Dissing the Organizer: Obama, ACORN, and Catholic Action

When the Catholic Church takes up the collection November 23 for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, will Catholics in the pew know they are supporting abortion and other immoral causes?

By Stephanie Block

Over at the Catholics for Obama blog, the headline screams, “Palin Continues to Smear Catholic Action.” This preposterous thesis has been crafted from her comments about Barak Obama’s past as a community organizer. The blog contends, “Catholics across the country continue to be outraged by Republican politician Sarah Palin who repeated her smear against Catholic Action by mocking Barack Obama’s service as director of a community group sponsored by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (an arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) and led by eight Catholic parishes on the South Side of Chicago.”
Well! That’s quite a leap. Ms. Palin said nothing whatsoever about Catholic Action. It was the Catholics for Obama blogger who drew the connection between community organizing, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). There’s no secret here. The CCHD gives between a third and a half of its grants to Alinskyian organizing networks.
Alinskyian what?

If you are saying “Alinskyian, what?” you need to know that there are over 200 organizations operating in cities around the United States training social justice activists according to the theories of Saul Alinsky. Over the past 30 years, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has given millions of dollars from Catholic donations to these groups. That’s a lot of money going to train people in a very distinctive way of looking at the world and its problems.

Alinsky’s writings contain a number of disturbing premises:

“The third rule of the ethics of means and ends is that … the end justifies almost any means.”
“The seventh rule of the ethics of means and ends is that generally success or failure is a mighty detriment of ethics. ... There can be no such thing as a suc­cessful traitor, for if one succeeds, he becomes a found­ing father.”
“The tenth rule of the ethics of means and ends is that you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments. ... Moral rationalization is indis­pensable at all tunes of action whether to justify the selection or the use of ends or means.”
“An orga­nizer working for change ... does not have a fixed truth — truth to him is relative and changing.”

The book from which those “rules” are taken is called Rules for Radicals and it opens with the disturbing lines: “What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”
The reader can glean a great deal of information from those opening remarks. Machiavelli’s The Prince used to be on the Catholic index as forbidden reading (when the Church had an index) because Machiavelli was so completely amoral. The Prince and Machiavelli’s companion piece, “Discourses,” are cold-blooded examinations of political power, how it is obtained, maintained and expanded. In “Discourses” one reads: “Cunning and deceit will serve a man better than force to rise from a base condition to great fortune” and “A prince cannot live securely in a state so long as those live whom he has deprived of it.”
In The Prince, Machiavelli makes it clear that he believes the moral law does not apply to leaders. He says, for example: “So you see a wise ruler cannot, and should not, keep his word when doing so is to his disadvantage, and when the reasons that led him to promise to do so no longer apply. Of course, if all men were good, this advice would be bad; but since men are wicked and will not keep faith with you, you need not keep faith with them…But it is essential to know how to conceal how crafty one is, to know how to be a clever counterfeit and hypocrite.” (54) Elsewhere, he writes: “So a ruler…should do what is right if he can; but he must be prepared to do wrong if necessary.”
This is Alinsky’s model, rewritten for “the people.” It’s the antithesis of Catholic teaching. It cannot, therefore, be used to promote Catholic Action.

Ditching moral truth

Marxism teaches that “truth” is a social construction, determined by consensus. Alinsky teaches the same thing, writing, “An organizer....does not have a fixed truth – truth to him is relative and changing.” The organizer, for whom the “ends justify the means,” can’t be bound by moral absolutes. To support a ut ilitarian ethics, the truth must be fluid.
This is not what scripture or the Church teaches, of course. It isn’t enough that organizations acquire “good things” for their constituencies. They must accept and teach moral truth; they must be principled. A lying or bribing political lobby may win all its temporal battles, but it will have lost its soul.
Contemporary Alinskyian networks, far from repudiating Alinsky, have built upon his work: Mary Beth Rogers writes, “All participants in the Industrial Areas Foundation [the first Alinskyian network, founded in 1940] national training programs are given a reprint of a 1933 article by John H. Randall, Jr. titled ‘The Importance of Being Unprincipled’. ...The thesis is that because politics is nothing but the ‘practical method of compromise,’ only two kinds of people can afford the luxury of acting on principle...everyone else who wants to be effective in politics has to learn to be ‘unprincipled’ enough to compromise in order to see their principles succeed.”
Civic action predicated on “truth by consensus” is the antithesis of Catholic truth. It cannot, therefore, be used to promote Catholic Action.

Liberationism

Alinskyian organizing, operating within faith-based institutions, is liberationist – as in liberation theology. Liberationism uses religious language to promote socialism.
Consider again, for example, the words quoted above: “What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”
Christians don’t think in those terms. Catholic social teaching stresses the mutual dependency on God and one another that exists between the Haves and the Have-nots. They aren’t rivals. It’s an entirely different worldview.
Then there’s the pedagogy – the teaching method by which liberationists educate people into their worldview. Charlie Curran, a dissident Catholic theologian who admired Alinskyian organizing, writes: “Although Alinsky does not use the word ‘conscientization,’ there is no doubt that such a process is the cornerstone of his method….The people must learn that through their power they can bring about change. Raising consciousness is a part of Alinsky’s overarching commitment to popular education.”
Contemporary Alinskyian networks continue to use this pedagogy. Maryann Eklaund, in her Master’s thesis on one of these networks organizing in southern Texas, details the values clarification exercises – her term – its organizers used to get people to change their perspective on things. We’re talking serious manipulation of people.
Another writer, Mary Beth Rodgers, describes the same thing. “Cortes [an organizer for the Industrial Areas Foundation network, southwest region] knew that Mexican parents willingly sacrificed for their children – and often for their church. By talking about family values, could you motivate and organize people to act politically in their own genuine self-interest?...the new organization had to reach into the heart...The idea of protecting and enhancing families might make that possible.” The implication of this passage is that the religious and family values of Catholics have been used to generate a conversation between them and the organizers. The organizers use the relationship built from the Catholic values of the Mexicans to introduce another set of values – those of the organization.
That brings us to yet another element of liberationism, which is its deliberate use of scriptures and religious symbols for a political end. For example, St. Timothy’s Catholic Church in San Antonio used “new catechisms” that connected biblical and Mexican historical and cultural themes with the current issues of the Alinskyian organization to which it belonged. Now, Catholic catechisms don’t contain this sort of information. These “catechisms” were not designed to present Church teachings but the organizers’ teachings.
Liberation theology isn’t Catholic. It doesn’t support the Catholic faith any more than it supports authentic justice or truth. It cannot, therefore, be considered Catholic Action.

The big picture

What are contemporary Alinskyian organizations trying to build?
In general terms, their “vision” can be expressed as a practical philosophy of governance called variously a third way,” “participatory democracy,” or “democratic socialism.” All these terms, and others, describe a system of government that seeks to use “mediating institutions” – churches, unions, schools, and the like, held together by the relationships they have forged through the Alinskyian organization – to control all facets of its citizens’ lives.
To achieve this, Alinskyian networks are engaged in “restructuring” activities of all kinds. On the political level, they work among the Democratic Socialists of America, the New Democrats, and the New Party, and the Democratic Party. In the economic arena, they have promoted and overseen the Empowerment Enterprise Community Zones in dozens of communities. They support universal health care and are experimenting with church-based health-care clinics. They have driven federal education “reform” and are insinuated in many school-to-work programs. In short, the programs they support involve centralizing benefits that effect larger and larger groups of people.
Catholic social teaching has never supported socialism. In fact, Pius XI writes “No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true socialist.” The work of Alinskyian organizations cannot be considered – by any stretch of the imagination – to be Catholic Action.

Yet, This Is What the Campaign for Human Development Supports

Those are the foundational problems with the CCHD. Its political problems are twofold.
In the first place, millions of charitable Catholic dollars are being poured into organizing networks that are furthering a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual civic agenda. Nearly every legislative healthcare package they propose has an abortion-supportive element to it. There is not one politician of which I’m aware who has been endorsed by or emerged from these networks who publicly opposes abortion or homosexual “rights.”
By funding the Alinskyian networks, Catholics have become practical allies of the very groups they profess to oppose in the public square.
The second political problem with the CCHD collection is much worse, however. Not only does CCHD fund people whose goals are antithetical to Catholic Action but it provides the vehicle through which Catholics are systematical educated to work against Catholic Action.
How? CCHD-funded Alinskyian organizations organize in Catholic parishes, reeducating Catholic activists to work according to liberationist principles (not Catholic Action principles). There is widespread use throughout American-Catholic parishes of materials crafted to support Alinskyian organizing. The confusion, therefore, that Catholics express over fundamental moral issues and their comparative weight and urgency in public affairs isn’t just zeitgeist. It’s been systematically inculcated.

Obama and the Alinskyian Organizations

If one must fault Governor Palin comments about Obama’s community organizing experience, it’s that she minimized the seriousness of that experience. CCHD gave $40,000 in 1985 and $33,000 in 1986 to the Chicago Developing Communities Project, of which Obama was then lead organizer. It also gave millions to Gamaliel and ACORN, the Alinskyian networks that trained Obama and which today are stumping for his election.
The most recent accounting of CCHD grantees available (2006-2007) indicate that in just that one year, $1,146,000 was given to the ACORN network and well over $2 million went into the other major Alinskyian networks.
What did ACORN give us for that investment? Last year, The Seattle Times reported the biggest voter-registration fraud scheme in Washington history. Three ACORN employees pleaded guilty, and four more were charged for filling out and submitting more than 1,800 fictitious voter-registration cards during a 2006 registration drive in King and Pierce counties.” (Keith Ervin, “Three plead guilty in fake voter scheme,” 10-30-2007)
This year, an ACORN employee in West Reading, PA, was sentenced for to up to 23 months in prison for identity theft and tampering with records. A second ACORN worker pleaded not guilty to the same charges and is free on $10,000 bail.
Those are convictions from the past year. There are also examples of indictments this year, such as the four ACORN employees in Kansas City charged with identity theft and filing false registrations during the 2006 election and the Reynoldsburg fellow indicted on two felony counts of illegal voting and false registration, after being registered by ACORN to vote in two separate counties. And there are current investigations into ACORN for voter fraud all over the map:
the Milwaukee ACORN for 200 to 300 fraudulent voter registration cards;
the Cleveland ACORN for its submission of 75,000 voter registrations, many of which are fraudulent;
the New Mexico ACORN, which claims to have taken 72,000 new voter registrations in the state since January, is under suspicion for 1,100 possibly fraudulent voter registration cards turned in to the Bernalillo County clerk’s office recently.

These are recent complaints, but ACORN’s history is riddled with criminal activity. During the last major election, the Wall Street Journal did a story about ACORN. Four ACORN workers had been indicted by a federal grand jury for submitting false voter registration forms to the Kansas City, Missouri, election board; other ACORN workers were convicted in Wisconsin and Colorado and investigations, at the time the article was written, were under way in Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. [“The Acorn Indictments,” WSJ 11-3-06]

Programs that don’t work

The Wall Street Journal article points out some additional facts that have particular interest to us, two years later. “Operating in at least 38 states (as well as Canada and Mexico), ACORN pushes a highly partisan agenda, and its organizers are best understood as shock troops for the AFL-CIO and even the Democratic Party. As part of the Fannie Mae reform bill, House Democrats pushed an ‘affordable housing trust fund’ designed to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits to subsidize ACORN, among other groups. A version of this trust fund actually passed the Republican House and will surely be on the agenda again next year.”
ACORN was a tremendous force for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), created in the late 70s to force banks to make loans to low-income borrowers. Besides fighting for passage of this act, ACORN monitored banks9 9 compliance. Some analysts of the current housing crisis contend the CRA policies are in good part to blame. Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, takes the analysis a step further. The “housing bailout” package signed into law to rescue Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae with an unlimited credit line not only increases the federal debt but also gives millions of dollars to La Raza and the ACORN. [Elizabeth Williamson & Brody Mullins, “Democratic Ally Mobilizes In Housing Crunch: Acorn Leads Drive to Register Voters Likely to Back Obama; New Federal Funds,” WSJ, 7-31-08]

Brought to you, ladies and gentleman, in part by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Remember that in November

Picking the pockets of pew-sitters - Saul Alinsky and the Campaign for Human Development

Saul Alinsky was smart enough to know that money equals power and the Catholic Church has access to huge amounts every Sunday. He wanted to get some of the action for his Industrial Areas Foundation. With the help of Jack Egan, a Chicago priest and protege, the beginnings of a Catholic charity to support the poor was born: The Campaign for Human Development (later The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, CCHD).

The bishops' website describes the organization: "Founded in 1969, CCHD's pastoral strategy is empowerment of the poor through a methodology of participation and education for justice, leading toward solidarity between poor and non-poor as impelled by the Church's biblical tradition, modern Catholic social teaching, and the pervasive presence of poverty in the United States. This ministry for justice is rooted in our baptism and faith commitment." Note the language which is typical of liberation theology movements. CCHD has a history of funding exactly that type of "charity."

How could the Church possibly be involved in a movement founded by a Jewish agnostic known as Machiavelli in a suit? One whose ethics diametrically oppose Catholic principles? To a large degree it was because of his connections to modern-minded clerics who were ready to see big changes in the Church after Vatican II and apparently had few moral compunctions. Fr. Jack Egan, later a monsignor, was a protege of Alinsky's and a founder of the campaign. He also was a facilitator of the original Call to Action conference in Detroit in 1976 organized by the bishops to listen to the concerns of the people. The conference was taken over by change agents in the church, horrifying some of the naive bishops but leaving liberal Catholics chortling and optimistic that doctrinal change was coming on a wide range of issues. There was nothing accidental about all this. It was the culmination of strategies right out of the Alinsky handbook.

Read the Wanderer Forum report A Commentary on Catholic Campaign for Human Development Funding of the Industrial Areas Foundation

Press Release: "Just Say No!" to the CCHD Collection

PRESS RELEASE - Catholic Media Coalition 

Contact: 

Mary Ann Kreitzer
540-459-9493 

kreitzr1@shentel.net

“Just Say No!” to the CCHD Collection
November 11, 2014

#NoBucksintheBasket! #BoycottCCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development) this Weekend!

Hold on to your wallet this weekend when dioceses across the country use flimflam to try to convince you that giving to progressive community organizing groups that support intrinsic immorality will help the poor. Yes, that's exactly what the CCHD collection does and its roots are core deep in Marxism. Michael Hichborn describes the origins of CCHD in a great article at the Lepanto Institute:

The Marxist Core of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development

Redirect CCHD Money to Catholic Schools!

I received an email letter today that I've printed below and it gave me an idea. Without a good education, many are condemned to lifelong poverty. So instead of putting money in the collection basket this week for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, donate instead to a faithful Catholic school serving the poor. If we really want to end poverty (the stated goal of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development), educating the children of the poor is a powerful way to do it.

Not a penny to community organizers - every cent to grants to make Catholic schools affordable for the poor. In inner cities Catholic schools are often the only alternative to failing public schools that put out functional illiterates. The $200 million dished out over the past 40 years by CCHD and funnelled into community organizing groups like ACORN was often spent to undermine Catholic teaching. Think of the impact if that money had instead been used to educate young people to be the future leaders in their communities as well as exposing them to the truths of the Catholic faith. 

And now the letter:

To whom it may concern,



I attended a meeting on Monday evening with about a couple of hundred others including Mayor Amicone, Councilwoman Gronowski, Councilman Murtagh among others. This meeting concerned the designation by the Archdioces of NY of Christ the King,school, Yonkers (along with St. Bartholemew and St. Mary locally) as "At Risk" of closing due to the Archdiocese possibly ending subsidy.


The Catholic Church has a three fold mandate from it's Founder, Jesus Christ, to teach, to govern and to sanctify. Clearly, the idea of closing schools in order to strengthen them is Newspeak and has no foundation in reality. One of the questions that evening was "Where is the money from the Cardinal's Appeal? If it went to the needy-tell them we need it!"


Those funds may be long gone, however this Sunday(Nov 21st) the Church will ask everyone to contribute in a second collection to something called the "Catholic Campaign for Human Development"or CCHD. Ostensibly this money is for the poor. However, it's real purpose is funding Socialist community orginizations which "empower" people to revolution along a path developed by Saul Alinsky who dedicated a book to "that first revolutionary -Lucifer!"


I would ask you to print or publicize this letter in the hopes that those who read it shall refrain from the second collection for the CCHD and instead send the money they would have donated to one of the above mentioned "At Risk" schools. Kindly make it clear that the money you send is marked "for the school".


Thank you in advance,


Denis Giannelli


The Fr. Fahey Institute


Yonkers

Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Group Funds Pro-Abortion Partners

The Canadian bishops have a fund-raising organization similar to Catholic Relief Services here in the United States. But this video reminds me of another U.S. Catholic "Charity," the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Besides the word "development" in their name, these groups have a big thing in common -- advancing abortion and other anti-life activities. While you watch the video reflect on CCHD money funnelled into campaigning for the most pro-abortion, pro-infanticide man to ever sit in the oval office. CCHD not only funded ACORN for years after its serious problems were revealed, but groups like the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) that infiltrates churches and turns them into community organizing/liberation theology components that work to establish socialism.

For articles on CCHD and anti-Catholic elements of the groups they fund visit SperoForum.com. In the search box in the upper right type in Stephanie Block. You will discover a wealth of information about Alinsky type organizing. One of Alinsky's principles was to manipulate the churches to gain both power and money to remake cultures into his socialist utopia. Stephanie has spent years exposing the rotten fruit growing from Alinsky's infiltration of the churches, especially the Catholic Church through his relationship with Msgr. Jack Egan of Chicago. For years CCHD supported groups actively engaged in abortion. After long criticism spearheaded by The Wanderer, CCHD stopped funding some unabashed pro-abortion groups. They changed their name by adding "Catholic" and continued funding groups that work closely with those that advance abortion, contraception, and same-sex marriage. Millions of dollars are taken from Catholics and diverted to liberal groups whose goals are diametrically opposed to Catholic teaching.

For articles on this blog about Catholic Campaign for Human Development go here. And keep in mind that if you give to this November collection, you are part of the problem. It's not too early to start urging your friends to boycott CCHD and asking your bishop to pass the basket for pro-life instead of for CCHD. The biggest cause of poverty in the United States is the breakdown of the family. The best way to eliminate poverty is to strengthen the family.

The Children of the World are Shrewder than the Children of Light

You gotta give President Obama credit for being one shrewd puppy. Last August he held a conference call to promote his health care initiative sponsored by a number of "religious" groups (under the name 40 Days for Health Reform) that attracted 140,000 participants. The "Catholic" sponsors on the list included well known dissent groups Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United. Both are George Soros-funded fronts which use the name Catholic to imply Church support while actually working to promote abortion, same sex "marriage" and other abominations condemned by Church doctrine. Their purpose is to neutralize the true Catholic voice which is pro-life and pro-family. If you examine their beliefs and agenda you find they are more in line with a leftist political agenda than traditional Catholic morality.

The sad thing, however, is that the Catholic Church helped stage this morality masquerade through the funding of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) collection. Among the groups listed as supporters for the "40 Days" initiative is the Gamaliel Foundation. Gamaliel receives a significant amount of its funding from CCHD to advance its liberal agenda.

To see the intimate and lucrative connection between Gamaliel and the bishops, a few illustrations suffice. In 2002 Rev. Robert J. Vitillo, then Executive Director of CCHD addressed the GAMALIEL Foundation and accepted an award on behalf of the bishops. Among Fr. Vitillo's comments were these:

The Campaign has particularly enjoyed its work in solidarity with projects affiliated with the Gamaliel Foundation. Over the years, CCHD offered approximately $7 million to 188 Gamaliel-affiliated projects. CCHD is especially grateful for your foundation's work in the areas of metropolitan organizing.

Gamaliel is a leader in promoting President Obama's health care plan. The group is a member of Health Care for America Now, a coalition that, according to researcher Stephanie Block, "includes several other Alinskyian organizing networks, such as ACORN, as well as some pro-abortion groups like the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. And DART – the Direct Action and Research Training Center." According to Block, Gamaliel affiliates rake in 4-5% of CCHD grants. While they claim to take a neutral position on abortion, Gamaliel's activist role in promoting Obama's universal government health care partnering beds them with radical advocates of unrestricted abortion. How compromised can you be? Can an organization actively working with radical advocates of abortion, abortifacient birth control, forced participation of health care workers against their consciences, etc. still claim neutrality? Gamaliel's buddies in the network are proponents of the liberal creed including positions anathema to Catholics. Faith in Public Life is one of the umbrella group that pulls together faux religious communities to neutralize moral issues in the public debate. Spearheaded by Jim Wallis, head of the liberal Sojourners, Faith in Public Life has been very effective at shilling for liberals including Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas governor so enamored with late-term abortionist George Tiller.

On their website, Gamaliel proudly acclaims their relationship with President Obama and his roots as one of their community organizer. Gamaliel is deeply rooted in liberalism. That the Catholic Church would fund this group that does little to actually help the poor, but much to radicalize the Church to engage in advancing the liberal agenda is a scandal that continues year after year. Catholics need to realize that not only is CCHD funding liberalism around the country primarily focused on creating support for Democratic pro-abortion, pro-sodomy polticians, but it also funds "education" in parishes that teaches the principles of liberation theology. Instead of planting mustard seeds that grow into trees of faith, CCHD plants ACORNS that grow into Catholic dissent groups.

Boycott CCHD (The collection is taken up in most diocese in November.) and ask your bishop to boycott it as well. The money that goes to CCHD will not go to the poor. In fact grants to groups working directly to feed and shelter the hungry and perform other corporal works of mercy ARE SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED. They are ineligible for CCHD grants which are reserved for "empowering" the community. The "charity" was developed specifically to fund Saul Alinsky networks. Msgr. Jack Egan and Saul Alinsky were the brains behind it, with the help of Cardinal Deardon, finding a way to funnel Catholic money into liberal political groups masquerading as non-partisan non-profits.

Wake up and smell the coffee! CCHD operatives are all about advancing, not the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of this world. Don't be an enabler. It's time for Catholics in the pew to be as shrewd as the Gamaliel community organizer in the White House. Just say no to the CCHD this year. There are plenty of real charities that deserve your support.

Thirteen news stories designed to tear back the curtain on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) or perhaps a more accurate description: Catholic Cash Helping Democrats.

Are Catholic Charities Really Catholic?

There once was a time when Catholics could put their envelopes in a special collection for one of the bishops' charities confident that the money would be spent in accordance with Catholic teaching. That time, unfortunately, is long past. And, in fact, some charities, like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) have, from their inception, supported organizations working in direct opposition to the faith. One would like to think that CCHD is an aberration, but, judging from other major Catholic charities, it is not. Caritas Internationalis, Catholic Charities, and Catholic Relief Services all have abused the trust shown to them by Catholics in the pew.

The pope's recent condom statement brought a cheerful reaction from Caritas Internationalis which works with AIDS programs. They released a statement welcoming the pope's comments on condoms. It included this quote from Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight:

“The Pope’s reported comments in this book illustrate the importance of compassion and sensitivity in dealing with the complexities of HIV/AIDS prevention. Caritas delivers its HIV/AIDS programmes in line with Church Teaching and we will consider, in close consultation with the Holy See, whether there are implications for our work in these reported comments of Pope Benedict.”

Shall I translate that for you. "Hey, we've always supported condoms now we look forward to doing it openly with the pope's approval." Is that a slur on Caritas? I don't think so. Unfortunately, all the major Catholic charities are tainted by the fact that they take massive amounts of money from the government and anti-life foundations that support condom distribution and other anti-Catholic solutions to worldly problems. On top of that the charities commonly hire liberals who personally oppose Church teaching to fill key jobs. They also participate in coalitions that include organizations that support abortion, homosexuality, and are enemies of the traditional family.

Caritas is no different. Caritas-Europa, for example, is a member of End Poverty, a group that includes Planned Parenthood International and other problematic members like the European Social Action Network (EASN). They describe themselves as a "coalition of European NGO (non-governmental organization) networks." Their goal is "to advocate for a strong political legacy" (stress in the original)in the European Union (EU). Now what exactly does that mean?  

If you examine End Poverty's goals they includes the usual assortment of liberal issues: redistribution of income, environmentalism, elimination of "social exclusion" for any groups (including LGBT), etc. Building a "strong political legacy," they say, requires "A new overarching social and sustainable EU strategy, based on fundamental rights (stress in original), which puts people and planet first and makes progress on eradicating poverty and inequality a pre‐requisite in the development of all EU policies." Sounds impressive, but terms aren't defined and some of the language about rights and inequality has been used in other international documents and at United Nations meetings to mean the right to abortion and special rights for LGBT groups. Since some members of the coalition support abortion and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is an attack on the family through an attack on parental authority, healthy skepticism is appropriate. And what exactly is a Catholic charity doing supporting "redistribution of income" in the first place? Forced charity is an oxymoron and violates justice.

While paying lip service to "putting people first," there's not one word in End Poverty's document about protecting the rights of the most vulnerable person, the unborn child, or defending the rights of the family. Since the breakdown of the family is the greatest cause of poverty, ignoring the family altogether is inexcusable, but not surprising considering the anti-family agenda of some of the members.

Caritas is certainly not alone in their questionable actions.Anyone paying attention to national and international Catholic charities knows, for the most part, they aren't really Catholic at all. Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is notorious! So is Catholic Charities which lost its soul years ago when it chose  political activism and government money over the corporal works of mercy and the Catholic rule of subsidiarity. In my own diocese, Catholic Charities ran a teen sexuality program in the 80s (funded by a government grant) that used Planned Parenthood materials and featured speakers who undermined Church teaching. My husband and I attended with our son and I specifically remember the doctor who said "masturbation is no problem" to this group of 13-year-olds.

What about Catholic Relief Services? In 2008 Catholic World Report (CRS) ran an exposé on the international charity titled The Church Betrayed by moral theologian Germain Grisez. Grisez went into extended detail on an AIDS education program that used materials developed by CRS implying that condoms were the best way to avoid AIDS (after a passing mention of abstinence) and masturbation was an acceptable alternative form of sexual expression. (They used the term massage, but one gets the idea.) Fornication was implied as well even for teens. The program included a "flip chart" developed by and the property of CRS with their logo deliberately excluded. Apparently, the powers that be recognized the ticklish situation if they were known as the authors of the problematic materials. And so CRS covered it up. In fact, Jared M. Hoffman, an executive with CRS headquarters in Baltimore, in a letter accompanying the CD with the educational materials, which was sent out to "colleagues" in many countries, specifically forbade the CRS logo from appearing on them. Why? "CRS," Hoffman wrote, "has chosen not to include the CRS or AIDSRelief logo on the flipchart, due to the potential sensitivity of the information contained in these materials among Church partners."

Professor Grisez called for the bishops to investigate CRS, but Archbishop Timothy Dolan, head of the CRS board, sent a letter to his brother bishops after the article was published assuring them that all was well, and no investigation was needed. He also defamed Professor Grisez by misrepresenting the article and accusing him of saying things he never said. It was business as usual at a big Catholic charity, something that has become all too familiar to Catholics in the pew.

Unfortunately, the strategy of the bishops for addressing scandals that regularly arise about their so-called Catholic charities is: 1) circle the wagon, 2) drag out a barrel of whitewash to cover up the scandal, and 3) spin the facts to assure everyone that what happened was, of course, an aberration, a misunderstanding, a mistake that will never be repeated....until the next time. And you can be sure there will be a next time because those administering these charities are often liberals who oppose Church teaching and think the world's solutions are best. Church bureaucracies are filled with them and most of the bishops seem perfectly content to turn a blind eye to the problem.

So what's a faithful Catholic to do? Personally, I won't give a nickle to any of the establishment Catholic charities which will use my money, at least some of the time, to attack my beliefs. In the meantime, I give to groups I trust. The answer in the long run, I believe, is the establishment of a truly Catholic charity run by the laity that follows Catholic principles faithfully, refuses entanglement with the culture of death by taking no money from the government, supports only Catholic charitable programs, and hires only faithful Catholics as administrators, field workers, and grant reviewers. Such an institution is long overdue. Pray for the Lord of the harvest to raise one up that will produce an abundance of good grapes instead of a devastated vineyard filled with rotten fruit.

Nothing's Changed at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development

The shell game continues at the U.S. bishops' conference. Don't believe the empty promises about reforming the leftwing "charity." BOYCOTT CCHD!

Thirteen bishops refused to participate last year in the Catholic Campaign for Human Developement (CCHD) collection taken up in most dioceses the weekend after Thanksgiving. Ostensibly to help the poor, CCHD is notorious for refusing direct aid to the poor, funneling money instead into radical leftwing organizations. Recently the bishops established a review and reform committee and now claim that CCHD is fixed. Forget it! CCHD is still the same group as it began -- formed to pick the pockets of Catholics in the pew to pass it to radical groups some of which work for abortion, contraception, and the election of liberal politicians like Barack Obama who advance socialism.

Stephanie Block, a researcher who has followed CCHD for at least 25 years, reviewed their recent report and finds it unconvincing. There is NO reform of CCHD! Just like the bogus reform of 1998 when the group was exposed for giving money to pro-abortion organizations and added "Catholic" to its name, the latest fix is the same cosmetic cover-up.

Read the articles below and boycott CCHD this November.

USCCB "Review and Renewal of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development" betrays utter lack of reform

Liberal priests oppose CCHD reform efforts in Chicago (Exclusive)

 CCHD critics raise new questions on grants to radical groups

 CCHD Coalition Finds Radical Group Featured in Bishop's Renewal Document; Urges Delay of Annual Collection

"Charity Begins at Home." Just ask the Catholic CEOs with their exorbitant salaries!

The Catholic bishops are suing the government. Are we surprised? Isn't that what leftists always do when the gravy train is under threat. How many times has Planned Parenthood sued to keep their baby-killing machine at full speed ahead supported with billions from the taxpayers?

Of Silly Comments, Name-Calling, and the USCCB

Well today was a red-letter day. I've been called a lot of things: a fat cow (I admit I'm overweight.), a schismatic and excommunicated Catholic, a Protestant. Really, I was even once called a feminist. That blew my mind since I've fought the radical feminists for decades. But name-calling is often preceded by brain death. The "little gray cells" go on vacation.

The New CCHD Strategy

I've noticed during the past few weeks that our bulletin listing of upcoming collections for the rest of the year omits the traditional CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development) collection usually taken up in November the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Regular readers of this blog know CCHD is notorious for funding groups with links to abortion, same-sex marriage, and the election of liberal politicians I'd like to think the Diocese of Arlington is opting out of the CCHD collection, but that is too much to hope for. What's more likely is implementation of strategies cropping up around the country in some dioceses: bait and switch or the bob and weave. In some places the collection is being rolled into other collections, or the date is being changed, or it is being taken up different weekends at parishes in the same diocese. It appears that, rather than correct the problems with CCHD, many bishops are gaming the collection. Hey, if nobody knows when the collection will occur or if it's hidden under another name, opponents will have a hard time organizing a boycott.

In the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., as reported by Restore D.C. Catholicism, this year's collection was switched to August and combined with the Catholic Communications Campaign. The diocese retitled it the Catholic Communications and Human Development Campaign. The Diocese of Superior lists the CCHD campaigns on its calendar for June in 2012 and 2013. Is this a change for them? I don't know. I couldn't find anything on previous years. See here for a number of articles on this year's collection in D.C.

According to friends around the country, fellow members of the Catholic Media Coalition, similar things are happening in their own dioceses. To me it seems just one more indictment of CCHD. No other national collection gets disguised with another collection or gets the date-changing bob and weave treatment. But CCHD is a special case and last year, under increasing scrutiny, they brought out the big guns to go after the enemy, their critics, who must be isolated, and discredited. Unfortunately for CCHD, it's an impossible job when there is so much evidence that indicates serious problems. All you have to do is look at the list of the 2010-2011 grantees on the USCCB website to see that community organizing groups are still among CCHD's main "charities."

To be fair, the devious strategies being used to disguise the collection are not universal. Some dioceses clearly identify when CCHD will be collected. The Diocese of Davenport for example announces it on their website. And some, like the Diocese of Kansas City, MO, announced last year that they were dropping all the community organizing groups from their local grants. A handful of bishops in the past few years have declined to take up the collection at all or took it up, but distributed it locally or to organizations outside the CCHD national grant system.

The problems with CCHD continue and are systemic. They are symptomatic of the problems with the entire social justice arm of the Catholic Church. Many of the professionals working for social justice "charities" are liberal cafeteria Catholics who support abortion, same-sex marriage, and other issues that violate Church teaching. They sit on boards of pro-abortion groups; contribute to liberal pro-abortion, pro-homosexual politicians; and often publicly dissent from Church teaching. Their approach to social justice is to forever demand increased government funding "for the poor" which often goes instead to the bureaucracies who claim to work for the poor but actually work to advance the liberal agenda. In view of government's "charity" to Planned Parenthood and other evil organizations that work for population control to eliminate the poor, the idea that somehow government is the solution is flawed to say the least.

Watch ALL's report from last year about CCHD. And be alert to "special collections" and where they are really going. Last year over seven million was collected and distributed by the national CCHD office. That's  I wonder how much of that money really went to help the poor and how much went to promoting philosophies that undermine Catholic teaching. Seven million buys a lot of grease for the liberal skids.

American Life League was Right After ALL

As soon as American Life League (ALL) and Reform CCHD NOW released their latest report on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) showing how it has increased its funding of objectionable groups, CCHD went into overdrive to discredit them. All their info was rehashed, we were told, exaggerated and innacurate. CCHD had investigated. ALL has an agenda. Yada-yada-yada. Well, it appears that ALL was right after all -- at least in one recent case raised by ALL which leads astute readers to ask, "How many others." See here.

Turns out that that the NYC AIDS Housing Network lied about not violating Church teachings and that, in fact, they distribute condoms, an act that not only violates Catholic teaching, but is counterproductive in controlling AIDS as the experience in Africa shows. (The only program showing significant reduction of AIDS is the one promoted in Uganda, premarital abstinence and marital fidelity. That's the real solution to the AIDS crisis. See here. African countries with the highest rate of condom distribution also have the highest rate of AIDS.)

But I digress. The fact is that CCHD, with all their "vetting" and all their paid bureaucrats working in chanceries around the country and at the national office in D.C., can't find the material that a few activist researchers, mostly volunteers, turn up easily.

May one be forgiven for thinking that CCHD is the one with an agenda that includes funding liberal organizations and electing liberals to state and national government? How many other grantees have CCHD bureaucrats "vetted" who are actively engaged in undermining Catholic teaching and promoting liberalism? As I've written before in, "Who to believe?", CCHD is far from trustworthy.

For my part I'll stick with ALL, Reform CCHD Now, Stephanie Block, the Catholic Media Coaltion, The Wanderer, and the all the other trumpet blowers who believe CCHD is all about funneling money into Alinsky groups and electing liberals who will work to empower, not the poor, but the community organizers. It's been going on for decades. Why should we believe things have changed? I agree completely with Janet Baker of Reform D.C. Catholicism, a member of the Catholic Media Coalition who outlined the horrible treatment of Rey Flores in Chicago who tried to reform the local organization and direct money to truly worthy organizations. Rey was fired for doing what every CCHD officer should be doing! Here's what Janet wrote after noting the injustice to Flores from this "social justice" organization:

It is my serious contention that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development is beyond reform. It is a blight upon Catholicism that should be abolished as soon as possible. At the very least, it should be stripped of the name "Catholic" (which it did not have originally) and expunged from the Church. Let's boycott any and all future collections and starve this nefarious beast. (See article.)

In 2009, I made the video below to alert folks to CCHD's corrupt agenda. Nothing really has changed despite all the huffing and puffing at the bishops' conference. Who do you trust to spend your charity dollars wisely? CCHD or yourself? When the CCHD collection comes to your parish in a few weeks, drop  an acorn in the basket. It isn't just nuts who are running things at the CCHD; the organization is an enemy of the Church.

Pray for the Soul of Archbishop William Borders

Reading my diocesan paper, The Arlington Catholic Herald, is almost always a head-shaking exercise. Most of the articles are from Catholic News Service, a less than orthodox source. Dissenting Catholics often get a glowing report or there's an article promoting a local group well known for undermining the faith. It's sad to say the least.

Today there was a CNS obituary piece on Archbishop William Borders, the 13th Bishop of Baltimore who served from 1974-1989. He died on April 19th at the age of 96. The sub-headline of the obit said he was "known for social justice and [a] pastoral approach to leadership." I couldn't hold back a derisive snort when I read that. My dad, career navy, made his last home in the Baltimore Archdiocese when he bought a home in Elkridge in 1964. He and my mom became very active in their local parish, St. Augustine's, where Dad was a volunteer organist for a number of years and Mom was the pro-life chairman and organized buses for the March for Life. She was still doing the March in her 80s pushing a walker because of her bad knees. My parents had first-hand experience of Borders' record of "social justice" and "pastoral" leadership since they served the Archdiocese longer than he did.

Archbishop Borders almost drove my dad out of the Church after he appeared with radically pro-abortion Jesuit Fr. Robert Drinan on a talking heads program. I don't remember the specifics but that may have been the year the priest was selected to keynote the archdiocese's social ministries convocation (1982). The archdiocese was notorious for the dissenters approved by Borders during those years. Among the annual speakers for the convocation were Monika Hellwig, Fr. Richard Rohr, and Fr. Richard Fragomeni. Yes, Borders was an expert at advancing those who used "social justice" as a platform for undermining the faith. His work with the Campaign for Human Development (CHD - later Catholic Campaign for Human Development) set the roots in place for the on-going scandal that still exists today. The first speaker for his convocation was Msgr. Jack Egan who helped Saul Alinsky get his hand in the collection basket in the first place.

I can certainly understand my dad's frustration with the Archbishop that made him angry enough to want to leave. I've felt that way myself. (As they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.) Fortunately for my dad, my mom shrugged over the archbishop's betrayal and, like St. Peter, said, "Where will we go?" And, not surprising for two cradle Catholics who raised their ten children in the faith, they both died in the heart of the Church consoled by the sacraments and surrounded by their children and grandchildren. No thanks, I might add, to Archbishop Borders.

Daddy died in 1985 and Mom died in 2002. I'm asking them both to intercede for Archbishop Borders who did all he could to advance dissent during his tenure in Baltimore. May God have mercy on his soul.

ALL and CCHD: Who to Believe?

The American Life League (ALL) recently released a report of the on-going problems with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the bishops annual anti-poverty collection. The report indicates that problems with CCHD have increased in the past year and that the bishops' charity is actually funding more bad organizations than it did last year despite its well publicized review of the process. The response from CCHD to the ALL report was a brief news release accusing ALL of releasing rehashed and innacurate data that is without substance. Hmm...who to believe?

This debate isn't new; it's raged now for several decades. CCHD claims to be helping relieve poverty, while critics point out that many of the recipients of Catholic money diametrically oppose Church teaching and work to organize for abortion and homosexual rights. So what about the latest round in the debate? Who's right? On which side does the balance of truth fall?

ALL released a 200 page report outlining the offending organizations with specifics about those involved in, for example, condom distribution, promotion of homosexuality, etc. The brief response from CCHD and the two page press release from bishops involved with the program at the national level claim the allegations are rehashed and recycled information that are without substance and that the organizations have been reviewed. They also accuse ALL of pushing an agenda without addressing any of the specifics in the ALL report. In essence, their response was, "We've vetted the organizations and they're fine. Trust us."

Stephanie Block addressed the CCHD response in a cogent piece at SperoForum: Without Substance: The debate over the Catholic Campaign for Human Development goes on and on... Block is an expert on Alinsky organizing and has researched the bishops charity for over twenty years including its direct ties to Alinsky community organizing groups.

After years of disinformation from the CCHD and a history of funding liberal causes, it's hard to take their two page denial and attack of ALL seriously. As Block points out, with specific examples from CCHD's most recent grant report, the organization continues to funnel Catholic dollars into objectionable organizations that are less interested in alleviating poverty than in promoting political causes that often violate Catholic teaching. As Block says, the debate goes on and on and unfortunately so does the reality that CCHD simply can't be trusted.

To read the ALL report, the bishops' memo, and the CCHD response go here. Decide for yourself whether the information is rehashed, recycled, and without substance.

Catholic Campaign for Human Development Funds Groups Calling to Kill Cops! #DefundCCHD

US Bishop’s Agency Funds Groups Calling for the Killing of Cops, Rebellion and Rioting

The Lepanto Institute exposes the abject evil of of CCHD. They are a major contributor to Marxist community organizing. The goup was poison from the beginning, a plan hatched by Msgr. Jack Egan and Saul Alinsky to pick the pockets of American Catholics using the poor as window dressing.

Turn up the heat on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development

USCCB's Social Justice Arm Under Scrutiny

If you want to know what really matters to someone, look where they put their resources, especially their money. Since 1969, four years before Roe v. Wade, the bishops have been taking up the annual collection for the Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) ostensibly to "help the poor." Now I expect most Catholics who drop money in the basket think that means feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, care for the sick, visit the imprisoned, etc. But that's not the CCHD understanding of helping the poor. No, every program of that type is BANNED under CCHD guidelines: Mother Teresa's homes for AIDS patients - ineligible, crisis pregnancy centers that serve the poor - ineligible, shelters and soup kitchens - ineligible. That's right: no direct services that help the poor are funded by CCHD. They are specifically ineligible for grants.

No, the way CCHD helps the poor is to feed the organizer, shelter the organizer, clothe the organizer, pay a salary to the organizer etc. so he can go out and gather the poor to sit in at banks, shut down hospital emergency rooms with bogus medical problems, and other "creative" but legal ways to harrass, intimidate, and demand whatever the organizers and the people want - usually more government services or private funding (protection money) from the targeted institutions. Sometimes what they get backfires. Economists agree that sub-prime lending and affirmative action loans to those who couldn't afford them, a primary goal of ACORN and the Industrial Areas Foundation, fueled the housing crisis and the current foreclosure debacle. Are the poor and middle class who got into homes they couldn't afford better off for being foreclosed on and losing everything? Who helped it happen? ACORN and other community orgnizations funded by the CCHD. And who helped elect the most pro-abortion politician in history? Again, the organizers with funding from the CCHD.

Now it would be reasonable to think that a Church that articulates so clearly the evils of abortion, euthanasia, and other anti-life measures, would put their money where there mouth is. So after 1973's Roe v. Wade decision, one would expect the bishops to institute a national pro-life collection focused on ending abortion. They could easily have substituted it for the CCHD collection since destruction of the family is a primary cause of poverty. But they did not.

There is not and never has been a national Catholic collection to fund groups that fight abortion and assist women in crisis pregnancy centers. The bishops' bureaucracy at the national level has very single-mindedly advanced liberalism while actually undermining the pro-life movement. (I could give an extensive description of the ways the first head of the National Right to Life Committee at the USCC, Msgr. James McHugh, later Bishop McHugh, undermined the laity's pro-life efforts, but that's the subject of another article.) At any rate, while millions of dollars have been collected under false pretenses from people in the pew and used to advance liberal issues and elect pro-abortion politicians, pro-lifers depended on their local dioceses, parishes, Knights of Columbus groups, and the faithful laity to defend the rights of the innocent and weak not only with fine words, but with cold cash.

With all the scandals we've seen in the past few years with CCHD, it's time for the bishops to take action against this blot on their honor. They have been too trusting of their own bureaucracy which is filled with liberal moles who are Catholic in name only willing to compromise the lives of 4,000 babies murdered every day in abortion mills around the country. It's time to replace the CCHD collection with a pro-life one.

Your Excellencies, to your national body we say: Stop funding the enemies of life and put OUR money where your pro-life mouth is!

As an addendum I will just mention one organization here in Virginia being funded by a $40,000 2009 CCHD grant. VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement) is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation. It is an interfaith coalition of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Islamic congregations. Their three main issues at present are to lobby the government to build more low-income housing, provide dental care, and for immigration (read amnesty for illegals) "reform." They use mass meetings which generally feature liberal politicians who agree to advance their agenda including more public services and college tuition for illegals. Two well-known liberal priests in the diocese, Fr. Tuck Grinnell and Fr. Gerry Creedon, are up front organizers for the group. At one of the meetings someone suggested working to end abortin and the idea was booed. Many of the churches involved are loud and proud supporters of abortion, gay rights, and same sex marriage. Is this what Catholics in the pew think they are supporting when they put their money in the CCHD collection?

OPEN LETTER TO PRIESTS ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CAMPAIGN FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Dear Father,


You are no doubt well aware of the on-going controversy surrounding the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). The recently released American Life League report evaluating CCHD grants found that the situation in 2010 was worse than the previous year. Sadly, the same scenario has repeated, like an endless loop, since CCHD’s establishment in 1969. Concerned Catholics expose grantees who directly or indirectly promote abortion, contraception, liberation theology, the gay agenda, etc. CCHD engages in “reform,” but the objectionable grants continue. In this latest go-around, CCHD has attacked ALL and others accusing them of an “agenda” and claiming their critique is rehashed information. But within weeks of ALL’s exposé, CCHD defunded a group in the report.

Recently Real Catholic TV entered the fray with a CIA (Catholic Investigative Agency) review on CCHD which is devastating. Twenty-four percent of the collection last year went to groups that either directly or indirectly support abortion, contraception, the homosexual agenda including same-sex marriage, and cultural Marxism. Real Catholic TV exposed several additional groups besides the ALL list. The fact is, millions of dollars collected through CCHD from unsuspecting Catholics went to these evil organizations.

Serious questions must be addressed with regard to the annual CCHD collection:

Just Faith: It Ain't Catholic Social Justice!

My friend Stephanie Block has a terrific article at SperoForum which I've posted below about the Just Faith program. It has popped up all over the country in parishes ostensibly waking people up to their need to be invovled in "social justice." Unfortunately, like many community organizing groups and like the CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development), Just Faith focuses on worldly solutions to social problems and, in the process, partners with Planned Parenthood and other enemies of Christ. Oh, and of course, the answer to most problems is to lobby the government for forced redistribution of income by taxation, etc., etc.

Isn't that odd for Catholic action? Do you see Jesus lobbying the Romans for bread and circuses for the poor? No, that's Caesar's way of keeping the population dumb and dumber and under control while they persecute and kill off the trouble makers in the ring. (Hmm....why does that make me think of Democrat welfare policies and the persecution of pro-lifers?)

Just Faith is part of the poisonous mix that turns Christians into Marxists who spend more time seeking government redistiribution of income than in doing personal acts of charity, i.e., the corporal works of mercy: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, etc.

If Just Faith is in your parish you need to read Stephanie's article. Waking people up to the needs of the poor and persecuted is a good thing if it makes them imitate Jesus with personal hands-on Christian charity. Turning people in the pew into socialists lobbying government to steal from people through onerous taxation (often used to buy votes), however, is just plain wrong.

JustFaith is JustWrong
Wednesday, December 08, 2010


Stephanie Block
One of the perennial topics among Catholics concerned about spiritual formation has been the toxic pollution spewed by the JustFaith program promulgated in dozens of dioceses around the US, including the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

USCCB Bullies Attack Real Catholic TV

When I saw the statement about Real Catholic TV not being "approved" for World Youth Day I was not surprised at all. Of course the liberal bureaucrats at the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) don't approve. Faithful Catholics rock their dissident Catholic boat.