Nonprofit News and Comment

ADVOCACY

“100 Years Old, NAACP Debates Its Current Role.” By Krissah Thompson. Washington Post. July 12, 2009. At its founding a century ago, the purpose of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization was well defined: to achieve equal justice under the law for black Americans. Today, as 5,000 members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People gathered in Washington to set an agenda, little is so clear-cut. The NAACP faces a slew of questions: Has the election of the first black U.S. president marked the end of the civil rights agenda? Must an organization traditionally focused on the plight of black Americans expand its mission? What should a black civil rights organization do in 2009? The association’s new president, Benjamin Todd Jealous, who at 36 is the youngest person to ever lead the organization, envisions an NAACP primarily serving a black constituency but with a broader outlook, responding to modern times by recalibrating the its approach to issues of race. To this end, the association will host conversations on the impact of racial disparities in the criminal justice system on African American and Latino communities and on the meaning of recent Supreme Court decisions as they relate to affirmative action. It will also host a diverse panel of youth activists who are working with people of various races, ethnicities and backgrounds to deal with national and global human rights issues.

ARTS & CULTURE

“Maryhill Museum of Art finds extra money in leasing land to wind farm.” By Abby Haight, Oregonian. July 7, 2009. The Maryhill Museum of Art, located on a rural hilltop high above the Columbia River, is the first in the country to use wind-produced electricity to generate income, leasing land to one of the biggest wind farms in the country. At a time when museums around the country are struggling with declining donations and attendance, Maryhill has guaranteed itself at least $100,000 a year by leasing land for 15 turbines that are part of Cannon Power Group’s Windy Point/Windy Flats project.

“Passing the Baton; A new conductor inherits a changed New York Philharmonic.” By Juliet Chung. Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2009. The New York Philharmonic the country’s oldest orchestra, is passing the baton to Alan Gilbert, one of the youngest conductors to hold the post. Making music will only be part of Mr. Gilbert’s job: increasingly, conductors must take a more active role in fund-raising, and as music director Mr. Gilbert will be expected to court new donors along with new audiences. That aspect has grown more important since the onset of the recession. Orchestras around the country are cutting musicians’ salaries and canceling expensive European tours. The value of the Philharmonic’s endowment fell by around 30% as the markets plunged, to around $142 million, though orchestra officials say it has been recovering since. The number of subscriptions this season fell several percentage points, though strong single-ticket sales kept attendance at slightly more than 90%, unchanged from last season. For its $66 million budget this season, the orchestra faces a $3 million shortfall and an estimated $3 million deficit next season.

“Franklin Park Zoo may have to close; Patrick budget cuts also threaten Stone Zoo Some animals might have to be euthanized.” By Matt Viser. Boston Globe. July 11, 2009. The Boston area’s nonprofit zoos are threatened by state budget cuts. Government operated until 1991, the zoos converted to nonprofit ownership under the name Zoo New England. Founded in 1913, the zoo has faced closure numerous times in the past because of a lack of funding, including recently in 2002 when State House lawmakers cut its funding from $6 million to $3.5 million. The total operations budget for the zoos last year was $11 million, about 60 percent of which came from state funding. The remainder came through admissions, food and gift shop sales, membership, and fund-raising.

EDUCATION

Higher Education

“Rich Harvard, Poor Harvard.” By Nina Munk. Vanity Fair. June 30, 2009. An investigative piece explores the scope and scale of Harvard’s financial problems in the wake of the crash and seeks to assign blame for the university’s unusually poor performance. Asked to assess Harvard’s finances and assess the extent to which its endowment will be able to keep pace with its immovable costs, one hedge fund manager’s concluded: “They are completely fucked.” The university’s financial difficulties involve not only losses in the value of its endowment and lack of liquidity due to risky and exotic investments, but also significant indebtedness due to commitments to pay out endowment for major projects. In December, the university sold $2.5 billion worth of bonds to meet short-term obligations (like payroll), increasing its total debt to just over $6 billion. Servicing that debt alone will cost Harvard an average of $517 million a year through 2038, according to Standard & Poor’s. Overall, the article sets forth a panorama of greed and incompetence in the stewardship of funds that are, because of the extent to which they are subsidized by tax privileges, public assets.

“The Sad, Suffering Ivy League.” By Thomas Kaplan. Vanity Fair. July 1, 2009. Vanity Fair assesses the impact of the crash on a range of elite private colleges and universities, taking account not only of the extent of losses, but institutional responses to the financial crisis.

Charter Schools

“Menino files charter school bill; Would let districts make conversions.” By James Vaznis. Boston Globe. July 8, 2009. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino filed a bill in the Legislature that would enable local school districts to convert underperforming schools into in-district charter schools free of teacher unions. If approved, 10 of Boston’s approximately 140 public schools could undergo such a change. In-district charters run much like the state’s charter school program, which promotes education innovation by loosening the regulations under which the schools operate. The key difference between the two school types is that local school committees, rather than the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, would have the power to establish the in-district charters.

Private Schools

“Private school’s fate uncertain amid financial allegations.” By Kristina Torres and Gracie Bond Staples. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. July 6, 2009. Atlanta’s New Century School faces an uncertain future. The school, which opened in 1995 with 22 students, had by 2006 grown to 90 students in preschool through sixth grade. Last year, it moved to a new facility that “wound up being more expensive than anticipated.” The school has followed an unconventional path since it opened, offering multiage classes that allow children to move at their own pace. The following day, it was announced the Atlanta New Century School would be restructured with a new name and “new leadership [but] the same great teachers, curriculum and location.” [For related stories, see "Atlanta New Century School open for now, parents told" and "Leadership of New Century School in question."

HEALTH CARE

"Health Co-op Offers Model for Overhaul." By Kevin Sack. New York Times. July 7, 2009. Seattle's Group Health, one of the few surviving health insurance cooperatives,may serve as a prototype for a political compromise that could facilitate a bipartisan Senate deal on health reform. The cooperative, which owns a network of clinics and specialty care centers, pays its physicians salaries and bonuses rather than by visit or procedure, giving them little incentive to churn patients through and order unnecessary tests and operations. This enables the organization to deliver health care at lower cost. The use of technology has significantly increased coops' efficiency: all medical records are digitized; doctors are rewarded for consulting by telephone and secure e-mail, which allows for longer appointments; practitioners who are responsible for patients' well-being work collaboratively as primary care teams. According to company officials, Group Health’s ability to directly manage its doctors drives innovation. The cooperative structure’s primary contribution is creating a consumerist ethos that keeps the company focused on patient care. Group Health Cooperative was was founded by trade unionists and Grange members in 1947. Structured as a not-for-profit corporation, its revenues ($2.6 billion last year) are reinvested rather than distributed among members. But it is governed like a cooperative — and calls itself one — because its board consists of and is elected by members.

HUMAN SERVICES

"Detroit's Food Banks Strain to Serve Middle Class; Charities in the Region Struggle to Cope With a Surge in Demand as Once-Stable Families Seek Assistance." By Alex P. Kellogg. Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2009. State agencies and nonprofit groups serving the poor in southeast Michigan say they are seeing an unprecedented rise in demand for food assistance across the region as massive layoffs, home foreclosures and nearly a decade of economic decline, are affecting residents of Detroit's middle-class suburbs. The problem is likely to get worse in coming months as Michigan, whose 14.1% unemployment rate is the highest in the nation, faces still more layoffs in its principal industries: auto manufacturing, which is in the midst of a sweeping restructuring, and the health-care business, which is reeling from the auto makers' benefit cuts.

INTERNATIONAL

Chile

"Alternative Media Have Their Network." By Daniela Estrada. Inter Press Service News Agency. July 11, 2009. The recently created People's Media Network of Chile seeks to forge links that will strengthen newspapers, web sites and radio and TV stations that give a voice to those who are basically ignored by the mainstream media. "We want to raise the voices of Chilean social organisations to the realm of public debate, working together as people's media," said the young Chilean journalist. Currently the Chilean media are dominated by two consortiums, El Mercurio, which owns 22 newspapers, and Copesa, which owns three papers, a magazine and three radio stations, which receive the lion's share of government advertising contracts. "We believe in communication as a political tool for securing rights that are restricted by the current constitution; we believe in the strength of a broad movement aimed at bringing about change which, using both new and traditional communication technologies, exerts its influence as a third sector, a force that presents an alternative to the dominant private sector-government model," says the Network's founding document. , "The umbrella linking these media is rejection of the neoliberal (free market) model of development" and a focus on issues like political reform, citizen participation, defence of indigenous peoples and natural resources, and the protection of the rights of workers, teachers, students, women, children, immigrants and sexual minorities."

Mexico

"X-Ray of Civil Society." By Emilio Godoy. Inter Press Service News Agency. July 11, 2009. A new edition of the CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI), based on surveys of civil society organizations, external stakeholders like government, donors and academics, and the public at large, reveals what kinds of work do Mexico's civil society organizations do, how are they structured, and where do they obtain their financing. There are 9,000 officially registered civil society organizations in Mexico, although the number could be higher as registration is voluntary. They work in a broad range of areas, from care for the elderly and the fight against poverty to education, health and the promotion of human rights. According to CEMEFI (Mexican Centre for Philanthropy) statistics, there are around 15,000 social associations in Mexico providing services to third parties, most of which are involved in the areas of health and social work. These numbers lag behind countries like Argentina, Chile or the United States, which have 105,000, 300,000 and 2 million civil society organizations, respectively.A 2008 National Survey on Philanthropy and Civil Society conducted by the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) revealed that 7 out of 10 respondents expressed some degree of confidence in the country's NGOs. The survey, which touched on questions like donations, volunteer work and the social capital of NGOs, found a low level of public involvement with organized civil society. "Civil society is still in its early stages of development. There are very few NGOs, taking into account the size of the country," said José Piña, head of the Fundación Nuevo Milenio (New Millennium Foundation), which is devoted to promoting civic culture. This may be changing: A 2004 federal law to support activities carried out by civil society organizations established mechanisms to help them gain access to government funds. In 2007, the Mexican government provided NGOs with 142 million dollars in financing, representing eight percent of their total funding, 85 percent of which came from the provision of services and advice and sales of products, and only seven percent from donations. But private support for NGOs remains weak, with only 125 donor foundations mainly business foundations, family, and independent foundations.

Peru

"Three Days of Anti-Government Protests." By Ángel Páez. Inter Press Service News Agency. July 09, 2009. Trade unions and social movements in Peru have led a three-day strike to protest the economic policies of President Alan García. Activities around the country in support of the strike included roadblocks and street marches and protests. The strike and protests were called by the National Front for Life and Sovereignty, an umbrella group that has brought together the main trade union federations, small farmers' associations, the teachers union, the national association of local communities affected by the mining industry, the largest coalitions of indigenous organisations, regional leaders and left-wing political parties.

UK

"Quangos 'to be more accountable' under Tories." By Martha Linden and Joe Churcher. Independent (UK). July 6, 2009. In the wake of the scandal of elected officials excessive and sometimes fraudulent expense accounts, Britain's Labour Party has come under attack by Conservatives for permitting the proliferation of QUANGOs (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations). In a speech detailing his intention to slash the number of quangos, or "quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations", and publish the salaries of their highly paid bosses, Conservative leader David Cameron charged that their growth has been fuelled by Labour's attempts to use the bodies to insulate it from unpopular decisions. Major QUANGOs include such bodies as the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA), responsible for developing the national curriculum, Ofcom, Britain's telecoms industry regulator, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and the National Policing Improvement Agency.

"Costly, inefficient failures. Who needs them? Too many quangos are draining the public purse. They need to be made to account for themselves or be abolished." By Andrew Haldenby. Op-ed. London Times. July 6, 2009. Despite efforts to cut government spending, charges columnist Andrew Haldenby," one part of government appears immune from the new reality": "quangos — those strange, shadowy, secretive parts of British public life — are growing much faster than the rest of government. The most influential quangos, those with actual executive powers, such as the regional development agencies, employ an average of 500 people each, and each of those people spends £370,000 in public money on average each year." "Most organisations can be held to account, however imperfectly," Haldenby writes, but not quangos. "This is supposed to be their unique advantage, that they are completely independent organisations free from political or commercial interest. In practice, they are a law unto themselves. This might be an nitpicking constitutional point were it not for their cost — £35 billion to taxpayers last year, which amounts to £1,400 for every family in the country." In addition to their costliness and lack of accountability, quangos "have been responsible for some of the biggest failures in our politics." "What is needed," he suggests, "is not so much a review of these organisations but a radical change in their nature. The quango experiment can be put in the dustbin of history. Each of the 790 current quangos can then be turned into a properly accountable body — either part of government (accountable to Parliament and voters) or part of society (answerable to trustees or shareholders)."

"Poorest pupils may be guaranteed a university place by age of 15; Students at Leeds University campus; Poor but able pupils will be guaranteed a place at universities such as Leeds in the Sutton Trust scheme." By Nicola Woolcock. London Times. July 11, 2009. Bright but poor teenagers living close to elite universities would have a place there guaranteed from the age of 15 under a new scheme. Talented pupils from disadvantaged homes would benefit from the radical proposals drawn up by the Sutton Trust, an education charity that is discussing the proposals with a handful of leading universities. The Sutton Trust’s research shows that four out of five disadvantaged young people live in the vicinity of a highly selective university, such as Oxford, Leeds or Bristol, but only one in 25 of these children goes on to attend such a university. Under the plan, the Trust will identify clever children who live near prestigious universities but are unlikely to progress to higher education because they would struggle financially. They would have to achieve the minimum A-level grades for the course and agree to attend advice and support sessions. If these conditions were met they would be guaranteed a place. Evidence from similar schemes worldwide suggests that such students do at least as well academically as their classmates and prosper in life after graduation. The Trust's plan has its origins in an American programme called the “Percent” scheme, which sends a percentage of students from poorer backgrounds to their local elite university.

"The essential guide for parents. What you need to know about education and what's being talked about at the school gate." No by-line. London Times. July 10, 2009. Over the past decade, there has been the complete overhaul of scholarship criteria at the country’s most famous public [i.e. private] schools. “Bullied by the Charity Commission – and led by schools like Eton, Rugby and St Paul’s are now means testing all their scholarships. Long symbols of privilege, England’s elite private boarding schools “have in effect thrown down the drawbridge and opened their doors open to any child clever or talented enough to excel on the entrance criteria.” These changes raise the question of who will attend these schools in the future. “Will they end up as bipolar communities peopled on the one extreme by wealthy foreigners and “super-rich” British for whom fees are no object, and at the other by children on bursaries? While the central core of private school parents herd themselves into lesser known schools where means testing of scholars has not (yet) arrived?”

Uruguay

“Stitching a Future Together.” By Luis Alberto Carro. Inter Press Service News Agency. July 06, 2009. The group of women cross this Uruguayan town every morning, some on bike and some on foot, on their way to CODEMUR, a women’s cooperative that resurrected a garment factory abandoned by its owners. The women are former employees of the once vibrant textile firm Sirfil y Drymar. After the companies closed the local plant without paying the employees the back wages and holiday and severance pay they were owed, some of the women created CODEMUR (Rosario Women’s Cooperative). The coop began to operate in January. Located two blocks from the main street in this town of 9,500 people in southwestern Uruguay, the factory was rented to them by local businessman Jaime Goldansky, who gave the women their first order, of work uniforms. The women’s biggest supporters and advisers were trade unionists Luis Romero of the Funsa tire manufacturing company and Daniel Placeres of Envidrio, which produces glass bottles. Funsa closed its doors in 2002 and reopened as a worker-run factory in 2006, in partnership with a private investor. Envidrio is a workers cooperative whose members – former employees of the Cristalerías del Uruguay company – occupied the plant when it went under in 1999 and began to produce again six years later with the aid of an agreement with the Venezuelan government.

LAW & REGULATION

“Records On Priests Sex Abuse Cases Could Be Released This Month.” By Edmund H. Mahony. Hartford Courant. July 6, 2009. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport is considering a dwindling number of legal options, including a U.S. Supreme Court appeal, after the state’s high court refused to reconsider a ruling that would make public thousands of pages of documents that detail alleged sexual abuse by priests. The state Supreme Court released an order Monday denying a diocese request for an opportunity to restate its arguments against unsealing more than 12,000 pages of court records involving lawsuits against its priests.

“Hudgens foundation sues SunTrust over $8M investment.” By Paul Donsky. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. July 08, 2009. An Atlanta area foundation is suing SunTrust, charging that failed to properly disclose the risks when it invested $8 million of the charity’s money in a complex type of security, auction-rate securities, a kind of debt long billed by the financial industry as a safe place to park money while earning interest — cash with benefits, so to speak. When the market for these securities collapsed during the global financial crisis, groups like the Hudgens Family Foundation were to sell their holdings. The $8 million remains locked up, not maturing for about 35 years, said one of the foundation’s attorneys. Although regulators have cracked down on many of the financial firms that sold auction-rate securities, including SunTrust, the bank said it did nothing wrong. Last September, SunTrust paid nearly $2 million in fines and agreed to buy back some securities it had sold.

“Senators Consider Curtailing Hospitals’ Tax Breaks; Exemptions, Historically Tied to Charity Care, Expected to Fall in an Overhaul; Industry Says It’s Already Taking Hits.” By Barbara Martinez. Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2009. Senators working on health-care legislation are considering provisions to pare back the billions of dollars in tax breaks enjoyed by U.S. hospitals. More than half of the 5,482 hospitals in the U.S. are nonprofits that don’t pay federal, state or local taxes. One change being floated by Senate Finance Committee leaders Max Baucus (D., Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) is that hospitals would be required to offer a minimum amount of charity care, limit charges to the uninsured and tame their collection practices — or face an excise tax. Hospitals have a great deal rising on the outcome of this debate: the Congressional Budget Office estimates nonprofit hospitals were spared $12.6 billion in taxes annually, on top of the $32 billion in federal, state and local subsidies the hospital industry as a whole received each year. Moves are also afoot on the state level to curtail nonprofit hospitals’ privileges: nonprofit hospitals are among the biggest beneficiaries of the services provided by local governments, such as law enforcement, fire service and snow removal.

MUTUAL BENEFIT ORGANIZATIONS

“No retreat from uproar over Bohemian Club woods.” By Jane Kay. San Francisco Chronicle. July 6, 2009. San Francisco’s Bohemian Grove club has long been controversial for its exclusive men’s only membership policies and its secretive meetings which bring together some of the wealthiest and most powerful figures in American life. Now the club is under fire from environmentalists critical of its plans to log one of the largest remaining private redwood forests, which is part of a 2,700 acre tract, Bohemian Grove. The club claims that it can log the area without government permission because of its small size. Opponents argue that environmental impact reviews are necessary for every cut. Much to the club’s embarrassment, the fight has attracted the attention of national media, including Vanity Fair, which have turned it into a cause celebre over questions of environmental stewardship. Members, who pay annual dues of $25,000, include directors of the nation’s biggest companies, musicians, political leaders and celebrities.

“Elks club members serve as an economic stimulus in Portland.” By Molly Hottle. Oregonian. July 6, 2009. An estimated 10,000 members of the fraternal organization, the Elks, poured into Portland for their 145th annual convention, giving the city’s beleaguered economy a much-needed boost.

“National union seizes health care local.” By Jonathan Brinckman. Oregonian. July 07, 2009. The health care division of the American Federation of Teachers has seized control of the union local representing about 3,000 workers at the Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas and other facilities of Kaiser Permanente NW in Oregon and Southwest Washington. When the seizure occurred, local officials stated that members had been discussing withdrawal from the national organization. This is only the fourth time in the AFT’s 93-year history that it has placed a local union under temporary administratorship.

PHILANTHROPY

“Fresh Faces of Philanthropy: A Fla. Boy, 11, Helps Fight Homelessness Through Walk To D.C., Part Of a Growing Trend of Youths Who Reach Out.” By Susan Kinzie. Washington Post. July 12, 2009. Profile of 11 year-old Zach Bonner, a youthful philanthropic activist. Four years ago, Zach started his own nonprofit organization four years ago after a hurricane hit Florida. He asked his mother if they could donate their water bottles, and he gathered more from neighbors, an earnest little redheaded boy pulling his red wagon behind him. By the end, they had 27 truckloads of aid. This was the beginning of The Little Red Wagon Foundation. More recently, Zach led a 650 walk from his home in Florida to Washington to raise money to aid the homeless. The walk has raised about $50,000 for local groups. Zach is representative of a cohort of very young people who have become high-profile CEOs of their own nonprofit groups. What they are doing goes far beyond the kind of volunteering that an increasing number of young people engage in. Young philanthropists devote hundreds of hours to their causes, making appeals many donors find irresistible even in tough economic times.

“Struggling school gets a boost; Through Chaka Khan’s education foundation, low-achievers at Drew Middle School in Compton receive help from people who care about their future.” By Sandy Banks. Los Angeles Times. July 12, 2009. Profile of entertainer Chaka Khan’s foundation and its work with troubled inner city schools.

RELIGION

“‘Hugging saint’ embraces vendors too: Indian spiritual leader Amma.” Marketplace. National Public Radio. July 6, 2009. For the past 22 years an Indian spiritual leader named Amma has been touring the world preaching love and compassion and the healing power of a good hug. At 55 years old, Amma has hugged more than 28 million people since she gave her first hug in her native India, as a young girl. Amma and her retinue carry on a brisk trade in clothing and other souvenirs, as well as accepting donations. Signs at the boutique claim that 100 percent of net revenues go to her humanitarian projects in India. Her Web site says she sponsors orphanages, schools, hospitals for the poor, soup kitchens, disaster relief programs. But Amma’s volunteers refuse to discuss how much money she makes. All of her organizations are registered as nonprofit religious groups, so they’re not required to file tax returns. But the San Jose Mercury News puts her total worth in the hundreds of millions.

“Massachusetts Bible Society Commemorates Its Past, Looks to Online Future.” By Michael Paulson. Boston Globe. July 7, 2009. Massachusetts Bible Society celebrates 200 years of handing out millions of Bibles to the poor and the imprisoned in prisons, hospitals, through programs for the homeless, and on collage campuses. The society has downsized in recent years, selling its downtown Boston headquarters and closing its bookstores. Its endowment, $6.4 million before the crash has been reduced to $3.3 million. But the organization is trying to reinvent itself for the Internet Age, increasingly emphasizing its website and offering a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, and a Twitter feed. It recently spent $500,000 to construct a media center at Andover Newton to help train clergy and congregations on the use of technology.

“Church camps closing amid declining use, economy.” By Jay Reeves. Washington Post/Associated Press. July 8, 2009. The president of the Christian Camp and Conference Association, whose organization has about 950 member camps. said dozens of camps nationwide ceased operating in the last three years, and that, by the end of the summer, 10 to 15 percent of camps may decide they no longer can continue operating.” There are currently about 3,000 church-affiliated camps nationwide.

“Months to Live; Sisters Face Death With Dignity and Reverence.” By Jane Gross. New York Times. July 9, 2009. Profile of the Sisters of St. Joseph Mother House in Rochester, New York, which cares for aged and infirm sisters in their final years. The facility cares for 150 residents in assisted living studios and nursing home and Alzheimer’s units. Its activities are funded by the proceeds of the sale of the order’s old Mother House and by Social Security payments of the retired and salaries of those still working.

“50 Methodist bishops agree to pay cut.” No by-line. Boston Globe/Associated Press. July 9, 2009. Fifty United Methodist Church bishops in the United States will roll back their salaries by 4 percent next year in what Bishop Gregory Palmer of Springfield, Ill., president of the Council of Bishops, says is a gesture of solidarity with others hurt by the global economic downturn. It is also a response to the church’s financial troubles: of 63 regional Methodist conferences, only 17 paid their full share of the denomination-wide expenses last year, down from 23 in 2007.

“The City Life: What the Sisters Are Up To.” Editorial. By Francis X. Clines. New York Times. July 12, 2009. “U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny.”“>The Times on July 2 reported that the Vatican was investigating the activities of women’s religious orders in the U.S.
Such Vatican investigations called “visitations” usually focus on serious flaws like the pedophilia scandal. So, what are nuns doing wrong? That is the question being asked by the sisters and legions of Catholic laypeople. Tom Fox, editor of The National Catholic Reporter, suspects the inquiries are steeped in patriarchy and male chauvinism. “Next time, let’s have our women religious study the quality of life of our male clerics,” is Mr. Fox’s advice.

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