Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee

UPDATE (2025)

The Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee (now doing business as the Inland Communities Organizing Network) received its most recent grant from the CCHD in FY 2023-2024.  The grant was for $50,000.  Since its first recorded grant in 2013, IESC (now called ICON) has received a total of 7 CCHD grants worth $330,000.

• 2013-2014 – $40,000
• 2014-2015 – $40,000
• 2016-2017 – $50,000
• 2017-2018 – $50,000
• 2018-2019 – $50,000
• 2019-2020 – $50,000
• 2023-2024 – $50,000

In our previous report on ICON, we pointed out that the president (Michael Fronk) performs same-sex “marriages” and is the pastor of a protestant church that actively pushes homosexuality.  In that report, we pointed out that the then chairman of the CCHD had revoked a CCHD grant from another organization under similar circumstances.  And yet, ICON continues to receive CCHD grants.

Currently, as will be shown, ICON is still headed by Michael Fronk who continues to provide same-sex “marriages,” and whose church still actively pushes LGBT ideologies.

ICON’s website appears to gave gone defunct, but an archived version of its leadership page from 3 October 2024 shows that Fronk is still the president of ICON.

Michael Fronk is still the pastor of the First Christian Church in Pomona, CA.

The First Christian Church in Pomona’s webpage on its performance of weddings indicates – in a statement signed by Fronk – that it performs same-sex “marriages.”

Under Michael Fronk’s leadership at First Christian Church Pomona (FCCP), his church advocates for LGBTQ+ ideologies on many levels.

On its “core beliefs” page, FCCP made it clear that sexual immorality was perfectly acceptable in the congregation.

On 29 March 2022, Fronk’s wife (and the church’s co-pastor) wrote a blog entry lamented Florida legislation that forbids “any conversation about human sexuality from grades K-3.”  Considering that Florida’s law pertains to children age 8 and under, she wonders “how students who identify as LGBTQ+, whether they are out or not, will navigate the insane uncertainty of their existence.”

On social media, FCCP is even more explicit.  For instance, on 16 November 2024, FCCP promoted “Transgender Awareness Week” because it is “an affirming LGBTQI congregation.”

On 2 June 2023, FCCP posted an image of its certification by the Disciples LGBTQI+ Alliance as an “open and affirming ministry of the church of Christ.”

There are many other similar posts that we could provide, but this suffices to establish that the church led by the president of ICON is firmly committed to spreading LGBT ideologies.

UPDATED Conclusion

Nothing from our previous report has changed.  Michael Fronk, pastor of First Christian Church, is still the president of ICON, he is still performing same-sex “marriages,” and his church is still heavily promoting LGBT ideologies.  Given that Bp. Soto – while chairman of the CCHD – defunded an organization whose leader performed same-sex marriage and promoted abortion on demand, it is only fitting that the same action be taken against ICON.

Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee

For Fiscal Year 2014-2015, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development provided a $40,000 grant to the Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee (IESC) through the diocese of Los Angeles, California.

Summary of Problems

• The president of IESC performs same-sex marriages.
• The president of IESC is the pastor of a church that actively pushes the homosexual agenda.

Page 6 of the CCHD’s grants list for 2014-2015 identifies the Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee (IESC)as having received a $40,000 grant from the CCHD.  However, the president of the IESC is the pastor of a homosexuality-promoting parish and performs same-sex marriages.  This activity by the organization’s president should automatically disqualify it from Catholic funds, just as the CCHD’s chairman, Bishop Jamie Soto revoked funding from another organization for precisely this reason.

In 2012, Bishop Soto ended funding for an organization called Francis House, because its director performed same-sex marriages and advocated for so-called “abortion rights.”  Faith Whitmore, the director of Francis House, said “I have never represented any of those positions on behalf of Francis House.”  But this did not suffice as a defense for Bishop Soto.   From the article:

In its letter to Whitmore, the Sacramento Diocese said it respects the work Francis House does and cannot expect every organization it supports financially to “actively promote Catholic teaching.”

“We can expect, however, that they or their leaders not publicly oppose Catholic teaching and that, unfortunately, is the situation in which we find ourselves,” the letter reads.

With this in mind, and as a an established precedent set by the Chairman of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, it stands to reason that IESC should likewise be defunded by the CCHD.

The president of IESC is Rev. Michael Fronk, pastor of the First Christian Church, Pomona.

The First Christian Church in Pomona has a statement on its page about weddings, signed by Rev. Michael Fronk, stating clearly that, “We are open and welcoming to those couples who are same-sex as well as those who are not, since we believe that the covenant of marriage is something made before God.”

The First Christian Church website promotes same-sex marriage through articles written by Rev. Michael Fronk’s wife and co-pastor, Julie Roberts-Fronk.

T

The First Christian Church in Pomona website promoted an article from the Confluence Newsletter which attempts to establish that same-sex “unions” were a legitimate liturgical practice in the early Church, including Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Conclusion

Given Bishop Soto’s swift action in defunding an organization whose leader performed same-sex marriage and promoted abortion on demand, it is only fit that the same action be taken against IESC.  To fund an organization whose leader performs same-sex marriages is no different from funding an organization whose leader performs late-term abortions on his spare time.  And funding an organization whose leader promotes homosexuality as a practice, lifestyle, or normal state of being is no different from funding an organization whose leader spends weekends attending Ku Klux Klan rallies promoting racism.  If the Catholic Campaign would never fund the latter, there is no way it can also legitimately fund the former.  This organization, as well as all organizations, whose leaders promote activities that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching should be immediately defunded.