I just submitted this letter to the editor of my Austin diocese’s Catholic newspaper, the Catholic Spirit, the latest edition of which contained two published articles praising the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and encouraging all Catholics to give to it generously. No more. Give no money to this collection and tell your bishop why you will never give to it again.
Dear Editor,
The most recent issue of the Catholic Spirit included two articles praising the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and encouraging Catholics to give to it. Brief mentions were made that the CCHD has (finally) stopped giving to ACORN; however, what was not mentioned was that we as Catholic Americans gave over $7 million to ACORN over the past 10 years. Also not mentioned were the many other organizations which CCHD has supported, and in some cases still supports, which promote same-sex marriage, abortion, and legalizing prostitution. It is dreadful that even one dollar goes to these organizations in the name of the Catholic Church, and it is completely unnecessary: Any of the good organizations supported by the collection can be given to directly. The leadership of the CCHD has demonstrated itself to be incompetent in selecting truly good organizations to give to. The fact that no group in the Austin diocese has (yet) been discovered as one opposed to Catholic moral teaching does not make giving to the CCHD worthwhile–from what I understand all dioceses send a portion of their money to the national offices to be distributed to organizations outside their dioceses. I encourage all parishioners to write the USCCB and tell them to end this collection once and for all.
Sincerely,
Devin Rose
Excellent. This is sorely needed. None of us can be silent anymore.
We attend a very orthodox parish in the San Jose, Ca area. I was astonished that our pastor allowed a collection for the CCHD earlier this year. Apparently, he was unaware of the seriousness of the scandal they are involved in and it was too late to reverse the collection once it was brought to his attention. I can’t believe that there are so many people, priests especially, who haven’t heard of this. Hopefully, if your letter is published in the C.S., fewer people in the Austin diocese can plead ignorance. Way to go!
Shame on you writing such a letter! What do you imagine that CCHD is? Every grant is approved by the local bishop in every diocese — that’s who/what/how CCHD is. Is your local bishop supporting abortion? gay marriage? prostitution? And if it’s not your local bishop, then exactly which bishop is doing this? And, really, so what if CCHD gave to ACORN? It’s not like CCHD ever funded “national ACORN”. It only funded local chapters doing local work — and again, every grant was approved by the local bishop. Instead, you should be crediting CCHD for its close monitoring of the organizations it works with because it cut off the fundingfor the local ACORN groups doing excellent work as soon as problems arose at the national level, even though the national level had never received CCHD grants.
Hi Denise,
I imagine CCHD is a collection which gives money to many good organizations, many so-so ones, and some flat-out bad ones. The most recent pro-prostitution, pro-abortion, and pro-same-sex marriage organizations were found in California I believe, so whichever California bishop is responsible for those (and some of the groups may have been elsewhere as well). In my research, other groups were found in the New England area.
Local ACORN groups have done voter registration, often fraudulently, and always to support Democrat candidates, whose party platform is pro-abortion, pro-embryo destructive stem cell research, and whose candidates often endorse same-sex marriage as well. As far as i am concerned ACORN should be given $0 of our Catholic tithes. Why not instead give to truly human and faithful organizations? There are so many; parishioners should give to those organizations and not ones who support such evils. ACORN is only one organization out of many who have been wrongly funded by our Catholic tithes. No more.
Our Austin bishop is (really was, he is now Archbishop of New Orleans) orthodox, and it is well that thus far no Austin groups have been found that support such evils, but, as I wrote in my letter, the article in the Catholic Spirit stated that a portion of our local Austin CCHD tithes go to the USCCB’s CCHD fund which is then doled out to organizations outside our diocese, including possibly ones which are bad. Again, why give one cent to the CCHD when I can know that my money will go to good organizations I give to directly.
Sincerely,
Devin
Hey Denise,
“shame on us”??? for what? just because the “local bishop” approves something does not mean the local bishop know what he’s doing. Explain to me, WHY is it, that the highly praised Austin Interfaith (in our diocese’s collection insert) has pretty straight forward ties to radical feminist pro-choice organizations such as “Mamas of Color Rising”? HMMM? Do simple research. Read your Bible. We are not supposed to collaborate with evil or financially support the works of darkness. Austin Interfaith is an IAF affiliate which was founded by a Sol Alynski who dedicated his book “Rules for Radicals” to LUCIFER. And we are FUNDING THAT? Wake up sister and stop shaming us for defending the TRUTH.
Dear ania joseph,
I would really like to know where you are getting this information. I have also heard that Austin Interfaith is involved with such practices. I have searched them on the internet, but can’t find anything to support this. I believe that any anti-Catholic organization that poses as Catholic needs to be fought against. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Vanessa