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?