Leslie Wright is the Team Coordinator of the New York group that represents the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) at the United Nations; Girl Scouts USA is a member of WAGGGS. Last week she cooperated with an anti-Catholic group, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC), helping them to secure new personnel.
Catholic League director of communications, Patrick Scully, spoke with Jennifer Wagner, international relations coordinator for the Girl Scouts USA, and Liz Shepard, the director of media and communications for the organization, explaining the league’s concerns. They defended Ms. Wright saying she was just passing along an e-mail message concerning the opening at CFFC. When they told Scully that the Girl Scouts were “an inclusive group,” the league spokesman asked whether they were aware that CFFC is an expressly anti-Catholic group. They said they “were not religion experts.” Pressed further, they reiterated that the Girl Scouts were “an inclusive group.”
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, spoke to this issue today:
“On October 24, the Girl Scouts of the USA will celebrate United Nations Day. How unfortunate it is that an official at the umbrella organization (WAGGGS) that the Girl Scouts USA belongs to is aiding and abetting anti-Catholicism during working hours. More unfortunate still is the fact that the tired cliché regarding ‘inclusiveness’ is being voiced by Girl Scout leaders in this country. It would be instructive to know whether their commitment to inclusiveness extends to working with bigots.
“We will lodge a protest with both WAGGGS and the Girl Scouts USA. Frances Kissling of CFFC is not merely pro-abortion, she is on record saying it is her goal to ‘overthrow’ the Roman Catholic Church. That being so, it is inexcusable that any responsible person would facilitate Kissling in her quest. We certainly hope that the top people at WAGGGS and the Girl Scouts USA take our complaint more seriously than has been our experience with the latter’s officials thus far. Ms. Wright is an embarrassment to Girl Scouts everywhere.”
