As the World Congress of Families packs up its tents and leaves its fantasy world in Warsaw, participants will now have to face the harsh reality of the real world in which we all live. There will be far fewer subservient women, there will be gays living on the same block, and there will be people having premarital sex and using contraception to boot.

CFFC was at the first World Congress in Geneva in 1997 and it has to be said that not a lot has changed. These conferences are largely attended by people who are very much out of touch—even with the conservative end of the political spectrum. I spoke with an antichoice conservative journalist over the weekend, and asked him why his newspaper was not covering the event. He laughed and, in all seriousness, said that he did not want to damage the cause. The people attending the event are quite extreme in their world view although at this meeting they were forced to be more careful than usual because they realized we were watching them.

So why do we even give them the time of day? For many years Catholics for a Free Choice has done original research on the antichoice movement, especially conservative Catholic groups and individuals. It’s good for the soul, as we have discovered time and again that these groups are far less scary up close than one might think if one relied solely on their propaganda for information. They are less than the sum of their parts and reminding ourselves of this is always a useful exercise. To know them is to know their weaknesses and it always helps to expose what little there is behind the veneer of their bombast. Knowing them makes us stronger and in that spirit we are always happy to share the information we find with the movement and will make a final report on the WCF available to those who would like it.

Attendees at the WCF are so far outside the mainstream that their impact on the real world is limited. Sadly however, and we are all too aware of this fact, in some cases the ideas they represent can have an impact on people’s lives. And it is for that reason, one assumes, that the WCF met in Poland, where the conservative climate is fertile ground for anti-woman, anti-gay views. We feel strongly that the tide may be turning, but in the short run conservative policies will hold sway in Poland. 

One final thought and a promise: The attendance at the WCF by Ellen Sauerbrey, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration showed us her true colors. That she would take time out of her presumably busy schedule to mix with people who hold such reactionary, anti-woman ideas shows that she both lacks judgment and may not always act in the best interests of the many millions of female refugees for whom she is responsible.  We will make sure that people know she was here—it is important that people know with whom the U.S. administration likes to mix.

Full Coverage of the World Congress of Families:

• Read the introductory report
• Read Day 1 Report: A Small Show and an Embarrassing No-Show
• Read Day 2 Report: Worse than a Bad Dream
• Read Day 3 Report: Back on Message, WCF Still Fails to Inspire
• In their own words: Quotes from the conference
• Read brief biographies of key Catholic speakers