe’s doesn’t capitulate to anything, b/c it’s been tough not shopping at HOme Depot!

These sorts of things are why it would be better, in my opinion, to ban corporate giving of this sort.

If the head honchos of corporations want to donate as individuals to any group, more power to them, but let them do so in their own names instead of hiding behind their corporations and turning every purchase into a political act. That kind of introducing politics where it doesn’t belong has had a corrupting influence on the body politic not only because we’re all more or less forced to be remotely complicit in practices and causes we hate, but also because it constitutes “crony capitalism:” the collusion of business and government. Once a company gets big enough, it donates to politicians who will vote to block competition in the industry in the name of “regulation.” 

Let companies lower their prices and let each of us have more to give to the causes we care about. Free philanthropy!

@Rebecca:  AGREED.  Or, I don’t know if I can agree it should be banned, but I wish they would cut it out.

I have pledged to do my very best to boycott as much as I can. And Mr. Anon., my husband was very Catholic when I met him. Don’t know what the h*ll happened over the last four years, but now he thinks I’m a fundamentalist/radical and is falling away (please pray for him). He loves Starbucks. If he knew I was boycotting them, I’d never hear the end of it.

So far, in Canada, my list is: Starbucks, Planned Parenthood, Salvation Army Thrift Store (this one was a shock to me, but they do support PP; if, God forbid, Value Village or Goodwill supports them, too, I don’t know WHERE I’ll get affordable clothing!!!), Ben & Jerry’s.

Target is to be here next year, replacing our Zellers stores. I WAS thrilled to hear of that at first, but now that I know about their “pride” connection, I don’t think I’ll be buying from them. It sucks! I heard they have great deals.

Well, I guess I am in the minority around here regarding Girl Scouts.  Not only do I allow both my girls to be in girl scouts, but I am a troop leader as well.  Our state specifically states that they do not have any relationship with planned parenthood - I have found no evidence to the contrary (and I do keep an eye out!)  I’m not really much for boycotts, either.  I don’t boycott starbucks (but live 3 hours from the closest one), I don’t boycott target (also 3 hours).  I stopped shopping at JCPenney when they stopped having sales/changed their marketing campaign - but mostly because the new one annoys me. 
Back to Girl Scouts - our small town troop is probably close to 50% Catholic - but most of those girls are from families who hardly show up for church.  As a leader, I can keep an eye on what they are doing, and I can remind them about CCD classes if they have been missing (a good opportunity to nag!)  I really am not a fan of the Girl Scout Journeys book program.  I have found some not so great stuff in some of them, but I’ve also heard that they have changed a few objectionable things in them as well.  I love the Girls Guide to Girl Scouting, which reminds me of how we earned badges when I was a brownie (for one year).  My girls have learned great stuff at their meetings - and they learn how to deal with other girls’ behavior (we homeschool).

Simcha- Thanks for the link!  (insert fan girl/blogger blush here)

I ran across this post http://theorthodoxlife.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/why-wal-mart-is-too-expensive/

(I haven’t clicked on the ‘pro-Orthodox’ posts- but this specific one was good, I think) and I think part of the solution is to BUY LESS, BUY USED, and trade with friends (don’t borrow stuff if you have more than 1 kid to destroy said borrowed item)

@Rebecca Teti - I had that exact thought the other day when I heard about Target.  I started to wonder how much money supporting causes actually brings in, if any?  Why not give the money they spend on all the causes back to the consumer in the form of lower prices?  I was thinking that could be an advertising gimmick all on its own.  Target, for instance, gives our parish school a couple of thousand dollars a year thanks to the credit card program.  Well, I don’t need that encouragment to use my Target charge - the 5% off regular prices does that for me.

Whose logo is it on the coupon? Macy’s? Then render unto Macy’s what is Macy’s….

A little informal cooperation with Evil in this life is probably unavoidable. That doesn’t mean you have to like it.

We just recently started an attempt at avoiding purchasing Made in China products.  It is not easy.  We have a baby, soon to be a toddler, and finding sippy cups, for example, that are a) not made in China and b) he will use is practically impossible. 

On the other hand, avoiding Made in China has cut down on my impulse spending.  If I come across a nifty kitchen gadget, say, that I don’t really need but would like, and it’s Made in China, I have to pass it up, especially if my kids are watching.

Toys are hard.  The kids like to play with big bouncy balls, and those are…yep, made in China.  Plastic water guns.  Most baby toys.  The good thing about having a large(ish) family is we still have so many toys to pass down that I doubt the baby will be getting any new toys any time soon.

One strategy I’ve employed is to look for secondhand goods.  Even if they were originally made in China, your money is going to the thrift store or the person who consigned it, not China. 

We used to frequent Starbucks; there’s one in our grocery store and it was just so convenient and fun to get the kids a snack before shopping.  But now we don’t go there any more, and the kids understand. I do miss my Ben and Jerry’s, though.

If you buy everything at thrift stores, it’s all moot!
No, I know, you can’t buy milk or quarter pounders or a few other things at thrift stores, and I wouldn’t buy, say, an I Support Planned Parenthood T-shirt even there—but it does simplify things a little.
Actually, we just heard there’s some question as to whether Salvation Army supports PP, so never mind.

The problem is that in all of this we are denied our freedom of conscience if we don’t pay attention to corporate giving patterns, and denied access to necessary items at reasonable prices if we try to follow our consciences.  Even if your local G.S. group is independent from the national organization, when you buy the cookies from the national organization, you support Planned Parenthood.  Target is 3 blocks from my house, but don’t go there.  I never go to Starbucks, but bought a lemonade yesterday at Barnes and Noble, and it was Starbucks.  AAAAArgh.  I was just killing time while the ancient minivan was being repaired, and I gave money to the devil.  It does seem that the answer is to be able to designate our own charitable givng.  Maybe we could ask for the Freedom of Cnscience discount, we pay less so we don’t violate our beliefs!

I think it is less important to attempt the collosal task of boycotting our big fat American consumerist society and more important to actually live pro-life.

I love Starbucks and I love AC Moore and Barnes and Nobles, too. Do they have pro-choice agendas? Um…maybe, but a doctor who performs abortions would have a lot more, so I won’t go to an OB/GYN who okays and participates in such things and I will feed homeless pregnant women at my local shelter and teach young people to read (all of which I do pretty frequently). Those all have far more reaching results than avoiding Girl Scouts does. However, Girl Scouts has steered many girls from feeling corned into situations where they seek their self-esteem through sex, which we all know is the reason abortions occur in the first place. GS encourages education and responsibility. (Please, no Hitler Youth comparisons, unimaginative commenters. At least, try something other than communist and/or fascist analogies when arguing fruitlessly with me. I don’t care). I know of several women who went to college and chose to better themselves, because they were taught responsibility and given a hefty does of self-esteem through the efforts of their Girl Scouts leadership. I know a lot of girls who just go there because their mommies think they need another school night activity, too. I was a terrible Girl Scout, so I haven’t even bothered to get my little one involved, but I think to boycott them is silly and only makes Catholics look even weirder than we already do, with our love for suffering and constant tradtional vs. Vatican II infighting.

Action always yields more than loud inaction, which is what boycotting really is anyway. There are more important/tragic/wonderful/things going on in the world right now besides boycotting Girl Scouts and their cookies.

For me it comes down to two things: Gravity and Blatantness (if that is a word). Gravity refers to how horrible the subject is. For example, abortion tops pornography. So, generally speaking, it has to be a grave subject for me to try to rearrange things around it. Blatantness refers to how direct, obvious and in-your-face it is. For example, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc. all have pornography phone lines, but they aren’t advocating them to me. Starbucks, on the other hand, is vocally supporting gay “marriage.” It is one thing for a company to decide to send some of its profits somewhere. It is another thing for them to throw the weight of their name directly and publicly behind something. I avoid Home Depot for its public support of gay “marriage” but I don’t look up every offensive “cause” every company donates to.

I wish I lived in a little Catholic utopia where I didn’t have to worry about all this stuff, but until the Second Coming, I just do my best given the limitations of my situation.

@Karen, that’s a great strategy but be super careful about buying secondhand toys. There are tons of toys in secondhand stores that have been recalled due to dangerous materials, choking hazard small parts, things that break or short out (especially for electronic toys) etc. Unfortunately, no thrift store worker is going to sift through donations and only sell the non-recalled ones.

I used to sell items on eBay for a living and toys were my worst nightmare. About every third listing of mine got flagged for removal because of some toy recall.

Most recalls are over blown (ie, tell your kids not to chew off small parts and you’ll be okay) but it’s still something to be aware of. Best of luck with the boycott!

We’re not talking about just supporting the Girl Scouts.  We’re talking about actual indoctrination.  As a mom, I just wouldn’t want my girls exposed to the propaganda and outright unacceptable activities being presented in SOME geographical areas and troops.

Our boycott list got quite long, and some items I don’t buy but don’t remember why!  I have found that in my parish, there are lots of small business owners that provide some of the things we were missing out on. Case in point- I HATE plastic (it has it’s uses, usually in hospitals), Pepsico had some issues, and Coke’s prices went up again.  In my little corner grocery store (owned by parishioner)I found and amazing root beer, it had our hometown on it, so I asked another parishioner (who’s name was the same as brand of said root beer) about it, and yep, it’s a family business. I worked for a JW for a while, and they never had this issue in her congregation.  When I asked her why, she said they ALWAYS shop in-house. Only if there is no provider in the area do they shop out of house.  They do this with everything, and I think there is something to be said for that. So not only do we try to shop local, but we try to support local Catholic businesspeople. And if there aren’t any, we just work on converting the other local business people! :)

The Legionaries Have been embattled from the start ,suffering blows mainly from,I believe,from their orthodoxy ,and insistance on a proper formation, which unfortunately,many good Catholics still,reject.It should come as no surprise that some of ours on the front line should fall from the shear amount of artilliary and ill will shown them even from those who we respect and support . We are after all,in the battle of our lives and our souls.A hearty thanks To those who stayed and didn’t abandon the sheep,despite anguished suffering for their fallen.My daughter will attend a Regnum Christi camp,run by the most edifying women you could wish to meet.

I don’t feel strongly about boycotts, but I will not let my girls join the Scouts. I hate that because I loved the Scouts when I was a kid, but while I may inadvertently support PP through purchases, I won’t support them with my children. I do not like the feminist element that has taken over the Girl Scouts. It is not empowering or joyful or fun.

After thought- I would submit that GSA was founded on an act of rebellion by a girl miffed because she couldn’t have what the boys have.  Regardless of right/wrong/indifferent, I can’t help but wonder if that rebellion isn’t somehow core to the program on some level.

Thank you thank you thank you!  Lately I have been thinking that the only way to be ethically sound is to buy a Catholic llama and spin my own wool or something…yeah.
I have tried to lessen my dependence on Starbucks for my caffeine fix.  So far, so good…this is an example of something that has been good for my financial health as well as ethical things.  I can make very good coffee cheaply at home.
Pepsi has reportedly backed away from Senomyx, and with Target I think it is worth consideration that they were essentially pestered into it because they once made a donation to a pro-family group, they have pledged a limited amount, and it is only a specific clothing line that one can avoid buying.  JCPenney and Starbucks are a different animal.  I recently bought about $100 in clothes there before becoming aware of all this.  I could pretend that I haven’t worn them (more than once!) and take them back, but that’s deceptive and frankly a little nutty.
I am not going to go insane and beat myself up if one time I just cannot fight off the craving for a tall nonfat cinnamon dolce.  Maybe there can be an “espresso fund” where I have to donate an equal amount to a pro-life organization or something.  That’s another thing to consider: let’s say someone gives me a gift card to Kohl’s, which I now know supports the Komen organization (true story).  That money is gone.  Suppose I use the card to buy clothes for a crisis pregnancy center?  I am thinking about doing that.

Simcha, I don’t know if anyone has asked this, but why wouldn’t you send your children to a Legionaries of Christ camp (supposing there was one)? Is it just because of the abuse scandals, or are there other contributing factors? I only ask because I know a man who used to be a seminarian with them, and a friend who was a lay missionary with Regnum Christi, and I know that they denounce the abuse as vehemently as all Catholics do (or should) with the diocesan scandals. I don’t ask to cause discord, I’m only curious.

This is so hard, and a daily struggle for me at times.  I do feel a small sense of relief now that we have so much less money; I know that in some part the decisions are “survival” level, and so buying at the Dollar Store—rye bread AND cheap coloring books!—becomes less of a moral burden.
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My decision-making nexus has a lot to do with primarily avoiding direct harm & hardship to living beings. People are more important than animals of course so I first try to make my money go where I can be assured people aren’t being exploited. So, despite being poorer I still try my darndest to go fairtrade on the things that seem the most obvious and which we consume the most (coffee and chocolate).  I buy second-hand clothes wherever possible not only because they are less expensive but because I know I am not cooperating in the process of exploitation, if any, that went into making them. Shoes—that is almost a complete wash.  I have basically given up on the shoe thing for now, until I am able to construct my own, cruelty-free shoes out of scraps from other trash around the house, I don’t know what else to do but pray for the people in the countries where they are made. 
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On the next moral tier, I think more about stewardship than I do about politics—the way animals are treated, for example, and corporate policies that lead to pollution, rather than Planned parenthood. etc.  I try to avoid them but they are so ubiquitous and, as someone pointed out, my intention is to buy cheap bread and towels all at the same place (Target), not support PP. I am not a gay-marriage boycotter. To me, that is somethign entirely different from abortion supporters.
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If I have to choose I go for advancing or preserving my family’s well-being in the ways that I can think of.  This summer I cannot think of any other realistic way to handle the summer without buying a bunch of toys and workbooks from the Dollar Store.  If I could think of a way, and could carry it out physically and financially, I would do it.  But right now that is all I got.
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Finally, it is never far from my mind how *privileged* I am to be able to make these decisions deliberately.  I *can* buy coffee and chocolate.  I call myself poor but then again I find it in my budget to buy pre-packaged cereals (once a week!) and store bread.  I don’t make everything from scratch.  I throw things away.  I get to choose to buy the organic apples instead of the regular, trying to minutely decrease the pesticides we take in.
Spending money is a morally-charged decision, certainly.
But also, everything above subsistence living is a tremendous privilege, I think, and each time is an opportunity for expressing gratitude. Maybe if I remembered to think about it like that the anguish over each dollar would lessen.

In regard to the restaurant owner, the other principle I operate by is “You can’t know what you can’t know.”  Speculating about everything is a waste of worry.

it is so simple! Our Lord warned us that we would be persecuted, mocked, attacked for following Him, but in the end, the reward will be immensily greater than the sacrifice. And He is not asking us to die on the cross!  But if we are prudent, cowards and ashamed of Crhist He will do the same on our judgment day. Stop the excuses and do what you know you must do: oppose,denounce and boycot those who direclty or indirectly promote evil, as soon as you know it, the only way that will change is if we speake up. But dont try to do it only using your own strength, you need to constantly pray to the Holy Spirit to get the courage, and He will give it to you.

@enness, I agree with that principle.  It is also part of why I wouldn’t really get on the “boycott companies who are nice to gays” bandwagon. 

I meant to say that indoctrination is the main reason I make choices about what to support, do and join with the family.  I weigh that first and foremost.

Thin Mints are overrated…until you refrigerate them for just the right amount of time. Not room temperature, but not too cold, either.

At the right temperature, they are simply irresistible. A sane person could eat an entire box at a sitting. You can’t eat just one. I can’t eat just five.

(NOTE TO SELF: I wonder if one of those fancy wine-storage refrigerators might keep them perpetually at the correct temperature? Something to try next time I’m in the home of someone who has one. I’m sure they won’t mind the juxtaposition.)

I will say, though, that if one wants to boycott the Girl Scouts, those “Grasshoppers” are a decent enough substitute.

@Christina:  I know that most of the members of LC and RC are victims, not abuser, and I feel horrible for them.  But I believe that the entire structure of the formation was purposely designed to facilitate abuse, and I don’t believe that any reform will help, but that they just have to be disbanded entirely, earth salted, etc.  So I wouldn’t send my kids there because (a) I wouldn’t want to subject them to a disfunctional type of formation and(b) because I wouldn’t want any part in keeping RC or LC going.

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@Danielle:  Well, there’s nothing wrong with rebelling against something unjust!  If boys got to have fun being outdoors, learning skills and confidence, and girls didn’t have that, then good for GS for righting a wrong. (Whether that’s what they offer NOW is a different issue.)

I will not support any girls’ group that makes God optional in their promise.  I started a Little Flowers group in our parish because I do want my girls to be involved in some kind of group and it has been wonderful not just for them, but for all moms involved as well.

I think you nailed it when you said “If it smells bad enough, we back away..”  I would second that. I would also agree about affirming good actions instead of being a person filled with negations.  I remember wondering why some of the more activist minded pro-lifers were willing to spend hours on a sidewalk in front of an abortion mill, but didn’t go to mass more.  When my confessor told me “activism” can become like “Peter cutting off the high servant’s ear”, this really helped me keep things in perspective.
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As for purchasing in general, one of the most LIBERATING events of my life was a sudden drop in cash flow.  My kids weren’t terrible consumers before, but it seemed like I was doling out cash for a thousand little wants and needs every week.  Eventually they got the picture and simply stopped asking.  What relief!  I think it broke the habit.  Nothing brings home the truth of how stuff can own you, more than having to pack it in boxes when you move.
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We rented a storage place for a lot of our furniture, and endless boxes of STUFF.  I finally realized how I’d had a problem with buying beautiful bedding, when I had to face all the boxes.  Ha! I was trying to make my life cozier!!
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So I just got rid of nearly everything.  It feels GREAT. Light as a feather.  “Creating needs” is a subtle temptation.
I started bartering kids clothing at a nice little resale boutique.  My daughter found a store of *beautiful* high quality and couture resale clothes, YAY. I find all the boys’ surf brands at Ross. What feels good is looking in my wallet and seeing I haven’t spent the discretionary cash at the end of the week. 
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How many things on the forbidden lists do we actually NEED?  Strip malls are kind of horrifying. Fewer purchases, a discriminating eye for quality, and less processed foods are more wholesome anyhow.

To the lady boycotting Nestle because of breastfeeding. I dried up through no fault of my own and I had no choice but to buy formula. Someone had to make something that fed my preemie baby with the hormonally messed up, dry mom. Glad you have no a good go of it but not all of us do.

The Legion and Ragnum Christie have employed cult tactics even before the truth came out. So no I would never let my kids go to anything they did.

The troop moms are the ones who sets the tone for the troop. Our regional council is very good and they do not give one dime to PP. If they did we would pull out. Ours is a all Catholic group.

@Maggie, no worries, since we have all boys, the baby has more than enough toys to see him through until he’s at the “Just buy me video games and DVDs” stage. No toy shopping here.

I always try to look at the big picture down the line. Recently with Target they sort of came out of the closet. They are adamant about their new stance so I am adamant about not going to the store. Same with Starbucks, when you do something that will potentially alienate others that don’t see things the way you do or a percentage of their consumers see, you just pushed people away. also American Apparel, yeah they make clothes here in the U.S without sweatshop quality but they fly Gay Pride pretty loudly, so honestly I don’t care if they make clothes in LA. If a business that huge or even local takes a dividing stance with anything the CC doesn’t approve of, I try to do my best tp avoid the company.

For instance I love Whole Foods, Organic food, with good contributions to local farmers and sustainability, is awesome. They just champion the values that make the business, if they suddenly supported IVF I would consider not going to by form them. Especially if they champion “all natural” food. “Hey fellow whole food employees lets champion artificial hormones being inside a Woman even though we buy hormone free chicken”.yeah that’s real consistent of you

Oh, and thanks for giving me another reason to dump my AOL account. My kids mock me because it isn’t cool,(that wasn’t a good enough reason to fight my lethargy) but ever since Huffington bought it, I’ve had to literally fight the urge (not very well) not to read a you-know-what-load of sleazy articles.  It’s like having the National Enquirer open up every time I want to read my email. Why am I NOT surprised they donate to PP?

@Anne:  the problem isn’t that Nestle makes formula—it’s that they promote it and give it away in third world countries in such as way as to give poor, uneducated women the impression that it’s better than breastmilk.  Then mom’s milk dries up, but the formula is no longer free.  Or the water they mix it with is contaminated, or they try to stretch it by watering it down. 

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If I had a preemie who needed formula and Nestle made the best one for my baby, I would buy it!  The idea of the boycott is to pressure Nestle into more ethical business practices.

The Catholic Church’s moral guide for this matter is using the Principle of Cooperation (http://www.ascensionhealth.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82:principles-of-formal-and-material-cooperation&Itemid=171). I think if you are made aware of an organization participation or support that is evil, you should find other alternatives or help change that organizations if possible. I no longer drink Pepsi products because they use embryo substances in their products (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2012/01/oklahoma-lawmaker-fetus-food-bill-lampooned.html). I no longer support Susan G. Komen because of their strong and obvious support for Planned Parenthood. There are other other organization that supports breast cancer research that is morally in-line with Catholic teachings that I can support. But, I just recommended the Principle of Cooperation to be guide to help you in these type of decision making.

Amazon is the one I avoid.  I have no idea what organizations/issues they may or may not support as a corporation, but I’ve learned enough about their business practices (I won’t call them “ethics”) to know I don’t want to support that culture. 
I try to shop my local bookstores as much as I can, and when money is tight christianbook.com has prices similar to Amazon’s.  My dream would be to be wealthy enough to spend all my money at local stores and always pay full price, but I’m not yet there.  But I do what little I can.

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with rebelling against something unjust!  If boys got to have fun being outdoors, learning skills and confidence, and girls didn’t have that, then good for GS for righting a wrong. (Whether that’s what they offer NOW is a different issue.)”

It was more in the “how” than the “why”- the girls made up uniforms and stormed the BSA Jamboree.  I think “no girls” in boys scouts is just, but I also think girls should have something, for girls. But it gets in to that whole complimentary thing. They could have accomplished their goal with respect and class, setting themselves up separately and complimentarily (is that a word?), instead of acting like hooligans- which is where the seed of rebellion seems to part of the program, from inception to today.

Simcha, you made excellent points in your article. Many in my community have grappled with this issue and it’s a hard one. It would be nice if everything was cut and dry, but as it is not, we have to make choices based on our own needs and convictions. I do wish that retail corporations would stop being political and just sell merchandise.

I was a little shocked about your comment about the Legionaries of Christ. They admittedly have had some major issues within the higher ranks of the order and were in need of some reform, but they are a legitimate order approved by the Vatican with very faithful and holy priests who have had excellent formation. The priests in that order have given God their very lives to work in His service to spread the Gospel. (I am not affiliated with the Legionaries or Regnum Christi.)

I hardly ever disagree with Simcha, but here I’ve got to say I can’t deal with ordinary shopping becoming a political exercise. I know there are plenty of folks ready to say “But it’s political already!! You’re just not empowered!” or my conscience hasn’t been formed as a consumer. But as long as it doesn’t have a pink ribbon on it, I just can’t sweat it. I HATE shopping already, drink monastery coffee ‘cause it’s great, and find it really hard not to feel resentment when the boycott crowd wants to complicate my life further. It’s not a moral obligation. Making shopping more complicated, more time-consuming, or more expensive is NOT going to support my vocation in any way.

Dear Simcha,

Brilliant and thinkful (as Evelyn Waugh might have said, but didn’t).  Thank you so much.

Simcha, I love your writing, but this thread has gone off in a direction that doesn’t reflect my real concerns about the Girl Scouts. 

I would boycott a company only if I had time (LOTS of time) to ferret out all the potential problems:  stem cells, PP support, homosexual support, etc.).  However, I would keep my child out of Girl Scouts because of the potential harm to her—which is of much greater significance.  I am opposed to some items on their curriculum (the “Healthy, Happy and Hot” brochure, the Journeys-level play “Simply Maria”, and more) and their political agenda (support for abortion, oral sex, and homosexual relationships, for example).

And don’t forget:  You have choices!  American Heritage Girls and Little Flowers Clubs stand in the gap, ready to give a girl a truly wholesome experience.  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/kathyschiffer/2011/03/life-without-do-si-dos-it’s-time-to-say-goodbye-to-the-girl-scouts/

This RC member dosn’t exactly feel like a victim.I feel more like “something strange is happening to me”.,per St. Paul. Does anyone remember what the sons of Noah did When they happened upon their inebriated Father ?

Give “Thin Mints” a chance! Try putting them in the freezer (they’re much better cold).

All the way with you on the Catholic consumer smarts.

God bless.

I am boycotting girlscout cookies.

AUGH, the daughters thing! As if dealing with cattiness and competitive mothering weren’t enough (mercifully, there isn’t much in this thread).
We do AHG instead of GSA for most of the reasons mentioned above already. For those who do GSA—I can respect you as individuals making the choice and being vigilant about what comes into your troop. I’ve heard really bad things about the cookie sales—quotas that must be met, how much per box the troop gets to keep and how much goes to the national organization, for examples. That just adds nails to the coffin for me.

As far as our own family economics and putting our money where our mouth is, we still have to dress our daughters. I’ve heard Lands End supports various controversial causes but they’re the only ones I’ve found with decent, affordable dresses in sizes above 6X. It’s almost a hostage experience going shopping and that’s even with a daughter who agrees with her mother!

I’m just too tired trying to take care of the basic needs of four, soon to be five, kids under seven to worry about the politics of shopping. I go to Target because it is convenient, nearby, and I can get all I need in one stop. Until I read this thread I had no idea about what they might support and even now I can’t bring myself to care. Next time I need diapers, I’m still going to go buy Target brand diapers and toilet paper and paper towels and whatever else happens to be on my list. Engaging in boycotts is a luxury I can’t afford. I don’t have the emotional capital to invest. Moreover, I’m just not convinced that boycotting megacorporations like Nestle has any effect on them at all. Far from sending a message, I suspect the giant doesn’t even miss the few dollars that aren’t trickling in.

I loved being a Girl Scout, and I would have my future kids participate… if the local troop is solid, of course.  My troop was all about service and adventure, and we didn’t get any propaganda.  We cleaned up beaches, made crafts for residents of nursing homes, sailed an old schooner around Puget Sound, visited the Galapagos Islands, learned how start a fire with flint and steel and how to tie knots… it would have been sad if my mom had kept me away from all that just because of the national leadership.

We struggle with this so much. It’s hard to know what to do—though I must admit that our house has less junk since we started trying to avoid things made in China.

It’s important to remember that if you do decide to boycott a product or a company, it is much more effective if you let them know WHY.  A polite but firm letter is effective.  If enough people write and say, “Guess, what? We’re not buying your products and here’s why,” CEOs will notice.

Another thing we can do is try to mitigate whatever evil we can’t avoid.  If your child needs Nestle formula, you could donate to a group that works for mother and child health in the third world.  If your shoes are made in China, you could donate to an orphanage there.  My OBGYN literally saved my life. I’m pretty sure he prescribes birth control to others, so I pray for his soul and donate to the local pro-life group. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think simply not doing harm is not enough. We’ve got to actually, actively try do some good as well.

Ankaras, There is a huge difference between drunk Noah, and Fr. Maciel who systematically abused others sexually.  Those poor people had to violate their consciences by promising not to reveal the crimes of their superiors.

After some thought I realized how much of a non issue this really is for my family. Maybe I’m wrong, but other than the truly blatant offenders I really don’t think God wants us to worry about things like this too much. In the big picture yes, but my “little picture” is my first concern. What I have started to worry more about is trying to keep as many pesticides, chemicals and processed food away from my kids.  I’m actually doing a pretty lousy job of this…:( *I know*—same principle of trying not to worry too much, but I think we as Americans have been far too trusting.  Some of the information coming out is incredibly damning. I used to put my head in the sand because I just couldn’t deal with it.  What has helped me alleviate my conscience are a few simple things: Cooking with filtered water, *trying* to only buy organic when it comes to the “dirty dozen”(the fruits and vegetables that they use the most pesticides on) buying organic milk and eggs—(as much as 3x more nutritional value) and trying to buy organic meats on sale (that’s the tough one) Grass fed beef is incredibly superior in nutritional value. It’s depressing.  I can’t afford perfect food either.  When you think about it, a generation ago, *everybody* was eating organic food.  Diabetes, cancer and obesity have skyrocketed.  While the soul takes precedence over the body, what we expose our children’s bodies to IS an important pro-life, pro-family issue, that I think is worthy of worrying a bit more over than those repugnant PP donations.

It is heartening to read how other people are trying to influence the culture by buying locally and/or boycotting corporations seeking to undermine traditional Catholic values.  In our family, we go for the big ones, and that currently includes JCP and Target.  I am reminded of a quote that went something along the lines of “the pro-life cause will succeed to the extent that pro-life people are willing to be inconvenienced”.  It is important to talk with (or without) our dollars and to communicate to the offending corporations.  I would also like to add re: the Girl Scouts a link to a thoughtful article written a year ago by Aux. Bishop James Conley of Denver (www.archden.org).  Also, as a Regnum Christi member, I take offense at the broad stroke painted of the Legionaries and RC and encourage you to consider, as my diocesan pastor does, the fruit of the Movement, rather than the grievous sins of the founder and some members.

For anyone who still doesn’t get why Legionaries and Regnum Christi are a cult and destroy faith and peoples lives, please go here and read:

http://www.life-after-rc.com/

No real formation and they steal people’s kids from their families. They use them up and spit them out. They lie - repeatedly.  That’s not Catholicism. 
They cannot be trusted.  Read the stories from the girls they booted:

http://49weeks.blogspot.com/

Hi Simcha,

First, thank you for the article.  It does get overwhelming at times.  After the two hits from Target, then JC Penney, I mentioned to a friend “Well, you can teach me how to sew my own clothes, I can teach how to cook and preserve, now we only need someone to teach how to grow our own food”.  It feels as though I can’t go anywhere without supporting evil somehow.

With regard to the Legionaries, though, I am a lay member of Regnum Christi.  And I am a Catholic.  When I read what you said, it felt to me, just like hearing a Protestant say “I would never send my kid to a Catholic summer camp because of the Priest Scandal”.  Yes, there have been scandals within the Legionaries and Regnum Christi, but they are an approved movement.  The Holy Father has said we have a valid charism.  Obvoiusly, it’s fine if you don’t want to be a part of the organization, but the comment you made was, I think a bit out of line.

Little Flowers Girls Clubs - long, long before AHG was this.  We saw some of problems w/ GS 20 years ago and it has only gotten worse.  Our little motto:  Growing holy one virtue at a time!
-
Yes, shameless self promotion but here I go.
-
Absolutely Catholic, affordable to all, easy to begin and keep on going, and going and going.  If you are looking for a program you can do at home, with friends, at your homeschool group, at your parish, at your school, consider checking us out - www.eccehomopress.com

To Hey Lady, All of the same types of comments come also from ex-Catholics.

Must discuss GSA program with Older Daughter - She has home-schooled her five, with oldest now in twenties (four girls, one boy) and has always tagged me about GS cookies.
She and her husband have been a teaching couple for NFP for more than twenty years.  IMHO, she and her husband are living our faith by actions, by supporting the poor and in their training of their children.  So I feel conflicted in reducing or stopping orders of future GS cookies.
A more pressing problem for me is buying pants - “Dockers for Men” fit me nicely, don’t wear out unduly, and are sold by Levi Strauss (home office in San Francisco) which has supported Gay causes for decades.  I think the pants are made in Mexico; but would it matter if they were made in China?
Must discuss with BW - as well as Older Daughter.  Both have practical approaches to Faith.
TeaPot562

Simcha, the way to avoid possibly supporting those that support abortion, same sex marriage and human trafficking (nestle) is to start cooking your own food again. Grow your own food, bake your own cookies. Go to Farmer’s Markets. It has taken awhile but, I am there. I have been “boycotting” girl scout cookies for over 7 years. I tell the girls and their parents why. There are places where you can buy clothing that remain neutral in the same sex marriage battle and they are reasonably priced. LL Bean comes to mind. You don’t have to suffer and you will probably wind up eating better. Lest you think that I am a stay at home mom or retiree, I am an RN, married and I work every day. My crock pot is my best friend. If we with hold our money, maybe, corporations would get the message.

I can’t say enough good things about the Little Flowers Girls Club program!  It is so beautiful, wholly Catholic, fun, flexible, and easy-peasy to start up and run!
Also, as I write this, the dads who run our formerly vibrant ConQuest Boy’s Club are meeting to plan next year, including withdrawing from the national network and striking out independently away from the LC/RC affiliation.  Sad, but a timely and appropriate decision, I’m afraid.

I don’t have girls old enough for scouts, but I don’t think we’ll participate in the future if there aren’t drastic changes.  I think for most of this stuff you have to go with your concsience.  I’m not prone to scruples so when I get that sick feeling as I contemplate purchasing a statue of the blessed Virgin from my parish gift shop that is made in China I know I have to listen to it.

I don’t have girls, so no direct worries about the Girl Scouts, but it bugs me that they set up their cookie stands at the entrance of every frakkin’ grocery store in my town, so I have to run the gauntlet of these girls who are being prodded from behind by the trooper leader/mothers to parrot “Would you like to buy some cookies?” 

I guess it’s marginally better than being made to stand at intersections dressed in a cookie costume. They’re starting to do that here, too.  My husband said, “Oh, great, they’re teaching them how to hawk their wares on the street corner, just like hookers.”

This is my definiton of cognitive dissonance: Parents who point their finger at Girls Scouts for misleading/damaging girls and then that same fingerpointer sends their daughter to a Regnum Christi summer mission program.

The arrogance is too much to take sometimes.

At one point in my life boycott the ENTIRE alcohol industry for years because I saw how many lives it destroyed.  I felt very passionately about it. Yet I never felt that everyone should be doing what I was doing.  Today I accept good wherever I find it (even in the girl scouts) because in my previous life I worked so hard to avoid evil that I did not actually live in the world and I missed out on a lot of good.  The truth is if we avoided all the institutions that supported evil we would be out of the Catholic Church.

In line with what Majella wrote, the problems with GSA are at the national leadership level, not the individual troops, and cookie sales are all about funding the national. Here’s what I say to girl scouts selling cookies: “I don’t want any cookies but I’d love to give $10 for your troop.” Cuts out the “PP sex ed is so cutting edge”-middlewomen.

Simcha, I think that you are fabulous and I thoroughly enjoy reading all of your posts.  However, I’m sure that you are aware that you are employed by a newspaper that up until very recently was run by the Legionaries of Christ and is probably still staffed by many LC priests (please correct me if I’m wrong.)  I am a former RC member and left after the Fr. Maciel scandal because of my feelings of distrust for the LC hierarchy. However, I used to teach at an RC school, sent my daughter to a K4J camp, participated in a Christian Life group in college and a Familia group as a new mother and all of these RC/LC apostolates were highly beneficial to my Catholic spiritual formation. I have some major issues with the Legion of Christ, as well, but I think that it is imprudent to write off all of the RC/LC programs as cult-like.

I recently wrote a blog post on the very same thing! My family isn’t as large as your but we are still on a very tight budget. My mom works for the church and doesn’t make a lot of money. My sister and I don’t make a lot hence why we still live at home and all three of us have a lot of debt we are trying to bail ourselves out of. We use coupons to save money on groceries and whatever is on sale we buy. I can’t spend time overanalyzing every company and every purchase I make. I will just drive myself crazy.

The way I have tried to look at it is yes these companies are doing “bad” things by sending support to PP but many of them are doing GOOD things. They are helping children get a better education, feeding the hungry, etc. In the next few weeks I really want to go talk to a priest about this and ask him what he thinks. I really think a priest would think you were nuts if you went to confession and said “Father I have sinned, I bought Chef Boyardee.”

Look, I’ve heard this argument before:  that if you’re going to say the Legionaries of Christ is no good because it keeps on turning up bad apples, then you might as well say that the Church is no good, because look at all the sinners! Well, I argue that you can tell the Catholic Church is the one true church because of(among other reasons) the diversity of the disfunction in its members. It’s not as if all Catholics tend to fall into a particular kind of sin. You name it, we do it (of course this varies according to era, but in general, we’re very open minded when it comes to trespassing, because the structure of the Church’s teaching is very open!).

.

BUT, the fact that the Legionaires tend to keep on being guilty of one particular sort of sin—a type of sin which Maciel clearly had in mind as the thing to hide when he designed the structure of the movement—means that something is wrong, structurally, fundamentally.  These sins come not from a divergence from the core mission of the LC but as a direct result of the very structure of it. As long as that structure is in place (and it can’t be changed without changing the entire character of LC, I’m thinking), more predators will continue to find it very handy. 

.

I’m astonished that anyone would use the “by its fruits shall you know it” argument in FAVOR of L of C.  Yes, many holy priests and laypeople have been associated with L of C and RC.  And many, many, many wounded, damaged, ravaged people have been associated with L of C and RC, and I believe we’re only now starting to see the first true fruits.  There will be more.  I have heard stories that keep me up at night—things that have happened to children, which - of course - they’ve been threatened with hellfire if they tell anyone about.  If I were a member, I would have run away screaming.  I would change my name, burn off my fingerprints, do anything to distance myself from an organization which allowed such things to go on. 

.

Why hasn’t the Pope shut them down?  I don’t know.  Maybe he’s trying to contain them—maybe it makes more sense to keep this generation right where he knows what they’re doing and where he can find them.  When so many young men have gone through such disfunctional formation, it makes sense to keep them close, not dispersed. 

.

Again, I repeat that I consider most of those involved with L of C to be victims and not predators.  But I consider the name and the charism to be irremediably tainted, and when I hear that someone still wants to stay, still has fond memories, even after knowing what really happened—that just screams “cult” even louder.

I guess there’s still some ambiguity, but for the record I have heard that Pepsi has renounced the use of aborted cells in their research: http://www.cogforlife.org/2012/04/30/an-end-to-the-pepsi-boycott/

I don’t know the details of the Target gay pride controversy, but it seems to me that that is not on the moral order of supporting Planned Parenthood.  Supporting Planned Parenthood is directly supporting murder.  Yes, gay marriage is an evil, and it’s harmful to people and to society, but I don’t believe it’s such a direct and blatantly evil offense to human life and rights as abortion is.

Simcha, After I returned to the church a number of years ago,it was extreamly difficult to find any group or apostolate that was in lock step with church teaching on anything let alone the whole teaching on sexual morality .LC and RC were the only thing many of us could find,where eyes wouldn’ glaze over if you even mentioned that the churches teaching about artificial contraception might be right.At the parish level this is still the case. We must do Whatever the Holy Father wishes in these matters as we were always at his disposal, and remain so now.That is hardly cult behavior.By the way ,I have 2 Girl Scouts in the house. That is how we engage the culture.Are You disposed to accept whatever the Holy Father decides in our regarde ?  I love your posts by the way and read some to my children.

The whole argument about Girl Scouts is certainly something dear to my heart. I was a GS from kindergarten through the end of high school, earned all the major awards, and couldn’t possibly imagine my life without that experience. My mother was involved with the organization for 20+ years, and even served as a representative at a national convention a while back. But I can get absolutely enraged seeing what the national organization is doing these days. My mother, raising my 8 year old cousin, and I were recently talking about how to approach all of this because there is a scout troop at my cousin’s school and Mom wants to enroll her in the troop. We went back and forth discussing whether it was a good move or not. Mom’s basic approach was that (1) she plans to be very involved with the troop and monitor what is presented to my cousin, and (2) she still feels it’s worthwhile to work within the organization to try and pull it back to where it should be.

It really does highlight the two approaches to confronting evil. One is to just pull back and avoid it. The other is to work for conversion. I think both are viable tactics but you have to know when one is better than the other. And that’s the really hard part. Right now, I’m just glad that I don’t have a daughter of my own to make this decision for, and I’m too busy with my job to even consider volunteering to work with a troop as I’d always planned to when I was younger.

Okay, add Chevrolet to the list: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/chevrolet-volt-comes-out-gay-ad-motor-city-pride_n_1571084.html

Oh, Simcha! Why did you have to tell me about Target? (I’d never heard of that before.)

No problem,  boycott Target, Starbucks,Planned Parenthood,JC Penney, Pepsi and UNICEF .THe list keeps growing.
What used to bother me was that the companies are so big I figured they don’t care or even notice my absence. I wondered what difference am I making ? But,my children notice my passion and commitment to making the world better,  God sees it, (kind of like the widows mite), and lastly, me. that mug in the mirror, i know.
PS June1111: Push less ,  and you will get less resistance, it has something to do with physics :D

Not Chevy TOO???  Ugh.  Even more seriously, yesterday I was wishing for a list of products to avoid.  You and readers have provided what I needed to know—thank you!  We have to make hard choices every day, but if there are also lists of companies who support hell, some of our choices are made easier.  Briefly: Coke tastes better anyhow, Thin Mints are replaceable, and I bought a pair of Lands End slippers at Goodwill (reduce/reuse/recycle) only to find the damned things were made in China!!  It’s simply time for this whole nation to a) get that anti-God’s covenants/anti-American murderer out of the oval office by complying with a lesser (at least) evil if need be—and need do indeed BE, and b) grow/sew/mow your own.  Both walking and taking the bus is underrated.  Meanwhile, when it comes to the daily moments of dire conscience, the Holy Spirit is waiting to be asked, isn’t He?  He is hands-on—we know this!—and He already knows our needs and knows exactly what goes on in our exile, so in times of potential exhausted cavings-in, we can and should turn to Him for helps. Every time.

Little Flowers Girls’ Club—Great CATHOLIC alternative to Girl Scouts! We are adding 2000+ new girls a year. Next year will be our 20th anniversary! Books have imprimatur, are flexible, faithful and inexpensive! Free info CD at: www.littleflowersgirlsclub.com

Three cheers for this column that recognizes we can each do a little to uphold the ideals Girl Scouts and other orgs. were founded upon.  Little Flowers is Excellent.  A note, though.  It is most effective to inform the management of a boycotted organization WHY you will no longer be shopping there or buying their products.  Take the time to make a phone call and double the effort to get us back to the country we are supposed to be.  As for things made in China, one needs to use the essentials, but I would definitely NOT buy fancy stuff that are luxuries from China.  There are American mfgrs.  Just have to search them out.  Peace to all.

I really appreciate that you have taken a stand on the LC. You ask, “Why hasn’t the Pope shut them down?”

With the pope’s recent take over of the nuns in America I am left bewildered that he has let the LC continue to ordain priests.  That someone has not taken THEM over.  Very inconsistent.

Your opinion is a bit confusing too though given that NCR was owed by the LC up until January so they were your employer up until recently. I know alot of people have been put between a rock and a hard place with the LC revelations. Another well known blogger’s husband was/is a teacher at one of the LC minor seminaries.  But still I understand staying on with them because I have never been able to eradicate my association with evil in organizations.  I tried really hard but I look back no and think I was not much of a witness for the gospel and boxed into my evil free world.  (not to mention ummm my own sin..which I face everyday)

So I go back to my theory of accepting good wherever it is. I’ve been in a place where I worked hard to not be involved in anything connected to anything evil. Then one day I woke up and realized that there is no escaping it.  I would be in denial if I thought that being Catholic kept me away from any institution that engaged in evil.

My kids do little Flowers, BUT it’s not really an ‘alternative’ to Girl Scouts—- the girls get together, sing songs, do crafts, and learn about saints. To get the patches, they do activities which are a lot like catechism class. It’s great for home-schoolers, but to say it’s a substitute for scouting is a bit off—

There’s no learning things that make you competent, woodcraft, etc…

It’s really more like Catholic VBS but through the school year,....

Which is why I’m excited about AHG—it’s the parts I like about scouting for girls without the parts I don’t like….. and it’s closer to cub scouts, and there are no cookies to sell!

We try to make purchasing decisions based on what we know (like or dislike) of a company’s activism, but also make an effort to measure the reality of the inconvenience and sacrifice with the reality of our impact.

For many years we have bought LDI’s boycott list in order to make informed decisions with regard to life issues. Too many times I heard rumors of one company supporting this or that (fill in morally objectionable behavior), but then couldn’t verify it. So we started buying the list, which in our house, is affectionately referred to it as the “naughty list.”

Last year for Lent, I underwent a personal campaign to write “40 letters for life.” I mostly chose companies that had either been recently added to the list, or those that I struggled most with not being able to consume their products (mostly out of convenience to my family), I also wrote to some charities and organizations that received dishonorable mention - Girl Scouts included. (PS, I love Thin Mints.)

It was an exceptionally fruitful exercise. In some instances, I learned precisely from the company why it was on the list (such as due to an uniformed management decision at a franchise/branch level contributing to an event that benefited PP or another pro-abort organization directly or indirectly) what its stance was, and what its plans where. Some organizations responded with form corporate political non-speak (you know what I mean), which in most cases reinforced or fueled my boycott decision. I eagerly shared some responses with the LDI (they are a non-profit coving a lot of ground) and they were grateful for the info and in two cases verified that the company had indeed been taken off the list (which is only published quarterly – I think). I became more aware of what puts an organization on the list, how long they stay on and how and when they are removed. LDI publishes this, but it was good to make an effort to fully understand it.

My point? I realized that it is my responsibility to find out the truth. And that goes in both directions. I will continue to support the work done by LDI - but will I boycott a company because a middle manager at a location across the country donated a $25 fruit basket to an event that indirectly supported PP, when the company’s philanthropy and record professes something different? No. Will I actively boycott one that systematically financially supports an agenda completely opposed to the teachings of my faith? Yes. Will I come to terms that sometimes, regardless of my best intentions, my support to some of those companies is out of my control - at least for now (as in my mortgage was sold by a local bank to another that is perched high atop the naughty list)? And well if you use a computer – good luck and don’t open that PDF.

Once I started the process of writing the letters (via email), because it was foolishly (on my behalf) coupled with some other labor-intensive Lenten sacrifices, I found myself contemplating that I quit the whole exercise and surrender to the what-difference-can-I-make with which I would intermittently be awash.

But I know it did make a difference. I shared the experience with our kids – and as a family we learned a little more about the cost of convenience for us and for organizations I contacted. I was grateful for the organizations that took the time to respond (whether I liked their response or not). And I was perplexed by those that couldn’t be inconvenienced to respond.

I learned about the difference between legitimate sacrifice for a cause and sacrifice rooted somewhere in sinful pride (subtext: your example of spiritual elitism fits right here). And I learned that no matter what, we can’t stop thinking about our moral obligations with regard to consumption (since the issues just seem to grow and change), we can’t stop praying about it and we must always do whatever (even small thing) we can to truly make a difference.

PS We do try to buy locally whenever possible and reasonable for our family economy.

Thanks for your post Simcha. 

Oh, and on the Legion/Regnum Christi thing:

The argument that saying “No RC summer camp because of LC disfunctionality” is equivalent to leaving the Church over the scandals is dead wring, for a simple reason:
The Church was founded by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
LC/RC was founded by Maciel.
If you TRULY can’t see the difference between avoiding LC/RC activities and leaving the Church, there is nothing I can say to explain the situation to you.

I just thought of another one.

Doesn’t Disney have “gay days” at their parks now? I watched Mickey Mouse Monopoly in university a few years ago (you HAVE to see it), and it horrified me. I can’t see Disney the same way and have since boycotted them as much as I could. Now with the gay days…

Our Pastor made the decision to not allow Girl Scouts to meet at our parish school or church.  It has caused a lot of controversy. I for one am glad the Bishops are looking into the GS.  For me, it isn’t just the possibility of a PP connection with GS, but their ideology seems to be changing.  It is not the GS that many experienced growing up.  Whether GS becomes “Bishop approved” or not, we all must be informed about what our children are being indoctrinated with and exposed to.

There are certain brands I do not buy or places I do not shop if I can help it because of their support of PP.  It is getting more and more difficult. However, it is important to speak out and write letters to companies so they know why you are not buying their product or shopping at their store. 

I remember when I started boycotting a shopping center near me because of a pornographic window displays of a Victoria Secret store (they had models in beds with whips and chains). I not only boycotted the store, but called the managers of the stores next to them and explained that I would not be doing my Christmas shopping there because I would not subject myself or my children to having to pass by the Victoria Secret window display.  Those managers were very interested in what I had to say, and I wasn’t the only one who had called to tell them.  I believe part of the reason the display was taken down was because of pressure from other stores who were losing business.

Simcha, I agree with what you said about LC/RC, and I too don’t understand why it hasn’t been shut down.  For those who follow it and think it is O.K. because it is “vatican approved”, should consider the fact that the Order and constitutions were approved under deception.  Even John Paul II was fooled by Marciel and called him an “effacious guide to the youth.”  Pope Benedict XVI said he was “a man without religious sentiment.” A Pope’s approval or disapproval of a group is not infallable. We have to think and do research for ourselves!  We can’t just go on the pretense of “well I had a good experience so it must be good”, or “the Pope likes it so it must be O.K.”  As Simcha said, it isn’t just because of Marciel that I stay away from LC/RC activities- it is because of the unhealthy structure of the order. It also bothers me that the victims of Marciel still have not been apologized to or compensated!  What is good about LC/RC is what is good about the Catholic Church. One must be careful not to confuse the two!

Simcha,
I have written about this extensively on my blog, using my personal mantra of “I don’t care if Kohl’s gives 1/8th of a cent from my purchase of one pair of shoes to Planned Parenthood.” (That was when Kohl’s used to be on the boycott list.) I’ve gotten a ton of flack for my views and I don’t care. The boycott extremists look crazy to me and I want nothing to do with their scrupulous nuttiness, even if I can understand it and sort of admire it from afar.

The gay marriage thing? Get over it people, it’s coming. I HATE that it’s coming, but it is. Better expend your energies now in protecting churches from having to rent out their basements to same-sex couples celebrating their wedding. Seriously. Care about your Freedom of Religion in practice and expression than worry about Penney’s showing a gay couple in its latest ad campaign. Like I said above, do I really care about 1/78 th of a cent of a latte at Starbucks going to support gay marriage? Nope.

All you people looking to buy everything NOT from China….how much free time and disposable income do you really have? If I sound a little snarky/angry when I say that, well, I am. You try and set impossible standards for the rest of us, sometimes (note, I’m saying *sometimes*) implying that the rest of us should do the same. I say it’s impossible, especially for those of us who don’t have a ton of disposable income and/or don’t live in areas with chi-chi little boutiques that sell fair trade this and made-in-the-U.S. that. And as for recommendations to avoid Made in China Christmas lights? Good luck with that!

Girl Scouts is more problematic, and I say this as someone who almost made it to the “Senior” level, and my Mom was a Girl Scout leader. For the most part, I agree with those here who understand that troops at the local level are often a far cry from the National level. Unfortunately, even if you have a local troop that isn’t buying into feminist nonsense, you do have trips to Build-A-Bear and glitter nail polish parties and badges that represent really fluffy stuff. That’s not the Girl Scouts I knew, when we went on trips to clean garbage from the banks of rivers or learned how to make dandelion salads when we were camping. Girl Scouts has turned into an entertainment/social thing primarily, when it used to be that on a secondary level. Thank God Boy Scouts has stayed strong; I can’t wait for my son to be a Boy Scout.

I know a TRAD (Traditional Catholic) family that won’t shop at any store that sells condoms. They’re lucky there’s ONE grocery store in our area where they can shop. They won’t shop at Walmart because of the child labor stuff and all the issues we can attach to China. This family claims to make their own clothes and build a few of their own toys. But where are they getting the fabric and wood? I’ll guarantee that there will be issues with how/where/who markets those materials, as well. There is basically no company, large or small, that you won’t find an issue with if you did far enough (because of sin? gee, who knew?). Many of those free-trade places are run by lefties.

Live your life in good conscience, but give yourself a break. God knows we live in a vale of tears.

@Karen - I think your anger is misplaced.  If you don’t want the cookies, just keep walking.  The oh so wholesome Cub Scouts stand outside the grocery stores and Home Depots looking for willing buyers for their wares just like the Girl Scouts.  I know because I’ve stood outside our local stores not selling tasty $5 boxes of cookies, but selling ridiculous (ripoff) $20 boxes of popcorn.  Embarassment doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings on this subject.  I would prefer (and can afford) to write our Cub Scout Pack a check for however much profit the Scouts would receive from my son’s share of popcorn sales.  However, the scouts are a team and letting the adults write checks would single out the kids whose parents can’t afford to just fork over the cash.
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And remember they’re little kids.  To them, standing outside a store for a few hours IS work.  They believe they’re working to support themselves.  It’s not like they can rake leaves (well) or shovel snow to make the money.    Our older boys really do support themselves in the Boys Scouts by selling Christmas Trees, which are more expensive than Home Depot or Ikea, but they’re nicer and the boys (and Dads) give the added service of tying the trees to the cars for folks.  Handling Christmas trees out in the freezing cold is hard work and the boys really do earn that money to support their troop.  I don’t know what the older Girl Scouts do to earn money, but I suspect they do something more worthwhile than just showing up and looking cute outside a grocery store.  (At least I hope they do). 

Just to clarify:  The Register’s association with the Legionaries of Christ ended in 2011 when EWTN bought The Register.  I am not sure whether there are Legion priests affiliated with the Register.  My editor gives me lots of freedom to express my own opinions, and I think it’s pretty obvious that they are MY opinions— I’m not speaking for anyone else (and, for the record, no one asked me to make this clarification!  I just thought it ought to be said).  My intent is not to stir up controversy or upset anyone, but to say things that I think ought to be said.  I do think that we have not heard the last of the Pope’s pronouncements on LC.

@Catholic Mom,

That’s great you’re striking out from the LC’s with the Conquest Clubs. But as long as you keep that name, I’m avoiding it and so are alot of other people.

To defend Little Flowers, learning the virtues doesn’t make you competent like woodcrafting does, how marvelously utilatrian.  I guess a Liberal Arts degree from Thomas Aquinas College is just as useless. 
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Also there is nothing in Little Flowers that is stopping a mom from expanding the craft ideas to be more advanced and moving into practical things like cooking or learning to make fire, that’s why Joan and Rachel both mention it’s flexibility. 
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LFGC is not limiting a step-by-step curriculum or cookie cutter program, it’s an open-ended program that incorporates the creativity its local leaders and participants to amplify the program beyond the what’s in the leadership guides or manuals.

Little Flowers is great - it’s for LITTLE girls, who need to learn virtues. If I had a daughter, she’d be in Little Flowers for sure.

But TAC is a college for ADULTS. And if you can’t get a job with your liberal arts degree from TAC, well then, it might be useless.

Part of all dues paid to Girl Scouts goes to national and support their agenda.  I see this a direct support of evil. We can and should be informed on organizations we join and engage with. Consumer purchases are not as direct but we still attempt to avoid the big offenders and to stay informed in this regards. When girl scouts show up at our door to sell cookies we state that we are pro-life and do not purchase their cookies.  Pretty simple…not like their cookies are essential to our survival or well being. We see this as scandalous that our diocese and parishes support and host this organization.

@Charlotte,
“how much free time and disposable income do you really have?”  You’d be surprised how frugal many of the people are that choose to not buy Made in China.  Most of us don’t have disposable income.  I don’t shop in high-end boutiques, etc.  I just cook from scratch, buy local when I can, use hand me downs, go to garage sales…I have no problem buying Made in China from a garage sale.  I figure it’s better off being used in my home than in the dump.  I have been pleasantly surprised how much stuff my children can actually live without.  They really don’t give it a second thought after I say no and suggest an alternative.  Does it take a commitment and forethought?  Yes, absolutely!  But, once you get in the habit of doing it it’s enjoyable and I don’t consciously think about it anymore.

@Charlotte - I understand how you feel.  I think Melanie Bettanelli said it well earlier.  We do have to worry about our own universes first.  And I’m sorry now that I said that I don’t buy made in China if I can help it.  But I don’t.  I certainly don’t think twice about the rest of the world doing it.    Also, I understand how you feel - it’s the same way I feel when the crunchy nutty granola moms start in on the organic food.  Like if I feed my kids Chips Ahoy or PF Goldfish on a regular basis (which I do) they’re going to be 250 pound diabetics by third grade. 
I do feel like we sometimes need to stop taking ourselves so seriously and self righteously.  I really am sorry how I came off in my earlier post.

This may have already been said, but the American Heritage Girls aren’t the answer for everyone either. In this area the group members are populated by comfortably middle-class families who more often than not homeschool and plan their meetings during the day when my daughters couldn’t attend. They go on skiing trips and other excursions that my family couldn’t begin to afford. They’re just not an option for us. They have high values and support great virtues, but they’ve made themselves a boutique club for nice white Catholic girls from the right neighborhoods and from the right families. Where do the nice families who aren’t as well off, but who do not want to support Girl Scouts go for camaraderie? Our family found our answer, but availability of the clubs mentioned earlier in the comments just aren’t viable options for most people around here.

@KAT,
I don’t buy GS cookies either. However, I think it’s terrible to tell a LITTLE GIRL to her face that I’m not buying GS cookie because of Planned Parenthood or because I’m pro-life. Some of these girls don’t know what any of that means, and depending on age, shouldn’t. If I were the mother of one of those girls, I’d be plenty upset with you. It is very tacky to put political/religious issues on the plate of innocent children. Again, I don’t buy GS cookies for the same reason, but golly, have some tact about it!

My guess is the “all things made in China” boycott doesn’t apply to Apple. I think these boycotts are cheap grace. It’s a way to feel good about yourself without doing too much sacrifice.  It’s easy for me to boycott Starbucks because I never got into lattes all that much.  It’s easy for me to boycott GS cookies because heck, I live in the country and nobody sells door to door anything anymore.  Great!  Well, for the family that has daughters who are involved in the local level of GS troops, who enjoy the camping activities and the mom/daughter time, who’s children benefit from the Gold awards, who earn scholarships from the GS, go give them a hard time for engaging in the wider world.

@Eileen - you’re fine! No worries, I wasn’t responding to you personally, rather responding to this whole comment thread as a whole. But I’m with you on the organic nazi’s thing. Those people drive me nuts. I mean, who wouldn’t do all organic if they could afford it?

@Michelle - I shop at garage sales and thrift stores on a consistent basis, for the record. But when you do as many garage sales as I do (also because I’m an Ebay seller), you see that many garage sales are nothing but a show of the leftovers of material consumption in our culture, and depending on how new and nice the used items are, it can be a bonanza of almost like-new items for the buyer. Doesn’t make me feel any better that it’s “used” Made in China. But I have just moved beyond that guilt. If Target has the shoes my kid needs at decent price and I haven’t found them used at a rummage sale in the last 2 weeks, Target wins.

We go to Farmers Markets when we can afford to. I’m all for that. But when tomatoes are 99 cents a pound at Piggly Wiggly and they’re $3 a pound at the Farmer’s Market, guess where I’m buying my tomatoes? We have a budget, and if we could afford to move things around to afford everything, we would. But we can’t. I understand that frugality is a choice and a lifestyle, and that is our lifestyle, but we probably do it different than you and everyone else who does it. That being said, I still think people who claim they can do everything anti-China and fair trade and organic are either wealthier than we are and/or have some special secret that we don’t.

I admire you (I’m being sincere) if you can do it. I wish I could. I have cried about it, actually, as concerns the better food choices. But we just can’t swing it. We make small changes as we can afford, like buying beef from a Catholic butcher shop that is 25 miles away. It’s not grass-fed or organic, and maybe it comes from the same places where Walmart gets their beef, but we’ve decided that true conservativism means trying to get it local. WHEN WE CAN AFFORD IT. Aldi’s and the local grocery stores will likely get more of our food dollars for the foreseeable future.

I think the bigger issue with the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood has to do with PP’s involvement in writing curriculum for some of the badges at the upper levels of Girl Scouting.  This kind of ideology creeps in everywhere - public schools too.  You have PP board members who are also on the boards of Girl Scouts.  It is almost impossible to avoid in this society - you have to be very vigilant and know what your rights as parents are.  We still buy the cookies, mostly because we have “debts” owed to so many people who have bought overpriced Boy Scout popcorn from us.  The little 5 year old at your door does not understand these boycotts, only that she wants to earn money for camp or otherwise.  So in this instance, it can be the most charitable to buy the cookies.  I am glad that the USCC is going to investigate the ties so that we can have further instruction on this.

If you study the colophon of many orthodox Catholic Publications you’ll see: “Printed in China”.

@Charolotte,
If somebody is at MY DOOR marketing an organization and product that we are opposed to having walked past our pro-life sign then so be it.  The truth will set you free and they may even appreciate knowing it.  Overall opposed to children doing door to door marketing, period.  How safe it that?  Could be far worse situation than hearing that horrible “pro-life” profanity. Missed it! Wen did “pro-life” become a dirty word that could scar for life….now the P.C. police will be at my door next.

@KAT - I do buy GS cookies from little girls at my door.  I figure they’re doing a very difficult thing asking a grownup they barely know to buy cookies.  These girls have all been very young and so at this point have only seen wonderful things that I can wholeheartedly support - arts and crafts and field trips to the potato chip factory, etc.  Heck, they hold Brownie meetings in my parish (school) cafeteria. 
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I won’t, however, give to UNICEF at Halloween.  Those kids are asking for money for a specific cause.  I have told those kids that UNICEF has different ideas from our family about the best ways to care for very poor children.  And then I give them the very concrete example that UNICEF generally does not support international adoption of kids from poverty ridden third world countries.  Two sentences that I speak while I offer them candy.  They always take the candy and have been very polite.  Some of the kids are old enough to research themselves and they will see abortion,etc. if they don’t already know.  And then the little kids can have a conversation with their parents about what I’ve said (or not).  But I figure the UNICEF kids’ parents know they’re putting their kid out there politically.  And if that’s the case, they get what they get.    The same way my own kids have been given the finger and yelled at @ pro-life rallies.

I like Little Flowers! It’s just not a SCOUTING program. I’d prefer that my kids get to do both! But the two are not the same thing and do not actually fill the same niche.

And my girls (Who are super-Little-House-Obsessed) DO have a burning desire to learn archery and woodcarving and what have you—I also have them in 4-H, btw. BUT 4-H is not scouting either, and sometimes, you just want to learn how to survive in the woods.

I *DO* think the LFGC people should look into marketing a VBS-style option, though. Because their activities and structure really lend themselves to that, especially since “Little Flowers takes 2 hours.”

KAT,
Pro-life is increasingly becoming a dirty word, as you term it, when Catholics hold it over other Catholics’ heads as the all-defining measure of one’s Catholicity. Since when was Catholicism all about pro-life?? I actively refuse to hang out with people who make abortion their only measuring stick. And I say this as someone who is totally opposed to abortion.

Worse is when someone like you holds a pro-life stance over the head of a minor child who is selling cookies for reasons she might not even understand or who understands only that selling cookies is a way for her troop to go on a field trip. For you to breach that innocence is horrid. All you have to say is, “No thanks, we have enough cookies here, have a nice day.” To politicize it to a child is just plain wrong.

This is where “conspiracy theories” begin. Believing that something is wholly evil, and inflicting that theory upon people who have nothing to do with said perceived evil. Girl Scouts are going off the rails, true. I don’t buy GS cookies. But you are making it into a righteousness issue, and that’s utter nonsense. You are free to follow your conscience, and I commend you for that, but if you are treating people uncharitably, or with suspicion, or planting unwanted thoughts and ideas into the heads of children who are not yours, etc., you are treading into dangerously un-righteous territory.

The first line of attack to make sure a little girl doesn’t ever find out what Planned Parenthood is to make sure you don’t put Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood in the same sentence when you asked to buy cookies. Some of these girls selling the cookies are SIX YEARS OLD!!!!! What right do you have to come off as some smug do-gooder by telling a small girl that you don’t support anything that is anti-life? HORRID.

@Charlotte - I don’t disagree with your point, but I do think being Catholic is all about being pro-life.  However, I don’t think being Catholic is about being more Catholic than the pope and I think that’s the attitude you’re talking about.    That’s why I do regret that I didn’t let my daughter do Daisies in Kindergarten.  At that level, the GS curriculum is all hearts and flowers and friendship.  It had the endorsement of my parish for crying out loud.  Why did I think I knew better than my pastor and my bishop?  (Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they’re always right, but I certainly knew full well that the Daisies weren’t going to do anything to which I would object.  I was simply drawing my self-righteous line in the sand).  I could easily have gotten my daughter out of Girl Scouts before anything morally objectionable came her way.

Eileen,
You and I are more on the same page than not.

In my view, if Catholicism was all about abortion and pro-life, etc., why wasn’t that the defining issue in the Church for the last 2000 years? You know what I’m saying? It’s a modern issue for modern times, even if the Church is on record as being pro-life in other ways for the last 2000 years. Interestingly, the saints AREN’T on record talking about pro-life signs and rallies in all of their writings. They’re on record, rather, in trying to please God with Christ-like behavior. And serving under-served populations. Mother Theresa was helping outcasts in India and she is just as pro-life as all the Planned Parenthood boycotters, and maybe moreso. Like someone above said, “cheap grace” is easy to come by as you sacrifice that latte at Starbucks so that you can get one at McDonald’s instead, right?

For me, being Catholic is about getting to heaven and growing in holiness. I reject the notion that one must be openly, actively pro-life all the time, 24/7, talking about nothing else, and going to pro-life rallies, etc., in order to be considered a good Catholic. It gets tiring never talking about other life issues like torture and poverty, etc., and believe me, I’m no social justice bleeding heart liberal. Heck, I’d rather campaign for Catholics to actually believe the Eucharist is REAL than concern myself with the notion that Catholicism is all about being pro-life.

So yes, you’re right - it’s about the holier than the Pope crowd that makes sweeping judgements. Their cars and vans are filled with anti-abortion bumper stickers (and we have ONE, too). Whereas we have a broader outlook on Catholicism that wants to show love and kindness and hospitality to other Catholics who don’t look/act all exactly the same. I have tired of that meme in Catholicism and I know I’m not alone. If we’re out judging people based on perceived degrees/levels of being Catholic, well, that just sucks.

@Charlotte,
Pro-life is not political it is about respecting and seeking the beauty in every life from conception to natural death.  I don’t connect how an honest no thanks..we’re pro-life is linked with conspiracy theory and don’t get how lying to children is preferential or more charitable than a simple non-offensive truthful statement.  We donate directly to youth (one-one) for activities rather than funnel our limited resources thru enties that retain a large portion of the money for agenda’s we do not support.

Deirdre thanks for clarifying

My daughter is a girl scout.  She is in 6th grade, has been one since kindergarten.  My best friend is the leader, and though I know her political opinions might be different from mine, the things she has the girls doing are valuable.  Her troop made a video on how to handle being bullied, what to do, the kinds of bullying, etc.  They did the filming, the editing, the interviews, everything.  There were a lot of valuable messages in that project on the media, stereotypes, etc.  They were learning to be good, moral people.(does she learn that at home? I hope so, but sometimes the lessons are more easily learned when they come from someone else, and I know my friend’s morals)  They have been camping, done community service projects and so much more.  I have never heard anything at one of their meetings (and I am there most meetings) that would make me want to pull her out.  This has been a well considered choice on my part.

If you want to boycott a company or organization that is fine.  You have made, I presume, a considered choice that you feel is right for your family.  Please don’t try to make me feel guilty for also trying to do what is right for my family, where just getting everyone to Mass on a weekend is sometimes more than we are capable of doing, for a variety of reasons. I do not at this point have the emotional energy to analyze where every cent of a large company goes.  If it is something obvious, then I would think about it, but I cannot at this point in my life go out of my way for the tiny percentage of money that might go someplace I don’t agree with.  Far more of my money goes someplace I do agree with.

The company I work for is part of a much large company - should I be worried that they are paying me money and they might be supporting something I don’t agree with? My struggles are in a much different place than that. I have a job that is helping my family, which is more than a lot of people have.  Would I work for PP?  Absolutely not, but that is far different from working for a company owned by a company owned by a company that might donate to PP.

I have to say I agree that detailing to a young girl why you do not buy girl scout cookies is a bit too much.  How do you know what they know about and what they don’t? You may be forcing that child and her parent into a discussion neither is prepared for, something that might end innocence that already ends too soon.  A ‘no thank you’ is good enough when addressing a child.

This thread is sounding a lot like my feisty family members…holy moley.  I have two graduations, three graduation related parties and three birthday parties within the next four days.  I’m trying to escape my stress by reading this. (lol)By mentioning the rather lofty ideal of *trying* to buy less chemically laden and processed food, which bothers my conscience MORE than Pepsi etc.,I’m probably the “crunchy nut-mother” that Eileen is referring to. Hahah any minute now my three-year-old might come staggering over from my parents’ place, under the weight of an enormous big stick popsicle, with neon food coloring and her yearly allowance of corn syrup (She usually does this in her yellow, polka dot BIKINI that she insists on wearing every day) My Mom will come over and tell me that she left the freezer “wide open” and scold me a little for all the junk my kids eat that SHE buys which sort of leaves me speechless. I guess we all have to choose our battles,to the best of our ability. Jesus has His hands full with His contentious little flock!

KAT!!!!!
It is wrong because 99.99999% of those girls know absolutely NOTHING about the interests and political alignments of Girl Scouts at a national level. Nor should they. They’re CHILDREN!!!! And it is NOT (not! not! not!) your job to expose children to ideas, facts, and concepts that are not approved by those children’s parents. Are you living on another planet?!?!?!

You are exactly the person who would throw an absolute hissy fit if a Catholic teacher, nun, or VBS volunteer even breathed a hint about something sexual or social justice, yes? How dare they?!?!?! It’s the PARENT’S job to explain these things, yes? Well how does that not apply to children in Girl Scouts? Or are they all heathens who don’t deserve the same respect you do as some big holier-than-thou uber-Catholic?

Pro-life issues, abortion, knowledge of Planned Parenthood, etc. are the responsibility of PARENTS to expose/explain to their children and no one else. Those girls selling cookies know absolutely nothing about corporate Girl Scouts having potential alignments with Planned Parenthood. Moreso, most parents of those Girl Scouts know nothing about it, as well. You assume everyone knows what you do!!!! How presumptuous is that?!? You assume everyone is on the Catholic internet reading about all this? Wrong-o.

Again, POLITELY decline to buy GS cookies. That’s fine. But when you throw your reasons for it in the face of girls as young as 6 years old, you are crossing lines that I would get in YOUR face for crossing. It is despicable to think you have the right and mission to alert young girls as to the reasons you oppose girl scouts. You’re no better than people handing out Bible tracks at Halloween - you have no right to come between a child and his/her parents with politics, ideology, and religion, etc. NO RIGHT AT ALL.

Anna Lisa,
I like you! : )

@KAT - but the thing is that the kid is not at your door collecting as a representative of Planned Parenthood.  She’s there to raise money to defray her cost of her art supplies or her camping trip or her day at Six Flags.    In all likelihood she knows nothing about the dark side of the Girl Scouts.  If you feel strongly that you can’t give to the Girl Scouts then why can’t you just tell the little girl that you’re sorry but you can’t buy any cookies?  Can you imagine how traumatic it would be for some little girl who conjured up all the nerve she had to ask some neighbor lady to buy some cookies only to be told some variation of the idea that organization she’s selling cookies for is evil?  Honest to goodness, I really feel that the little girl’s self esteem is more important than socking it to some mean old corporate GS headquarters and that’s why I do buy the cookies if a child knocks on my door.

@ Charlotte, :) My little bikini girl who loves junk food is named Charlotte too. :)

Wow, I am truly, truly shocked by your initial comments regarding the Legion and Regnum Christi and all of your (and others) follow-up comments.
I have always enjoyed your articles.  I’m just almost at a loss for words right now.  RC has been nothing but a blessing my life these past 3 years and has helped me to grow so much in my vocations as a faithful Catholic wife and mother.  Most importantly, I have grown closer to my Lord, and I will forever be grateful for RC providing me with the tools to do so.  I found all of your words to be so hurtful (and yes, I’m aware of the very horrible and past life of the founder and others), and I don’t think I will ever be able to think of you or read your columns without thinking of your extremely, extremely negative attitude towards the Legion and RC.  Don’t you think you have readers whose lives have been positively changed and who are more in love with their Catholic faith, due to their experiences with the Legion and RC?  You sure came on strong, and I just had to let you know how upset I am.  This is the first time I’ve ever commented.  I will just have to pray for you and others who are so angry or hurt or whatever regarding the Legion and RC.  The Legion and RC will do absolutely whatever the Holy Father asks of us, but so far he has supported us and wants us to continue to lead others to Christ.  I guess you are above him, though.

Charlotte - Please stop being abusive towards KAT.  Disagreements are understandable but hurling insults is just mean.  The use of multiple exclamation points and inappropriate capitalization is equivalent to screaming.  You are both children of God and deserve to be treated with respect.

Usually after a hundred or so comments, I think anything I add will be superfluous. But, I’ll say that I do the easy things. I don’t buy coffee at Starbucks because there are other sellers of coffee that aren’t supporting homosexual “marriage” and I can make my own Americano at home. In the same vein, it’s just as easy for me to shop at Walmart as Target. And both moves simplify my life and save me money. I gave up Diet Pepsi for Diet Coke until Pepsi stopped using the company that was using fetal stem cell lines. The slight preference I have for Diet Pepsi over Diet Coke was an easy sacrifice. You probably can’t boycott every company that needs to be boycotted, but there are a lot of easy choices that would make a difference.

I signed the “Dump Starbucks” petition, so that’s out for me—no more Starbucks lattes. (Tears. They’re pretty yummy. But if Starbucks vocally support gay “marriage”, they don’t need my money to support it.) I agree it’s rather hard to boycott *everyone* that should be, but little things like this, I can do without.

Okay, now I’m being delinquent, as I should be out buying a graduation gift.  I’m not trying to add gasoline to a fire, but my small 2 cents on the RC dilemma is what I told a friend of mine who has many disillusioned friends who are/were part of RC:  I was introduced to LC/RC about 20 years ago. What perplexed me is that in many aspects it seemed like Fr. Maciel was trying to copy Opus Dei. (Ugh, I don’t even want to make O.D. look bad by association) But what appeared on the surface to be subtle differences with “plan of life”, and spiritual formation,  etc. were CLEARLY monumental ones.  The founder of Opus Dei knew that personal freedom was of critical importance,as it permeates his writings.  LC clearly used methods of control and manipulation of consciences.  It’s almost like the LC was the “anti-Opus Dei”.  So to my friend, who could see her RC friends suffering like sheep without a shepherd, I told her “Tell them about Opus Dei, what was GOOD in RC will seem familiar to them.”  I’ve read many of St. Josemaria’s writings.  He was an incredible man, in love with life and God, and his life was SAINTLY. I’m told Fr. Maciel appeared possessed at the end of his life, refusing even confession and absolution.  Now contrast this with the founder of Opus Dei who was raised to the altars.

Ugh… okay NCR, I just typed out a rather lengthy, thoughtful response and because my word verification “didn’t match” exactly (not sure how that happened - word verifications drive me mad) now it’s gone? Is it possible to make this function work so that it doesn’t erase the entire comment after one “fail”?

I’m tired of people saying LC/RC curtails freedom…my husband (seminarian for 10 years) and I (consecrated for several years) lived under obedience, yes, but oppression, NO…and I will defend that until I die, or until the Church says drop out-there’s no shred of good in it…I might as well not go to Mass anymore because there are many bad priests…I’ve realized one thing in the past 3 years: there are good and bad priests, good and bad mothers, good and bad fathers, good and bad businessmen, any walk of life…I received mostly good from RC and I pray daily for healing and am aware and pleased with the recent reforms. If we say it should be disbanded we might as well say there’s no hope for all of us poor sinners. I’m not making light of Maciel’s sins; I pray for the victims, I pray for the grace to be able to forgive all who have caused me scandal-who are far and beyond only LC/RC members. I respect your opinion, but only God and each person involved really knows the truth and He alone will judge.

This is indeed a tough one.  Two thoughts:  As the wife of a senior executive of one of the most frequently mentioned companies in the com-box I would encourage everyone to remember that these decisions are made by a small board of directors. Rather than a boycott, which generally produce NOTHING, perhaps offer up a your rosary for the devout Catholics who are employed by these firms and are called to toil each day to change the anti-God culture from the inside.  You’re prayers and encouragement for these folks (and there are MANY of them) will go much farther in the long run that a silly boycott.

Secondly, we are the proud parents of two teenage converts (as are we, except the teenage part)  who LOVE the Catholic church and, quite frankly can effectively communicate the Church’s teachings, theology, traditions, etc. with conviction and (gasp!) JOY, all because of the Holy Spirit working through the Legionaries.  What we’ve found in the LC is solid orthodox doctrine, a contagious love and joy for the Lord , firm desire for holiness and a devotion to the sacraments.  Sadly, this is mostly lacking in our local parishes or in our Catholic schools.  We have been blessed beyond measure by the LC and RC and for us, they have represented the BEST of the Catholic church today.

I think there are two separate issues that might merit a boycott of a company.

1. Political commitments: Does the board of directors give money to abortion advocacy?  Does the company publish ads supporting same-sex marriage?  etc.
2. Direct harm: Does the company directly harm human beings in making its products—for instance, are they made in sweatshops, or does it dump a bunch of toxic waste on poor people?

Personally, I feel more called to boycott companies for the SECOND type of issue, because respecting human dignity is an important pro-life cause.  I can’t be 100% consistent in this decision—sometimes I just need a roll of duct tape or a lint roller, and good luck finding it used or fair trade.  But I do what I can, and, given what I’ve read of the comments here, I think we’re all doing what we can to spread the Gospel and make the world a better place, whether that involves boycotts or not.

Oh, and Thin Mints are overrated, but Tagalongs are not.

To those who find it unbelievably hurtful that anyone rejects LC/RC and the good you feel it has done in your life, here’s a thought experiment—

Imagine I said that I really couldn’t stand St. Francis. I mean, a lot of the things he did were wayyy over the top. And the stigmata? Kind of gross. And that whole founding the order by randomly opening the bible and finding a rule at random? Really, that smacks of divination. And lets not even talk about the offering to self-immolate at the Sultan’s whim…..

In fact, imagine that I’m SO creeped out by Francis (And Bonaventure. And Claire… and Anthony) that I say I’d never send my kid to a summer camp run by Franciscans. 

Do you think Franciscans and their supporters would yell at me and say that I was mean and hurtful and I might as well leave the church because they’re papally approved?  Or would they shrug their shoulders, write me off as a harmless crank, and go on their way?

What makes LC fans different from those who hang out with the Franciscans, Benedictines, Carmelites, or even the Jesuits? What does LC/RC have that Schoenstatt doesn’t?

let the children speak….http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cookies-for-life-10-year-old-ex-girl-scout-bakes-and-sells-pro-life-cookies/

Regarding RC/LC and the reason I refuse to allow my kids to participate in their various activities: for me it is a matter of virtue and character and teaching my children to be Catholic. One ought to take ownership for one’s mistakes, apologize and seek to repair the harm one has done.

In the case of LC/RC, the leadership of the movement - including the Register under its former ownership - spent years trashing the reputations of Maciel’s victims of childhood sexual abuse. These victims were accused of lying, conniving, colluding with the devil and other enemies of the church, etc.

When it because clear that the victims the truth, the LC/RC leadership appears to have continued to publicly maintain MM’s innocence while withholding information that would have vindicated the victims that LC/RC sued into silence. Moreover, when information emerged publicly to establish MM’s guilt and vindicate MM’s victims, leadership within LC/RC still did not apologize publicly to the victims (or privately either, according to many of the victims) or offer any form of restitution.

For me, refusing to admit one’s wrongdoing (both personal and corporate), failing to apologize for it or offer restitution for it, are signs of spiritual pride. It also runs contrary Christ’s teaching on repentance as taught in the Gospels. So is trying to avoid the subject (or distract from the subject) by number-crunching alleged good works. To me it strikes of the example of the pharisee in Christ’s parable of the publican and the pharisee praying in the temple.

I don’t want my kids to grow up thinking it is okay to unjustly destroy the reputation of others, and/or refuse to apologize for one’s wrongdoing, or that one need not make any attempt to repair the harm of one’s actions, if only one recruits another member to the cause. This is not Catholicism. This is not what Christ taught in the Gospels. This is not what Pope John Paul II taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

I had meant to comment on this when it was first posted, but commenting via phone drives me batty. Now there’s a ton of comments and this will probably not be read, but I have decided to say it anyway! I have supported PP and other “Culture of Death” causes in the past, and avoiding companies that donate money to these causes now is a form of personal penance. I don’t think that everyone necessarily should, and I am aware that boycotts are not always or even usually “successful.” But it’s not about me being the one to go out there and change the entire world by myself (which I think can be the attitude of boycotters sometimes). It’s just a personal sacrifice. I have found, too, that by trying to buy locally and do more things on my own or from scratch, that there are only a few companies that I have to really avoid (Target is going to be rough. I don’t go there often, but I prefer the products a great deal over Wal-Mart.) The other one is Disney, as my kids get older. But buying movies secondhand or borrowing from the library will avoid that problem, for the most part.

Some others have said similar things, but I want to make two statements.  The first is that I’ve raised my children to focus on what we’re saying yes to rather than what we are saying no to when we buy only locally grown food that we then prepare at home (and have grown ourselves), make our own clothes or buy only at St VdP, and find our fun in products in ways that won’t exploit others.  It’s interesting to me now that they are 23, 21, 19, and 16 that none of them want to shop on Sunday, but it’s because they never have.  And the places we go aren’t open then anyway.  This has all seemed to me as part of our Franciscan family spirituality to turn away from consumerism.  Too many American kids believe that money equals happiness or security, and that just isn’t true.
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The second thing is that in order for boycotts to be effective I think the organizations need to know why they are boycotted.  So I write letters to tell the major offenders what I disapprove of.  They can write me off, but at least I know that they have heard from someone who is trying to watch.
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One other thought.  We’ve always lived on a tight budget as well.  Now that we have one working, two in college who live at home, and one in high school we continue to discuss these issues at the dinner table.  None of my tribe are looking at high paying jobs (my historian is now a certified nursing assistant, my two in college are a paramedic and liturgical musician and my high schooler wants to be a priest) so they will also have to balance costs and “needs.”

@KAT - That’s wonderful.  My own kids have held up phone numbers of local crisis pregnancy centers outside abortion clinics.  They’ve prayed the rosary for life.  They’ve marched on Washington.  My 15 year old daughter wears the precious feet on her uniform.  But they do all that because my husband and I have lit the fire under them, not because some neighbor told them they personally need to fight the culture of death.  The thing is we have absolutely no idea how this little girl found out about the Planned Parenthood connection.  Was it from some random neighbor whose door she knocked on?  Probably not.  The article doesn’t say but it does mention her supportive parents.

Karin,  Thank you for that reminder.  While we have an intention that is something like “for all those who are in positions to influence our culture and its structures” (then we add any specifics that are currently needed) I think it’s helpful to have this idea in mind.  There are many faithful Catholics in corporations living their faith as a witness within those walls who need our prayers.  It’s also something I wish the bishops would talk about with regard to the HHS mandate.  Thanks again.  Jennifer

RC is a blessing in your life, but is a corrupt, evil organization that has destroyed families and people’s faith.  And they repeatedly LIED about it, for many years.  And they never apologized.  You are associated with them.  So you approve of lying.

So the cult didn’t hurt you, so what do you care?  So you think the cult helped your faith, so everyone else’s anguish isn’t real?  I dare you to go to your superiors and demand they make restitution and come clean about everything; see how quickly you see a boot print in your butt.  See how quickly they start a whisper campaign about you.  And yes, you’d better come to grips with the fact that many good, orthodox Catholics see you in a cult.  Don’t confuse LC/RC with the church; you grew in your faith because of His church, not them.  They are a cult.

Nathan, I was under the impression that Whole Foods supported Planned Parenthood.  If anybody knows otherwise, please say so.  It would be nice to be able to go back to their chocolate section again.
Just to reiterate, Pepsi dropped Senomyx, the objectionable company.  I believe it was on LifeSiteNews not too long ago. 
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Melanie: there’s another thing that concerns me—the thought that the boycott may backfire and end up profiting the company more in the end.  I have heard that this is happening with Starbucks.  While I still think we have an obligation to expose the truth, I do kind of wish these boycotts would spread a little more quickly and quietly among us so we could at least get a decent head start.
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Jennifer: well, it may not be difficult for you but it is for me.  I had a Gold Card, for crying out loud.  I still have not found a better mocha.
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I do think it is important for us all to realize that we are not asked to go beyond our capacity, so let’s not beat ourselves up.

I always find it unfortunate when it we evaluate systemic evil and realise that one of the saddest things that it does is creates a system where the poor and vulnerable end up being the primary supporters of the cycle.

Most of us here have a choice; there are many families who would completely break down if they couldn’t buy the lowest priced item by shopping at places like Value Village or Target or Walmart. Or being a part of Girl Guides because it’s the only positive influence the parents can guarantee for their daughter. I hurt for these families and individuals who end up oppressing the oppressed not due to -wanting- to support it, but due to the need to survive. We need to keep them in our prayers as much as we pray for change in these companies and organisations.

Heritage Girls are the pro-life alternative to Girl Scouts. in my opinion, it’s existence makes belonging to/ leading Girl Scout troops unnecessary. “But we don’t have a local chapter,” you say? Start one. And stop making excuses.

To those of you who feel the need to tell the girl scout selling cookies how evil the organization is:  How would you feel if your neighbors pulled your kids aside and explained to them about the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church, the raping, molesting systematic, evil abuse.  They could further explain that none of the leaders (Bishops, Cardinals) who knew about priests molesting kids and kept them working with kids were removed from their positions.  We can never forget that EVIL lies in every organization.  The church needs to take the plank out of her own eye.

Conscience, the thing is, that happens all the time already.  That comes with the territory of being a Catholic.  Fear of tu quoque arguments aren’t a good excuse to not be honest.

We are currently struggling with the Girl Scouts question, but ultimately I think we will withdraw our daughters from the group.  That said, while I can understand declining to buy the overpriced cookies which are always marketed around the start of Lent anyway, I would NEVER explain to a young girl selling them that my refusal was related to abortion.  At best, this kind of statement will be unintelligible to the 8 year old sales girl.  At worst it is a reprehensible violation of innocence.  Save it for the parents.

We have our girl in Frontier Girls which is another alternative to Girl Scouts.  We might have done American Heritage if they weren’t so expensive and didn’t need a Catholic Church sponsoring the group.  Our local Church won’t support us because they already have a Girl Scout group.  We refuse to participate in Girl Scouts because the organization has become about indoctrinating incorrect values into girls.  It’s not just the National Organizations involvement with PP and NARAL it’s the sneaking in of their agendas into the materials they use.

It’s 2012, six years after the Holy Father condemned Maciel and two years after he condemned Macielism, put a delegate in charge of the Legion and noted that their main problem was discerning a charism.  The best and most thoughtful have left Regnum Christi and the Legion by the hundreds if not thousands.  And yet there are still Catholics on here who can’t distinguish the Legion’s systemic corruption and deceit from the sinfulness of Church members as a whole?  Really?  You would send your children off to a camp run by this kind of an organization?  I am appalled by that.  May God have mercy upon you.

How do we witness to our faith if we don’t wade into the non-Catholic world? I love Starbucks, and for a time pondered whether I should boycott or not. But I have had so any opportunities to evangelize in Starbucks. Example - reading a book by Immaculee Illabigiza, and a man at the next table asked me what I was reading. I told him all about Immaculee’s experience in Rwanda (Left to Tell). He shared with me some of his new age reading material (Eckhard Tolle?) I was able to share with him the areas in which Tolle’s writing to be problematic for me.

Another time - encountered a group of men who were doing a bible study in Starbucks. We had a lively discussion across the crowded coffee shop, witnessed by many patrons. Who knows what seeds are planted in these encounters?

Most trips to Starbucks don’t yield such obvious opportunities to witness to our faith. But it does give me a chance to meet people where they are, and just love them as they are, created in the image and likeness of God.

Oh, and one more thing: encountering the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi was the single worst thing to happen to my faith life and to my family. My 2 cents.

The Holy Father has not said that the LC and RC are not legitimate, he has appointed a delegate to guide the order through a process of revision and renewal. Why do you say it isn’t legitimate when even the Holy Father has not said that? And trust me, the best and most thoughtful have not left. Why don’t you wait for the Holy Father to condemn them before you do?

I didn’t take the time to read all the responses, so maybe someone else has already mentioned this.

St. Paul discusses eating meat sacrificed to idols in I Corinthians 8 & 10:23ff.  I’ll not recount the whole thing, but 10:25 says, “Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.”  He says a couple verses later that if it causes a problem for a weaker brother or an unbeliever, then refrain, not because meat offered to idols is anything, but because of the weak conscience of the other.

When I apply this principle to modern living, I apply it in these situations.  If an organization is “in your face” about their support of immorality, then I consider this more than just different viewpoints and more a “jam it down their throat” approach.  Those I avoid.

I believe God holds each person accountable for what they did with the money they had. If I’m held accountable for what the next guy did with the money I gave him for TP, does that mean that if he gave it to support starving children in Sudan I get extra credit for that before God?

To Bill:

“Fear of tu quoque arguments aren’t a good excuse to not be honest.”

I have no idea what you are talking about. I am just making a simple point that seems pretty obvious to me. I’m not trying to make any arguments and I am not trying to be dishonest.

and taking the splinter out of your own eye is scriptural. Living in this world means you ARE dealing with evil in every organization.  I’ll take good where ever I find it even in the girl scouts and that is the honest to goodness truth.  However, just like the Catholic Church I have to deal with the evil and sin that exists.

For all of the supporters of the Legionaries of Christ and other affiliations, please seriously reconsider.  The Holy Father is currently having this organization investigated in order to determine whether to disband it or reform it.  The Holy Father has referred to its founder as “filth.”  The very FOUNDER of the organization was a serial child molester/rapist/sexial deviant destroying the lives of countless people.  When these same victims/survivors came to the organization with allegations, the leadership dismissed and ignored them.  I can’t think that anyone involved with the Legion or Regnum Christi or ConQuest, etc. has taken the time to dwell adequately upon how much sexual abuse hurts a person deeply for the rest of their lives, so that they often cannot function normally in many ways.  Please go and be part of another group, not one whose very FOUNDER was a serial abuser/deviant, even abusing his own flesh and blood.  The stonewalling of the group toward victim/survivors who came forward must never be allowed to happen again in our Church.  I hope and pray that the Holy Father will determine that we as Catholics must never allow such a thing ever again.  The group should be punished and disbanded, or majorly reformed.  Though even then if the group is allowed to continue, I can’t imagine how any thinking person would want to be part of a group FOUNDED by a serial sexual offender/deviant.  I’m very disappointed to see all the support for L of C.  Please think the matter through.  Thanks.

The Holy Father would never call someone “filth”, he said he was “without scruples or religious sentiment.” The investigation phase is over and the pope is still working with the LC, he has appointed a pontifical delegate to guide them through the phase of renewal and revision. It sure seems to me like the pope has not condemned them, so why would you? Can you control what your parents do, or does what they do make you evil? That’s really not a fair attitude.

RC Supporter, the Holy Father has not come out and made any statement to say that he won’t disband the Legion, that that is no longer out of realm of possibility.  These things take time in the Church. 
A person can’t choose their parents.  You and others like you choose to continue to support the Legionairies of Christ and affiliates.  And as long as you do, many informed, devout Catholics will disagree with you and even lose some respect for you for your choice.

RC Supporter, take the time to search the net and read about all the harm Fr. Machiel sp? caused the souls entrusted to him and then later, how the LC leadership responded to allegations.  Why would you want to be part of that?  Seriously, think on it.  My parish has a strong LC presence and honestly, it makes me feel as though my children are unsafe.  Not because I think that any of the LC priests who come for talks or any of the people involved with RC are sexual offenders, I like to assume well of others, but because I feel like everyone who supports them are not grasping or appreciating the harm caused by the sexually deviant FOUNDER.  If they are willing to turn a blind eye on that evil, then how can I trust these same people with my children? Again, I don’t find it unfair to ask supporters why they can’t find another church group to join, possibly a group that was begun by a Saint or holy person.  We are all sinners, but I don’t think it’s unfair to try and purify our Church and parishes of sexual crimes.  I am the first person to not judge a priest who may have a child out of wedlock or what not, but when it comes to taking advantage of children or even adult women in emotional distress (Fr. Eutenaur sp? for example), our Church will do well to have a no tolerance attitude.  Thanks for listening.

Rachel Watkins,
This is the second time I have seen you post a comment suggesting Little Flowers as an alternative to GS. I am puzzled though: Little Flowers is not a scouting organization and it is aimed at homeschoolers. So just how is it an alternative to a scouting program for girls? AHG is a scouting program for girls that is Christ centered. I don’t think Little Flowers and AHG need to compete with each other but rather could complement each other. I know families who participate in both. I feel you are misrepresenting Little Flowers. Again, it is not a scouting program. Is it?
My family does not homeschool and we were not welcomed at our local Little Flowers.

I just don’t understand why companies we shop at feel it is necessary for them to donate money to some cause.  Whatever they choose to donate to is going to make someone unhappy.  Why don’t they just lower their prices, and let us all donate privately where we wish.  I don’t want Target or Home Depot to be my conscience or donate on my behalf.  Wouldn’t life be simpler if our stores let us manage our own conscience and donations?

Ann,

You comment that Little Flowers Girls’ Club is not a “scouting organization” which is true. When looking up “scouting organizations” in the online dictionary, it only lists Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. You are right, Little Flowers is not Girl Scouts, but by that definition, neither is American Heritage Girls.

Little Flowers explores virtues, faith, character development, family and social life and anything else the local leader wishes to address. On more than one occasion, local leaders have taken their girls camping, hiking, field trips, pilgrimages, etc.

It is true that Little Flowers Girls’ Club is not at this point a “national organization” with dues, registration, national *policy*, chartering, and whole sets of ideals that you may or may not agree with. These are left to the local leader.

Although Little Flowers did start in the homeschool community, current groups in schools and parishes now outnumber homeschool groups. There are instances of parish after parish banning Girl Scouting and moving toward Little Flowers which itself is a witness to the viability of Little Flowers as an alternative to Girl Scouting.

Does Little Flowers equal Girl Scouting? No. Is it a viable alternative? Yes. www.littleflowersgirlsclub.com

Many of the parishes in my area have a collection eacy year for CCHD.  CCHD is on the USCCB website as a viable organization to donate to.  CCHD advocates for abortion and same-sex marriage. http://www.reformcchdnow.com/
So all of the holier-than-thou boycotters might want to start with their own dioceses.  Personally, I’d rather say a rosary or two for the conversion of sinners & the end of abortion.  I applaud the few people who made comments relating to taking care of your own home first.  I tried to become friends with a rabid-pro-lifer, but she refused to be friends with me (afraid my kids would contaminate hers).  It was at a time when I really needed a friend.  But, I’m apparently not Catholic or pro-life enough.  But I wonder what the Good Lord will say when they meet. When I was hungry, you gave me to eat…well, I was hungry for friendship.

But Little Flowers is not modeled after the Scouting program founded by Lord Baden-Powell in 1907. It is perhaps true that AHG is not modeled explicitly on the method of B-P (he’s not mentioned to my knowledge in their materials) but it is clear that the leaders have his method in mind. Look at the Stars and Stripes Award. It is much closer to the Eagle Scout Award than the Gold Award in terms of requirements and project development (argue with me on that point, but I stand by it). This is particularly seen when talking to the parents (dads especially) who use Boy Scout-influenced methods of leadership, program etc. Plus, a major reason for the foundation of AHG was that GSUSA had left any notions of following the B-P program behind both in values and activities, and a complaint I often hear is that the GSUSA troops just do it in a way where a)the program is completely unappealing or b)completely inappropriate, which is then contrasted with positive BSA experiences. Also, Scoutcraft is not a program area of emphasis of Little Flowers. OK-I can see it being a replacement of GS for one’s daughter in the time being spent, but it does not replace the program. AHG does. Little Flowers is very different, and it irritates me that people misrepresent it to be something that it isn’t.
Btw, my gut tells me that AHG will slowly become BSA’s way of implementing a female program at Cub and Boy Scout ages, without going co-ed below Venturing….
On the Legion of Christ: it scares me that people are so defensive about it just like that one set of alleged apparitions (hint hint wink wink Medjugorje) that are another constant source of dissent, disobedience, and disruption. How does the LoC or RC aid one’s spiritual life in a way not provided by any other group? Earlier I saw a comment on how hard it was to get a group to agree with you (no dissent on either side) and meet your spiritual needs…well what happened to Opus Dei? They offer many of the same spiritual programs as the LoC, and St Josemaria’s writings to me offer a key to more traditional but hard spiritual methods, such as The Imitation of Christ by St Thomas a Kempis. I also notice a theme with Opus Dei: St Josemaria Escriva knew his job was to save souls, and he lived his life so the whole Church could know he was in Heaven. Fr Maciel unfortunately did not live a life which was of good Christian witness, and I believe he used the LoC for money, power, and protection for his crimes.
The Legion does not have a charism, and never has, actually. And they’re still lying! How many more priests and brothers have had children, or abused them? I am confident that the Holy Father will disband the order.

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Censored_Legion_de_Cristo_and_Regnum_Cristi_document_collection/en

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Censored_Legion_of_Christ_sect_personal_exams

A few years ago these documents were released by former members of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi. The second link explains the first. It’s worth a read. The LoC suppressed the website these papers appeared on after a lawsuit; why did they need to hide them?
The docs consistently refer to Fr Maciel as “Our Father.” To borrow a line, their chief weapon was an almost fanatical devotion to Fr Maciel. Granted, they were always loyal to the Holy Father, but they always cause trouble for the local ordinary.
I mean, they cause trouble even at the parish level by taking people away from parish life.
Also Google “ex-Legionaries of Christ.”

Why has it taken the bishops so long to ‘investigate’ the Girl scouts?  Their involvement with PP has been known for a long time.  The Boy Scouts have had a relationship with the American Heritage Girls and have disavowed any relationship with the GS.  More discussion of consumer topics as well as what TV shows and movies are inappropriate for Catholic families. These discussions should be held at the parish level and parishioners should be encouraged to use reference materials as well as websites to find reviews of TV, movies, books and other activities so they can make the best fully informed decisions about what is appropriate for their families.  Being a catholic does not begin and end with attending mass on Sunday.

My son’s WONDERFUL third grade teacher suggested that parents considering an end of the year teacher gift think about donating towards her 3 day, 60 mile walk through Susan G. Komen.  Her sister is a breast cancer survivor and she and other sisters carry the breast cancer gene.  The sisters will be walking together.  I REALLY wanted to support her endeavor and thank her for her efforts in the classroom, but I couldn’t knowingly send money toward Planned Parenthood.  I’m still conflicted, especially since I now see that the American Cancer Society is also on the Planned Parenthood boycott list.  Are we to not support cancer research?

Boycotting is certainly not easy…but there is something that we can do through a group called LIFE DECISIONS INTERNATIONAL. This pro-life group publishes a list of boycott targets and asks list subscribers to join letter writing campaigns to the CEO’s of the offending companies.  The lists are accurate and up-to-date, and LDI offers each of us the opportunity to step up and let the PP and culture of death supporters - both for-profit and non-profit organizations - know how we think and what we feel.  I encourage each of you to jump on board and add your voice to making a difference.

One Million Moms has also had excellent results and I highly recommend getting on their list and making the effort to follow-up on issues they tackle…OneMillionMoms.com

Posted by RC Supporter on Friday, Jun 8, 2012 8:23 AM (EST):The Holy Father would never call someone “filth”, he said he was “without scruples or religious sentiment.”

RC Supporter, with all due respect, but a person; in this case maciel; that is “without scruples or religious sentement” is another way of calling a person (maciel) evil.

Our approach is very similar-we do our best but we don’t let our efforts get in the way of our primary vocation. This is different for every family and NO ONE should be made to feel like they should conform to someone else’s standards. One commenter above mentioned LL Bean as an “affordable” place to buy clothes. That is just not reality for us so we should not be expected to take this advice.

Great job writing on such a sensitive subject, as always.

And really-did you have to mention Target??

Guys, THE PEPSI BOYCOTT ENDED:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/twelve-year-old-celebrates-victory-in-pepsi-boycott-after-leading-petition

They deserve our patronage, it’s not easy for a corp to listen to us.

“Social support: Does your participation lend legitimacy, in the eyes of the community, to something which is evil? I would not, for instance, send my child to a Legionaries of Christ summer camp, even if I trusted the local leader implicitly. Even if my own child were not in danger, I would not want to be a part of helping the organization thrive or appear legitimate.”

Did you really type this in an article that has to do with secular companies, corporations, and lobbies that support Planned Parenthood, LGBT agendas and other forms of supporting active pursuits of mortal sin?

‘Does your participation lend legitimacy to something which is evil?’  is the question you post, and then you type that you will not send a child to a Legionary camp. I have questions.

1.  Does that indicate that you are stating, in writing, here in the public forum, that you assume the Legionaries of Christ Congregation is evil?
2. Do you therefore assume many if not most of your readers will resonate with your opinion?
3. Is there something that I am missing here or is it not correct that when you state here that you believe that the Congregation is evil, that you therefore also mean that the priests and brothers in the Congregation are evil because the organization is the people in it?  (I am not sure if that is a philosophical error on my part, but I did not think you could separate the whole from its parts in this context.)
4. Does this perception of lending legitimacy to an evil entity extend to the whole of Regnum Christi as a corporate family and therefore the members of that movement too?

Is that what you are saying here?

Yep, an Obama bumper sticker on a vendors car was enough to make me pick another food vendor to go to at a recent fair.

being a Christian i was upset over disney’s support of Planned Parenthood so i wrote to them about my disappointment. According to them they now no longer support planned parent hood. this is the letter i got back from them.

.ffi Disneuloni
September 07 ,2012
Taylor Patrick

Dear Taylor:
Thank you for your.letter to Tom Staggs, which has been routed to our office for reply, regarding The
Walt Disney Company.
We regret to learn of your disappointment with respect to past decisions The Walt Disney Company has
made as part of our corporate giving.
About ayearago, we revised our company giving guidelines and then reviewed the organizations we
support to ensure they align with our company values. As a result, we are no longer supporting Planned
Parenthood. To read more about company giving guidelines, please visit our website, at
http:/ithewaltdisneycompany.com/citizenship/charitable-giving/giving-guidelines.
As you will learn, The Walt Disney Company does not partner with organizations which operate or
support activities that are counter to our company policies. Ultimately, we make the final determination,
and we hope you will agree with the decisions we have made thus far.
Once again, thank you for writing. We realize that you may not always agree with everything The Walt
Disney Company does, but we are confident that we do maintain a brand that you can support. We ask
that you be thorough in your knowledge of our products and fair in your judgment. We thank you for your
interest in our Company and hope that our attractions and entertainment delight you in every way.
Sincerely,
Michelle Newmar
Disneylanda Resort
Guest Experience Services
P.O. Box 3232, Anaheim, CA 92803-3232
Te|774J81.4000
O Disney

It is an impossibility to boycott all commercial supporters of those performing immoral and repugnant actions according to our Godly beliefs. However, it is possible to selectively boycott the biggest contributors at least on their best money making product(s). That tends to get attention with a decent potential to affect the practices of other busnesses. This must be done in a proactive manner of informing the sellers and the target companies why you no longer buy those products. Consumer lobyists must practice effective quality control techniques to achieve efficatous activism. Prayer is the best start to achieve any worthy goal for religious activism.