Reverend Monica Corsaro on the Historic and Future Role of the Clergy

Today, Reverend Monica Corsaro, Planned Parenthood's first affiliate-based Chaplain, joins Chris to discuss the historical role of the clergy in the abortion field. Brought into the Planned Parenthood fold to provide a particular level of counseling to people who were in various stages of crisis in their reproductive health decision making, Monica has gone on to be a Chaplain for various universities and other church concerns. In this episode, she shares some history of the clergy and their spiritual and practical role in ensuring the safety and health of women, and also offers her perspective on what needs to happen now that we find ourselves in this current crisis involving the fall of Roe.

Monica begins by recounting the historical role of the clergy and their spouses in the pre-Roe era, the founding of what would become the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and a particularly hopeful note from this history which may apply to the current movement forward. She and Chris go on to discuss such key players as Reverend Tom Davis and Minister Daniel Kanter, bemoan the level of religious illiteracy these day, and Monica shares a breakdown of the various religious organizations which hold pro-choice tenets. Monica also shares details about the interfaith table she has assembled, Chris offers her insights into the policies of Catholic hospitals, and together they send forth a call to action with the steps we all need to take at this crucial moment in history, bolstered by a vision of people of all faiths getting organized and working together.

The Finer Details of This Episode:

• The historical role of clergy pre-Roe
• The story of the founding of what became the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
• A note from this history that is very interesting as we go forward these days
• Reverend Tom Davis
• The current state of religious illiteracy in society
• The pro-choice religious tenets that are currently in many organized religions
• Monica’s interfaith table
• Minister Daniel Kanter and his inspirational actions
• Catholic hospitals
• Steps we all need to take
• People of all faiths organizing and working together
• A call to action

Quotes:

“We are not a theocracy. I am a religious leader. I take care of people. That's part of what I do, is my call as clergy.”

“There is no tension in that we are going to do this because we are saving lives and God trusts women. And in trusting these women who are making these decisions.”

“We have to educate people on what Christianity is.”

“I'm trying to figure out how to not scare us, but I think we need to scare everybody.”

“I really do think it's doing a little wake up call, literally a wake up call, to our sisters, brothers and siblings and saying, ‘We need to get to work.’”

“The power of the purse is great and Medicaid should not be paying people who don't follow certain kinds of rules in terms of quality of care and expectation of the community.”

“ There are lines that can't be crossed here. And I think it's incredibly important that we understand the limitations of who gets to put what ideology down anyone else's throat.”

“The United States is this wonderful place of - I like to say it's a rainbow coalition in every definition of the rainbow, like where people come from, who they love, what they do, what religion they are, brown black, white, everything in between and beyond.”

“I kind of feel like we are this great democracy, so we have some responsibilities to keep it so.”

Links:

Fall of Roe Homepage