A new investigative report from the Lepanto Institute exposes significant financial support by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an initiative of the US Catholic Bishops, for organizations deeply connected to socialist and Marxist movements. The report details how, under the banner of community land trusts (CLTs), millions of dollars have been funneled to groups whose founders and leaders openly advocate for socialist and Marxist ideologies.
“The very concept of CLTs emerged among self-identified socialists looking to remove land from speculative markets and promote collective ownership,” said Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute. “Time and again, we found that these CLTs were founded by members of Socialist parties.”
The investigation highlights that, since its inception, the CCHD has had intimate involvement with Socialists and Socialist movements. Opening with a news report from 1980, the Lepanto Institute revealed that CCHD directors at that time participated in a conference led by Michael Harrington – the chairman of the National Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. In the Conference, Harrington told CCHD directors that Karl Marx “had a profound respect for religion” before he urged a “union of religion and socialism.”
Key findings include:
- Direct Financial Support: Over the past three years, the CCHD has granted more than one million dollars to 13 CLTs, including the San Francisco Community Land Trust, Baltimore Community Land Trust, Inland Equity Community Land Trust, and South Bay Community Land Trust.
- Leadership with Marxist Affiliations: The report documents that leaders of these organizations, such as Tom Wetzel (San Francisco CLT), Nicole Fabricant (South Baltimore CLT), Anabel Nevarez (Inland Equity CLT), and Elizabeth Gonzalez (South Bay CLT), are openly affiliated with socialist or communist groups, including the Democratic Socialists of America and the League of Revolutionaries for a New America.
- Promotion of Socialist Ideals: These CLTs publicly advocate for the transformation of economic structures, the redistribution of wealth, and the abolition of private property, aligning with Marxist and communist principles.
The following CLTs receiving CCHD grants have been flagged by the Lepanto Institute for involvement in Socialist organizations, the promotion of abortion, the promotion of LGBT ideologies, or some combination of all three.
- South Bay Community Land Trust – $150,000 since 2021
- San Francisco Community Land Trust – $50,000 in 2022
- South Baltimore Community Land Trust – $170,000 since 2021
- Inland Equity Community Land Trust – $75,000 since 2022
- Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust – $140,000 since 2021
- City Roots Community land Trust – $225,000 since 2020
- CommonSpace Community Land Trust – $80,000 since 2021
- Raleigh Area Land Trust – $175,000 since 2020
- Thurston Housing Land Trust – $80,000 since 2022
- THRIVE Santa Ana – $295,000 since 2020
The CCHD’s ongoing financial support for these organizations reflects the words of St. Paul in the 3rd chapter of his epistle to the Philippians: “They are enemies of the Cross of Christ; Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things.”
The Lepanto Institute is calling for a complete and permanent end to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. We encourage you to send this report to your pastor and to your bishop, asking them to refuse all future support for the CCHD.
Monday November 17, 2025
Dear Michael Hichborn:
Presented below, I have the solution to your problem to prohibit Catholic Relief Services [“CRS”] to fund immoral and/or intrinsic-evil anti-Roman Catholic practices, precisely, because, since governmentally funded, allegedly required to do so! But, to the contrary I copyrighted the genuine definition of a burden on the free exercise of religion ©2004 at https://tinyurl.com/burden-feor , but as of now, it is still unknown! Yet, I am the first person in the world since 1963 to prove the existing definition thereof in the U.S.A. called the Restoration of the Freedom of Religion Act (i.e., “RFRA”) or 42 U.S.C. 2000bb(b) in fact DENIES religious freedom since 1963! In a nutshell, the legal profession and the judiciary have remained blind since 1963 accepting this fallacy – again known as RFRA which fallacy is based on Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963) as held by the U.S. Supreme Court – which fallacy is described by St. Thomas Aquinas’ in his classic work, The Summa Theologica, at Question 17 Article 3 at https://tinyurl.com/SUMMA-3A-4A which he taught by asking Whether falsity is in the intellect? which it is, as follows: “by composing a definition of parts which are mutually exclusive” “Everyone who is deceived, understands not that in which he is deceived.” That means the judiciary and all lawyers are legally blind! IMPORTANT: This is a major breakthrough in religious freedom in the U.S.A. yet on behalf of the Holy Roman Catholic Church only! A more descriptive legal proof is provided at https://tinyurl.com/blind-law, which I currently plan appealing in New York State Supreme Court Mineola. However, currently I need minimal legal help to do so, but not on my legal reasoning which is flawless, even though it’s unique!
Michael, originally, I developed this definition thereof to constitutionally exclude abortion and contraception coverage out of government funded group health insurance, which I succeeded doing in principle, but now still need to appeal to do so in practice! However, my definition applies to governmental funding for Catholic Relief Services as well! As a Pro Se, I began in 1985 litigating Rosano v. United States, 9 Cl.Ct. 137 (1985) at https://tinyurl.com/RosanovUS, but I have developed my legal reasoning to fruition!
I promise, Michael, your time spent reading my breakthrough in religious freedom will be worth your while! If you have any questions, I’ll respond immediately although it’s self-explanatory! Like you, I have thoroughly mastered this issue, yet from another angle and since November 7, 1979!
On Monday November 17, 2025, I first learned you had this problem in religious freedom as was described above at https://youtu.be/NqEFBy-a1BE?si=VkI_8PCIgxhAvlsR or the podcast titled, as follows:
Why Are Our Bishops So Weak? Michael Hichborn Reports. I provide the transcript here as follows:
Mark: 15:53 again that quote today um you know, the paths of hell are paved with the 15:58 skull of bishops. It’s little wonder, really, is it? You know, um that that is something if it was 16:04 me, I’d be terrified. You know, you think the weight that they’ve got on their shoulders, but they seem 16:09 completely not worried about it, don’t they?
Michael Hichborn: Well, I don’t want to speak for the 16:15 disposition of the bishops. They certainly seem like they’re, you know, unconcerned, which is, uh, disturbing. 16:22 Uh, I remember back in 2014, uh, I think it was the 2014 USCCB 16:28 meeting, maybe it was the 2013 one, I met with a number of bishops and told 16:34 them about the problems we were finding with the campaign for human development, but also problems that we found with 16:39 Catholic Relief Services. And one of the bishops I sat down with, I said, “You know what? I don’t understand. The CCHD, 16:45 even though they don’t follow the guideline, the CCHD has a written guideline that says that 16:51 they will not give funding to any organization that promotes contraception, abortion, homosexuality, 16:58 etc. But the Catholic Relief Services does not have such a guideline. And I 17:03 said, I don’t understand why the USCCB doesn’t require Catholic Relief Services to have the same kind of standard that CCHD does. And the bishop 17:14 that I spoke with said that’s that’s an interesting point. And, to his credit, he 17:20 stood up before his brother bishops at the USCCB meeting. I’ve seen it on film. He stood up and he said he asked 17:28 that question. He said, you know, CCHD has these guidelines. How come CRS doesn’t abide by the same guidelines? 17:34 And the response came from um it was uh Bishop Cynanis who was the CRS director 17:40 at the time. And his response was, well, it would be impossible for us to 17:45 actually fulfill our duties and in response to the poor in and overseas 17:50 because “we have to have these collaborations blah blah blah”. Well, it’s not true, actually! Uh, 17:56 organizations like Cross Catholic Outreach do this with the same kind of budget, except they don’t have the 18:03 government grants that CRS does. They do the same thing overseas and they do not 18:08 partner with organizations that are acting against Catholic faith or Catholic morals. So it’s not impossible 18:16 but it is if they want to get the government funds and that’s where it all comes down. 18:23
Mark: Right. Exactly. And we see the same thing in the UK…”