Faith In Camden

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Faith In Camden

Faith in Camden has received 4 consecutive grants from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development since 2017, totaling $220,000.  It’s most recent grant from the CCHD (FY 2020-2021) was for $55,000.
The CCHD absolutely forbids organizations from membership in organizations acting against Catholic teaching.  In an FAQ on the USCCB website, the CCHD directly answers the question about whether grantees may be members of coalitions that oppose Catholic teachings.  In answer, the CCHD firmly stated, “CCHD will not fund groups that are knowingly members of coalitions that have as part of their organizational purpose or coalition agenda, positions or actions that contradict fundamental Catholic moral and social teaching.”
However, as can be seen here, Faith in Jew Jersey Camden County is a member of Faith in Action, which has taken a formal position in favor of abortion.

Faith in Action is a coalition of 49 members, many of whom receive funding from the CCHD. Faith in Action itself received $500,000 in 2016 from the CCHD, when it was called the PICO Network.  However, Faith in Action publicly supports abortion, its leaders openly slammed the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and FIA participated in electioneering activities in support of President Joe Biden and other Democratic candidates. The organization also supports LGBTQ+ ideologies. All of the pertinent information regarding Faith in Action on the whole is contained in the fully detailed report on FIA (see here), but the most important point is this:

On the day of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Dobbs v. Jackson case which overturned Roe v. Wade, Faith in Action took a formal position condemning the ruling, while vowing to “stand with women” calling it “oppression” to deny a woman the right to murder her child through abortion.

In an official press release, published on Faith in Action’s website, Faith in Action said:

“Clergy and organizers with Faith in Action, the largest grassroots, faith-based organizing network in the United States, are speaking out against today’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, following a leak of the Supreme Court opinion.”

FIA’s executive director Rev. Alvin Herring called the decision, “a huge blow to women in this season of despair,” and declared that ”[w]e must speak out against dangerous policies that chip away at having agency over their own bodies.”

Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould, FIA’s Senior Strategist at FIA’s Washington, DC office, claimed that the “SCOTUS decision to overturn ROE” was “legalized, judicially enforced oppression” that “shows contempt for the Creator.”

Rev. Kamilah Hall Sharp, member of FIA’s Organizing Clergy Board, said that the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was “deadly,” and that she was “enraged at the injustice, the lack of care for women and that most people who voted to take this right away will never have to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term in their bodies.”  She then had the audacity to claim that “As a follower of Jesus,” her rage about the overturning of Roe “aligns with [H]is.”

This is the entire statement as it appeared on the Faith in Action website:

Conclusion

All members of Faith in Action should have been refused continued funding back in 2020, after the Lepanto Institute reported Faith in Action’s pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ and political activities.  However, despite the evidence, CCHD has continued to finance members of Faith in Action, and now, the entire network has taken a formal position in favor of abortion, vowing to fight for “abortion rights.”  As an affiliate of Faith in Action, Faith in Camden is in direct violation of CCHD grant guidelines.