LOS ANGELES TIMES

March 7, 2008

Catholic school cancels labor leader's talk

Parent and a website contend United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta is unfit to talk to students because of her abortion views.

By Catherine Saillant
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Activist Dolores Huerta was supposed to talk to Catholic schoolchildren Thursday about her founding role in the United Farm Workers and the importance of public service.

Instead, she was fielding calls from reporters after Our Lady of Guadalupe School in Bakersfield abruptly canceled her appearance. A parent at the school had complained that Huerta's public support for abortion rights makes her an unfit role model.

Huerta said that the school's principal, Sister Eva Lujano, left a voice mail at her Bakersfield office over the weekend, informing her that she had been disinvited. Lujano was out sick Thursday and unavailable for comment, school officials said.

But the editor of California Catholic Daily, a website that published an article about Huerta's planned appearance, took credit for scrubbing the talk. Editor Bob McPhail said that after the website's reporter called the school and a diocese superintendent to ask about the talk, Lujano agreed to cancel the planned assembly for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.

"Her appearance would have created the impression that the school was overlooking her prominent role in promoting abortion," he said.

Huerta, who lives in Bakersfield and runs a foundation there, said she was puzzled by the school's action. She has been unable to reach Lujano, she said.

"I was not going to talk about reproductive rights at all," Huerta said. "I think the parents could have asked if their child could be excused."

Huerta said it was the second time in a month that a talk she had scheduled had been canceled due to protests. Last month, administrators at St. Thomas University in Texas called off an appearance citing her views on abortion.