Protest Against the Catholic Campaign for Human Development

Dear readers,

Please join me in protesting against the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s (CCHD) support of ACORN, the supposedly non-partisan organization which the CCHD has funded with $7.3 million over the past 10 years, and which was used this year alone in registering hundreds of thousands of voters (most in the swing states), many allegedly fraudulently, in order to elect Barack Obama to the presidency.

I have emailed Mr. McCloud, the USCCB’s director of the CCHD, with the following email:

Dear Mr. McCloud,

I am writing to you to express my frustration with the fact that I and other Catholics have given millions of dollars to ACORN over the past 10 years, including over a million dollars this year.  It has become public knowledge now that ACORN has engaged in voter fraud and also partisan voter-drives in the swing states for this presidential election.  It is obvious that the vast majority of the voters they registered are supporting Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats.

I know that the CCHD has suspended funding of ACORN, ostensibly not due to rampant voter fraud and partisan voter registrations, but due to the scandal that the ACORN founder’s brother and former employee embezzled a million dollars some years ago.

This organization has long been known to be a Democrat-supporting group masked as a non-profit, non-partisan one.  Yet we as Catholics have given millions to them.  It is not enough that their funding has been (perhaps only temporarily) suspended.  How many other organizations has the leadership of the CCHD chosen to donate to that are directly supporting a political party that promotes abortion, embryo-destructive research, same-sex “marriage”, and euthanasia?

Am I as a faithful Catholic, who has given to the CCHD over the past 7 years, supposed to believe that ACORN was an anomaly and that your judgment to disburse the money I give is prudent and judicious?  I am not convinced by the interview I have read that Mr. McCloud has given (in the CNS news story) that this is the case.

I will not be giving to the CCHD this year and will be encouraging every Catholic brother and sister I meet to boycott it as well.  I instead will continue giving to those organizations that truly do support Catholic moral teachings in helping the poor.

I will be contacting my local bishop (Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin, Texas) as well as my parish’s pastor with a similar letter.

Sincerely,
Devin Rose

Notes:
* CNS news story: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0805268.htm

Further, I found the local diocesan liaison for the CCHD in my diocese and emailed him, too with the same email.  You can find your local diocesan director here.

I then edited the email slightly and sent it to my bishop and my pastor.  For the Austin diocese you can contact Rick Bologna here.

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I am still outraged about this scandal.  Isn’t it curious that ACORN has registered the vast majority of its voters in the swing states for this election?  And it is a foregone conclusion that the people they registered are going to vote in overwhelming numbers for Sen. Obama and other Democrats.  This is in addition to the rampant voter fraud they have engaged in and the embezzling of around a million dollars by the founder’s brother, who was also an employeee for this group.

More resources:

The InsideCatholic story on CCHD/ACORN.

The FirstThings article by Fr. Neuhaus.  Excerpt:

What most Catholics don’t know, and what would likely astonish them, is that CHD very explicitly does not fund Catholic institutions and apostolates that work with the poor. Part of the thinking when it was established in the ideological climate of the 1960s is that Catholic concern for the poor would not be perceived as credible if CHD funded Catholic organizations. Yes, that’s bizarre, but the history of CHD is bizarre. The bishops could really help poor people by promptly shutting down CHD and giving any remaining funds to, for instance, Catholic inner-city schools. In any event, if there is a collection at your parish this month, I suggest that you can return the envelope empty—and perhaps with a note of explanation—without the slightest moral hesitation.

Other posts on this blog about the CCHD and the Bishops’ action on it.

Father Vander Woude from Queen of the Apostles Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia said this about the CCHD in their bulletin:

A final mention should be made of our second collection today for the Campaign for Human Development (CHD). CHD was established by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops with a two-fold mandate to fund low-income controlled empowerment projects and to educate Catholics about the root causes of poverty within the context of the Catholic social tradition. However, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things Magazine, states that CHD does not fund Catholic institutions that work with the poor. It is an unfortunate fact that in the ‘90s CHD contributed to organizations diametrically opposed to the Catholic Church, i.e. the pro-abortion group National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union. In recent years CHD has funded organizations that support homosexual activist programs, i.e. ‘Community Shares’.

In the past few years, CHD has donated $7.3 million to ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). As recently as June of 2008 CHD approved grants for $1.13 million to 40 local ACORN affiliates. If you recall, ACORN has been in the news for voter fraud in various states during the past election. There are SO many tremendous Catholic apostolates that work with the poor that are in need – the many inner-city Catholic schools that have had to close come to mind. One wonders if one’s donations could be better spent elsewhere until CHD has proven its ability to fund truly Catholic apostolates that truly work with and help the poor?

God Bless!
Fr. Vander Woude

Bishop Baker of Alabama stopped the CCHD collection in his diocese and instead directed parishes to collect for the Church in Latin America.

In Maine, so far two groups have been found that CCHD funds which work against Catholic moral teachings:

From George Rodrigues:

‘Maine People’s Alliance‘ (liberal social organizing group, very involved in promoting the same-sex agenda in Maine, who also give high marks and political campaign support to many pro-abortion politicians for state offices).

Add Verb Productions which promotes same-sex activities and has a play on sexual health commissioned by Planned Parenthood; the CCHD funding was for a homeless play, but we should not be supporting such a group.