"Catholic" Charities that are Anything But!

Another scandal from a Catholic charity, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) (not the first I might add). It's important to realize that many of the big Catholic charities have become nothing but conduits for transferring taxpayer dollars to the third world, often with the same agenda held by the population controllers running the U.S. They can "sell" their evil much easier in Catholic countries by using a "Catholic" agency to do the dirty. And Catholic Relief Services has shown themselves happy to oblige.

Catholic Relief Services distributes abortifacients in Madagascar: on-the-ground investigation

Sad to say, you cannot trust most of the big Catholic charities: Cartholic Relief Services (CRS) is up to its neck in promoting the anti-life message in the third world. Catholic Charities (CC) scandals abound, and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) sends one third to one half of money collected to Alinsky organizing groups that do their darnedest to undermine the faith and elect politicians diametrically opposed to Catholic teaching. And how do the bishops respond to criticism of these horrendous abuses? They attack the messengers. Very sad. 

My suggestion is hold on to your wallet and give to organizations that you have really vetted. If you know a missionary priest in a foreign land who is doing good work, support him! If you have a local Catholic community outreach group that you work with, support it! But don't keep pouring money into these "Catholic" organizations that use your donations to do evil or act as money laundering groups for the death-dealing feds. God help us when we can't trust the princes of the Church to mind the store, but that, unfortunately, is where we are. 

Corruption in Church Charities

I gave up giving to any special collections years ago. Sad to say, the Catholic Church can no longer be trusted with your charity dollars. When you put your dollars in the basket for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) or Catholic Charities or Catholic Relief Services (CRS) you don't have to guess whether you are funding evil, you know it! Catholic Relief Services has been documented again and again to be up to their necks in supporting abortion and contraception in the third world. Leaders in those organizations have sold their souls for the Almighty Dollar. Getting grants from the government is more important than saving souls. They are an instrument of the evil one.

Catholic Relief Services has been under the microscope recently and the picture in the lens is far from pretty:

Non Catholic Catholic Charities: Straight Talk on Caritas

Most national and international Catholic charities today reflect the thinking of the world and not the Church. Pope Benedict is trying to resurrect their Catholic identity but has an uphill struggle as the article below indicates. Here are a few excerpts:

Yet on my own many trips to Africa with Catholic Relief Services, for example, it was not uncommon to hear locals refer to them as the “non-Catholic Catholic agency.” (Imagine what they say about CAFOD – the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development).


African bishops would tell me (after my talks about AIDS) how surprising it was to hear a young Western CRS employee speak the common Catholic language, whereas my superiors back in Baltimore told me that I would change my thinking about the way we should approach AIDS prevention – that I’d begin to oppose Church teachings – once I spent yet more time in Africa. That Caritas’ new motto, “One Human Family – Zero Poverty” – platitudinous, vapid, quintessentially secular-NGO-ish – also doubles as the title of their strategic plan for the next four years should dispel any notion that striking reforms will occur overnight.  “Business as usual”, it’s fair to surmise, will prevail within many of the Caritas member agencies for some time to come.  Read the complete article here.

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.

A Partnership Made in Hell!

If you take money and other goodies from demons, they always want something in return. Rumpelstiltskin demanded the firstborn child of the miller's daughter for spinning straw into gold. Mephistopheles demanded Faust's soul in exchange for knowledge. Which leads me to a question about pro-abortion foundations pumping money into Catholic Relief Services. What do they expect to get from it? Respectability? Silence about their funding of population control and other evils? What exactly are the bishops through the USCCB selling by taking blood money from two of the biggest promoters of child-killing around the world? That's the question explored by Randy Engel in her article, Catholic Relief Services Forms Partnership with the Death Peddlars:

According to the CRS official website (www.crs.org), the Gates Foundation is “guided by the belief that every life has equal value.” CRS praises the foundation’s work “to help all people lead healthy, productive lives,” and “to ensure that all people… have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. …”

In exchange for perpetuating this glorious deception and maintaining a silence on the Gates/Buffett world-wide killing machine, CRS has received in excess of $40 million for global and agricultural development and financial services for the poor from 2003 to 2009. Compared to the billions Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett and his family spend on their true passion – baby killing and. population control – it’s a drop in the bucket, of course, but I’m sure they consider their money well spent. In reviewing the anti-life record of the Gateses and Buffetts, one they have successfully keep out of the public eye, thanks to organizations like CRS.

Engel goes on to itemize the massive funding by these two foundations of pro-abortion and population control groups. The list is a Who's Who of child-killing: Planned Parenthood, NOW, NARAL, Catholics for a Free Choice, Center for Reproductive Rights, Population Council, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and on and on. The foundations have funded embryonic stem cell and cloning research and clinical trials for RU-486. The involvement of these two groups advancing the culture of death with their multi-million dollar grants staggers the imagination.

On the other hand, the Gates Foundation gave CRS 2.9 million dollars in food grants in 2008 and a million for Haiti relief after the recent earthquake.

What do they get for their money? Glowing articles on the CRS website:

"Thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CRS will be able to ramp up our efforts to serve those suffering from the effects of the global food crisis in these three countries," said CRS President Ken Hackett. "Our partnership with the foundation will help us to meet the immediate needs of hungry families, while investing in greater agricultural production to provide more food in the future." (Read complete arrticle.)

You can find dozens of articles linked to the CRS website that glowingly refer to the projects and programs funded by the Gates and Buffett foundations. What you won't find is any criticism of their efforts to kill off the children of the poor (or the middle class, or blacks, or Asians, etc.). In fact, I challenge you to do a search on the internet trying to find any criticism from the USCCB about the anti-life activities of these death peddlars. I couldn't find anything. Not a single thing. Nada! Zero! Zilch! The  silence speaks volumes.

Who is making strong statements? Fr. Tom Euteneuer of Human Life International. What's the likelihood he'll ever wear a pectoral cross?

CRS is one more department of the USCCB that is tainted by association with the culture of death. As Engel points out in her article:

Unlike the CCHD, which should be disbanded, CRS, founded in 1943, has a long history of legitimate service to the Church especially in regard to refugee settlement and emergency disaster relief programs. The tragedy is that it has become just another compromised entity of the American Bishops’ national bureaucracy which systematically poisons everything it touches. The removal of the Bill and Melinda Gates and Buffett Foundations from the roster of CRS partners/donors list is important, but the problems with CRS run much deeper and are unlikely to be resolved by the liberal, leftist establishment and staff that runs and controls the USCCB.

In closing I return to the question of what these radically pro-abortion, pro-population control groups are trying to buy with their money. I can only presume from my, albeit limited, research that their goal is Church silence about their evil agenda. It's the same silence the state buys with the tax exempt status which keeps so many bishops gagged trembling that they'll lose Caesar's gold if they boldly speak the truth.

Pray that the Lord will wake up our shepherds with the words of Deuteronomy. "I set before thee this day, life and prosperity, death and destruction. Choose life that you and your children may live." Jesus told his followers that you cannot serve both God and money. Choose God or choose Mammon. Trying to choose both is a partnership made in hell.

Will the Real Catholics Please Stand Up!

Our millstone award goes to the Catholic
Press Association and the fishwrap!

Anyone reading this blog for awhile knows that we consider Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development unworthy of any support from Catholics in the pews. If you want your money  to support abortion, contraception, and Marxist community organizing just toss it in the basket for those bogus Catholic collections. (Better to burn it!) But they aren't the only groups masquerading as Catholic while undermining the faith! There are plenty of others.

In View of the Latest Catholic Relief Services Scandal...

....a look back:

A Partnership Made in Hell

The hellish partnership continues. As the saying goes...the more things change, the more they stay the same...at least at Catholic Relief Services...and Catholic Charities...and CCHD of course. They all take your money and use it to advance the culture of death. Sad, isn't it? The shepherds are like the pigs in Animal Farm who end up colluding with the enemy. Pray for the U.S. bishops. They have a lot for which to answer. 

Fr. Tom Collins: The Politically Incorrect Observations of a Warrior Priest

Editor's comment: Much evil occurs within the Church from promotion of a false notion of "social justice" that has nothing to do with the doctrine taught by Christ or His Church. Fr. Collins points that out specifically in his observations. God bless him for his willingness to speak the truth. We feel blessed to call him friend!

"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?

One More Time: On Inviting Obama to the Al Smith Dinner

My friend Jim Fritz writes about the Al Smith dinner coming October 18th. Taken with other actions of the American bishops, it sets alarm bells ringing. Thanks for your insights, Jim.

Cardinal Dolan, Where Are You?

Cardinal Timothy Dolan has done an outstanding job leading the Catholic resistance to the HHS mandate. Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), an advisor to Benedict XVI, he has a well-deserved reputation as a spiritual leader. However, during the past few weeks much has been written concerning the controversy created by Cardinal Dolan’s invitation to President Obama to attend the annual Alfred E. Smith dinner. Much of what the cardinal and other bishops have written has been an attempt to justify that invitation. Much of that written by Catholic organizations and national writers has been extremely critical, depicting Cardinal Dolan as naïve or stupid or much worse.

During his administration, President Obama has done everything in his power to undermine the teachings of the Catholic Church. He is implementing programs and policies that may soon require the Church to repudiate its basic beliefs or close down all of its charitable and educational organizations. His support of the intrinsic evils of abortion and same-sex “marriage” is without precedent in any other administration.

Catholic charities Pay Lip Service to the Faith, but.....

This is the sad reality of the pope's comments. Catholic charities have been promoting the safe sex fantasy for years while pretending to abide by Church teachings. (See here.) The mask is coming off and now they can do it openly. The reality, however, is that when condoms are pushed as a solution for AIDS, more people engage in risky behavior and more lives are endangered. The only country in Africa which has succeeded at reducing AIDS is Uganda. They didn't do it by promoting condoms (a big, LUCRATIVE, business by the way). They saw a 2/3 reduction in AIDS by promoting a "stick to one partner or love faithfully” program. (See here.) Condoms are great for making money for the safe sex crowd. They are less than effective at reducing AIDS infection.  And does anyone believe (as the article below implies) that rapists put on condoms before they assault their victims?

Thursday, 12.02.10


Catholic AIDS workers: Pope echoing us on condoms

(AP) – 19 hours ago

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The three large blue and white boxes of condoms appeared to be the elephant in the room at the Catholic AIDS clinic, a trailer beside the church in a dusty red-soil settlement in the world's most AIDS-riddled nation.

But parish priest Rev. Didier Lemaire showed no embarrassment when asked about the stash of 600 condoms, set conveniently on an examination couch so one could grab a few on the way out the door. Lemaire said Pope Benedict XVI's groundbreaking statement about the selective use of condoms only cements what Catholic AIDS workers have said for years.

"What the pope is saying, many priests have been saying for a long time," said Lemaire. He said eschewing condoms when people have AIDS goes against the commandment "Thou shalt not kill."

Pope Benedict's comments have far-reaching implications for Africa, the continent with the highest numbers of AIDS victims — and the fastest-growing number of Catholic converts. But it is more important because the Catholic Church is the biggest private provider of AIDS care in the world, providing antiretroviral treatment, home-care visits and counseling to one in four of the world's 33.3 million AIDS patients, according to the Catholic charity Caritas International. In 2008, members of the Catholic HIV and AIDS network spent 180 million euros (about $235 million) on assistance, it said.
For many Catholics in the front lines watching people die of AIDS, Benedict's pronouncement confers a belated blessing on what they are already doing. They hope Benedict's comments are just a precursor to opening up further conversation.

And We Should Give to Catholic Relief Services...Why?

Vice President of Catholic Relief Services is legally "married" to same-sex partner.

Pray for the Lord to increase your faith, because with this kind of scandal, many (those who put their trust in men in Roman collars) will abandon the Church.

The failure of our shepherds is why faithful Catholics have an obligation to speak out. Clerics who fail to exercise their authority to watch over Holy Mother Church and the flock are derelict in their duty and they will answer for it.

Think of it -- Christians are losing their secular livelihood for refusing to cooperate in the evil of sodomite relationships masquerading as marriage. Meanwhile, Church leaders, who know the truth, exercise so little oversight that they provide high level jobs in the Church to those who actively scandalize and lead many into the sin of calling what is intrinsically evil a moral good.

Go figure!

And while you're figuring, boycott CRS and every other Church special collection. You cannot trust the bishops to exercise moral oversight of your money to be sure it is going to advance good rather than buying condoms and promoting birth control and sex ed in the third world. It's shameful, but don't let it shake your faith.

The problem with Catholic Charities

What does it mean to be Catholic? Would you trust somebody to administer a Catholic charity who worked for abortion and gay marriage? I wouldn't and yet we see it all the time. The exposure of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has demonstrated that many of those working in the Church bureaucracy don't believe what the Church teaches. They demonstrate their non-belief by their actions.

Let me introduce you to Brian Cahill who was the head of Catholic Charities in San Francisco from 2000 to 2008. While in that position he partnered Catholic Charities with the "gayest adoption agency in the country." He wants to see same-sex marriage legalized and contributed $1,000 to the failed effort to defeat Proposition 8 in California that recognized marriage between one man and one woman. He's publicly lambasted orthodox bishops and promotes Catholics for Equality, a group working to normalize all things homosexual in the Church.

Read more about Brian Cahill here.

It's people like Brian Cahill who demonstrate why Catholics cannot trust Catholic charities which are often Catholic in name only. That's why a friend of mine is trying to start an international Catholic charity run by faithful laity that takes no government funding, operates on true Catholic principles, and hires only faithful Catholics who accept the teachings of the Church. Pray for Jon that he is successful. In view of the scandals coming out Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, CCHD, etc. his vision is sorely needed.

It's Not Just Thirty Pieces of Silver These Days, It's Billions for the Pharisee Bishops!

Are the U.S. Catholic Bishops Pharisees or Shepherds?

There's a story, perhaps apocryphal, about a conversation between Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, Secretary of State to Pius VII, and Napoleon Bonaparte which has the ring of truth. Apparently Napoleon told the cardinal he had the power to destroy the Church. The ironic answer from the prelate was, "If the bishops haven't been able to do it in the past 1800 years, how can you expect to succeed?"

Pope John Paul II: America, Defend Life! Pope Francis: America, Defend the Planet

When Pope John Paul II visited America in 1993 for World Youth Day, he spoke about life. He reminded us of his 1987 visit when he said:

If you want equal justice for all, and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life! All the great causes that are yours today will have meaning only to the extent that you guarantee the right to life and protect the human person.

Bill and Hillary Clinton sat with tight lips listening to him squirming for the whole world to see. Pope John Paul II confronted the world as a sign of contradiction.

What about Pope Francis this morning? (See the video here.) Did the most diabolical president in our history squirm?

Are you fasting from plastic bags and incandescent lightbulbs for Lent?

Frankly, I never ate them in the first place.

But really, an article published by Catholic News Service (and printed in the Arlington Catholic Herald to their shame) actually has the gall to suggest that Lent isn't "just about giving up chocolate or ice cream for 40 days." (Hear the superior tone?) No, what it's really about, according to the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change (CCCC) is sacrificing for the environment. Trees are people too, after all. In fact the Executive Director of CCCC, Dan Misleh, is sending out "Catholic climate ambassadors" this spring to urge folks to use cloth shopping bags instead of paper, replace incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs, give up disposable paper products, and use refillable coffee mugs. Yes indeed, this is what Lent is really all about; the way to Christian holiness is recycling and reducing your carbon footprint.

I visited the CCCC website, another misguided project of the USCCB launched in 2006. It begins with the unreserved acceptance of manmade global warming propaganda (now referred to as climate change). In a position paper describing CCCC I found this interesting and laughable statement:

Because we are not experts on climate change and its consequences, we rely on a scientific consensus (best represented by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change) to guide our activities. Read the document here...

Perhaps CCCC hasn't heard about all the scandals associated with the IPCC including manipulating data, maligning scientists whose research conflicts with their desired results and denying them access to peer reviewed journals, lying about glacier melt. Oh, and then there are the 1000s of emails that showed the deliberate fraud by this group promoting what meteorologist and founder of the weather channel, John Coleman, calls "the greatest scam in history." Yup, these are the "scientists" whose results CCCC relies on. Not particularly convincing I'd say.

What made me especially angry about the bishops' site was the manipulative video using a child's voice to decry the heavy carbon footprint of the rich countries that are stepping on the poor all over the world. You can almost envision yourself squashing the poor like bugs every time you turn on the hot water, drive your car, heat your home, etc. You are to blame for all those sad faces because of your heavy and deep carbon footprint. Just imagine how guilty the parents of large families should feel!

The video speaks an outright lie when it quotes Cardinal Martino saying:

There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming over the last fifty years is attributed to human activities.

Now I'm not accusing the Cardinal of lying. No doubt he is buying the fraudulent data of the IPCC.  And considering that he spent about 20 years as papal nuncio at the U.N., he may have a hard time distinguishing between liars and truth tellers; but the fact is there is not only no "new and stronger evidence" for man-made global warming, there is evidence we are moving into a period of cooling and that fluctuations are a normal part of climate measured over time. The "scientists" at the IPCC haven't come up with a good explanation for the Medieval warming period which can hardly be attributed to the use of fossil fuels, so they conveniently ignore it along with any other facts that dispute their bogus claims.

Having said all this, Catholics ought to live a simpler lifestyle where we voluntarily use less so we can contribute more to the poor. Underline that world "voluntarily." The Dives and Lazarus story says it all. We have a moral obligation to care about the poor and share what we have. That's what charity is all about and we have a special obligation during Lent. However, charity, to be charity, must ALWAYS be voluntary. Someone who steals from Peter to give to Paul is not charitable; he's a thief.

And there are plenty of those thieves listed on CCCCs website. When you read their position paper linked above, note their Catholic partners on the left. Many of them are funded big-time by "government" money especially Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Catholic Charities (CC). (I.e., The only money the government has is what it takes from taxpayers and that is supposed to be used for limited and specific purposes.) In fact both CRS and CC are hardly recognizable as Catholic groups because they water down their Catholic identity to protect the government bucks stolen from the taxpayer. So CRS and CC are part of the government conspiracy to forcibly redistribute income which is NOT CHARITY. It's also not very efficient since massive amounts of money go to the bureaucracy and only small amounts trickle down to the poor. And sometimes what actually gets to the poor isn't food and medicine; it's birth control pills, condoms, and suction machines.

Let's look at a few other of CCCC's partners. The Catholic Hospital Association is notorious particularly in view of the betrayal on Obamacare by Sr. Carol Keehan who makes nearly $900,000 in annual salary and can afford a much heavier footprint than most of us. Then there are the dissident nuns of the Leadership Conference of Catholic Women (LCCW) who never met a liberal issue (including abortion) that their members couldn't support. The Franciscan Action Network has endorsed the union thugs in Wisconsin. The Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development is the USCCB office that runs the tainted Catholic Campaign for Human Development and employs staff with links to pro-abortion democrats. It just goes on and on and on. This is the social justice money machine.

I hope you are as angry as I am about the video below. What really hurts the poor is corrupt governments, biofuels which turn food crops into ethanol (promoted big-time by Al Gore and his environmental minions until it became clear it was causing massive rises in food prices), foreign aid linked to murdering and sterilizing the poor, and other complicated issues. The nonsense about global warming and fossil fuels killing the poor is nothing but propaganda. And just think, if you're a Catholic you paid for this idiotic video, one more reason to boycott the bishops' collections.

Instead of putting money in that rice bowl this Lent for the very problematic CRS, give to a charity that really serves the poor and doesn't take government money to do it. Medical Missionaries is one of my favorites and we'll be filling our alms jar this Lent for them. And if you feel guilty after watching the video, go visit a nursing home. Remember what Mother Teresa said, "The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty." Many lonely and forgotten people are waiting to hear your footsteps in the hall even if you arrived in a gas-guzzling SUV.

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.

Well, well, well -- The USCCB is suing the Trump Administration because they cut off the gravy train!

You will never hear the term "illegal alien" from the U.S. bishops. Every law breaker violating our borders is a poor "refugee" and we must "welcome the stranger." But don't expect them to be welcomed into the bishops residence or the chancery. 

More on Catholic Relief Services and the CARE Scandal

Giving $5+ million to CARE and claiming none of the money will help their "other" immoral services is like claiming you can give $5 million to a comprehensive women's clinic for cancer screening without helping promote their abortion services. At the very least you provide them good PR and strengthen their existence. CRS claims they got the go-ahead from the National Catholic Bioethics Center, but it seems the picture is a little murkier. As I've said before -- hold on to your wallet and don't give to any "Catholic" charity that 1) accepts government funding, 2) hires those without a Catholic heart to screen grants, and 3) gives to secular groups with goals diametrically opposed to the Church. We have needy missionaries, for heaven's sake!

THE CARE SCANDAL Continued...

For Shame, for Shame, Notre Dame

And double shame for the bishops who met in Baltimore this week. When will you free us from the scourge of bad university presidents and wolfish bishops, Lord?

First Notre Dame

Is there anything shameful the administration at Notre Dame won't do? They gave Barack Obama, the most pro-abortion, divisive, bigoted president in history (Am I exaggerating?) an honorary law degree and the privilege of being their 2009 commencement speaker. Obama's entourage met a crowd of protesters including a friend of mine who was arrested and had to spend the next year traveling back and forth from Texas to deal with the draconian tactics used against those arrested some of whom weren't even on campus. President John Jenkins, the baby-faced villain of that debacle is gone, but Notre Dame continues on its pathetic and anti-Catholic trajectory.