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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Should a Catholic Support the CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development)?

The CCHD's annual collection is billed as an anti-poverty measure. Who can possibly argue with helping the poor, eh? But since the inception of the collection, a strategy that included collaberation between Msgr. Jack Egan of Chicago and community organizing guru Saul Alinsky, faithful Catholics have complained that much of the money goes into organizing for liberal causes. Many groups supported in the past have direct ties to abortion, contraception, and liberal politics. Opposition to the collection has grown to the degree that CCHD has apparently mounted, not so much a cleanup of the organization, but a new strategy to make opposition difficult.

Let me explain. Traditionally, the collection for CCHD is the weekend before Thanksgiving. But in the past year or so, diocese have taken a new approach to the special collection by taking it up at odd times. As we were passing through South Dakota, the bulletin for the church in Spearfish was advertising it for September. In some places, even the name has changed. The collection in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. labeled it Communication +. Now isn't that interesting? It comes across to me as a measure to eliminate the effectiveness of the opposition and fool as many people in the pews as possible. What does that say about the bishops' bureaucracy?

Catholics need to be careful about where they put their money. Sadly, in many dioceses, the people in the pew cannot trust that their bishop is protecting the interests of the most vulnerable. When Catholic money goes to organizations that enable the culture of death, it's time to rise in righteous anger and fight. One way is to stop giving to special collections altogether.

In order to get a better idea of how CCHD advances the culture of death, see Stephanie Block's series at SperoForum. And hold on to your wallet. If your diocese collects for CCHD, you can be sure that someone in the chancery is not minding the store.

4 comments:

  1. I would not give one dime to the CCHD. I spent many hours researching where the money was going after the ACORN thing came to light. 'Nuff said...

    I like the way our 80+ year old pastor handles it. At the end of his sermon he says something to the effect of, "Oh - there's some envelopes in the back for the CCHD collection." Of course, those envelopes (all two or three of them) are fairly hard to find. This way he's in obedience to the bishop but in no way pushes the collection.

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  2. Since learning about the CCHD Scandal, I am very leary of all
    2nd collections.

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  3. RealCatholicTV did an investigative piece on the CCHD and its ties to Saul Alinsky:

    http://www.youtube.com/user/RealCatholicTV#p/search/1/481bgi5Du0s

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  4. Mary Ann,

    I sent out the article that Stephanie published last year on CCHD. I sent it basically as an "FYI" email.

    Shortly thereafter, I received a note in the mail from my pastor. In the envelope was an article published by America magazine supposedly refuting Stephanie's article (America? Really, Father?). Thing is, I did not send my pastor that email.

    There has been so much about CCHD and its connections to ACORN published in recent years - how could *any* Catholic send money to it? (even Raymond Arroyo has been very good about covering this controversy)

    No monies from my family will be going out for CCHD.

    Catechist Kevin

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