PROGRAMS  |  CLERGY FOR CHOICE

Support Clergy Counseling; Contribute to the Clergy Consultation Fund

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is pleased to announce that we have established a fund in honor of Rev. Howard Moody and the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion. In the dark days before Roe v. Wade, when many thousands of women each year faced dangerous back-alley or self-induced abortions, Rev. Moody and the Clergy Consultation Service provided comfort, hope and access to doctors who treated women with dignity and respect. As we face renewed assaults on women’s rights to control their own reproductive lives and health, as access to abortion services and contraception is continually restricted and as women who seek these services are stigmatized, Rev. Moody’s courageous example reminds us that faith has the power to effect positive, progressive change. Forty years after the founding of the Clergy Consultation Service, Rev. Moody’s vision continues to be an inspiration to clergy, religious leaders and people of faith who respect women as moral decision-makers.

This fund will support the programs of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Clergy for Choice Network, with a special emphasis on pastoral counseling programs. The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice provides clergy with training in All Options Clergy Counseling, to develop pastoral skills in counseling women facing unwelcome or problem pregnancies. In this program, we explore all options that are available: parenting, adoption, and abortion. In addition, we offer training in Pastoral Counseling for Reproductive Loss, which teaches clergy how to counsel women and families dealing with a variety of reproductive losses, including miscarriage, stillbirth, adoption, infertility, and abortion.

Contributions to the Reverend Moody Clergy Consultation Fund will provide scholarships for clergy and seminary students to attend these trainings and seed money for trainings around the country. In addition, contributions will support conferences to teach clergy to lead All Options and Reproductive Loss trainings, to develop a cadre of trainees to spread this work as widely as possible.

The Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion’s Statement of Purpose declared that “it is our pastoral responsibility and religious duty to give aid and assistance to all women with problem pregnancies." Today the members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Clergy for Choice Network carry on the work and vision of Rev. Moody and the CCSA. The Rev. Moody Clergy Consultation Fund will help us to keep this vision alive and continue to provide women facing unwelcome or problem pregnancies or reproductive losses with unbiased, non-judgmental counseling and support.

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