The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), annually provides anywhere from $9 million to $15 million to political agitation groups every year. For fiscal year 2018-2019, the CCHD issued a total of $11,587,939 in grant money to such organizations.
The problem is that every year, despite constant denials, promises, and even an entire campaign of “review and renewal,” many of the organizations the CCHD funds undermine Church teaching. Time and again, CCHD has given grants to organizations that promote abortion, homosexuality, Marxism, or heresy, or they are members of coalitions that do these things, or their leadership is involved in them. And this last grant cycle is no different.
We’ve already published three reports on organizations from this grant cycle. Earlier this year, we published a report exposing a $750,000 grant given to the Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN). ISN actively promotes homosexual perversions, including transgenderism. The CCHD issued a response to our report, defending both the grant and the perverse activities of ISN. Two weeks ago, we published a report on $25,000 granted by the CCHD to Just Economics, an organization found to be pushing homosexual activism.
As we pointed out in those reports, CCHD’s promised “rigorous” screening process just doesn’t seem to be working.
In previous meetings with CCHD officials, we have pointed out to them the very obvious axiom that “personnel is policy.” Basically, if a proposed grantee is run by or staffed with abortion supporting homosexual activists, there is a grave risk that the proposed grantee will end up involved in those evils as well. It makes sense, it isn’t rocket science, yet time and again we have found that CCHD grantees are run and staffed by this exact type of personnel.
Here are three such examples from the current CCHD grant cycle:
Susan Shaw – executive director of North Bay Organizing Project
Susan Shaw used Facebook to celebrate homosexual activism by overlaying the “pride” rainbow on the North Bay Organizing Project’s logo. She then used this photo as her Facebook profile photo.
Linda Leeuwrik Ph. D. – Board Chair of the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils
Linda Leeuwrik prominently displayed her support for both Planned Parenthood as well as homosexual activism in her profile pictures on Facebook.
Adam Wedeking – Organizer for Inland Congregations United for Change
Wedeking openly supports transgender and homosexual activism both on the grantee’s website as well as his Facebook page
Facebook sources here, here, and here.
These three examples of leadership and staff from CCHD funded organizations supporting moral evils are in no way isolated. We have seen it time and again and have pointed it out to CCHD leadership repeatedly. Yet, for some reason it keeps getting swept under the rug with no change, no action taken.
Just imagine, funding from the Catholic Church is paying the salaries of these radical pro-abortion, pro-LGBT political agitators!
It is time to END the Catholic Campaign for Human Development!
Please contact the CCHD and demand answers. Ask them how or why organizations like these ever received a grant and if CCHD will demand Catholic money to be returned for violating CCHD guidelines and Catholic moral/social teaching. Also, contact your bishop and ask them to withdraw completely from the CCHD. For a complete listing of bishops and their addresses, click here.
CCHD NATIONAL OFFICE STAFF
Main Number . . . . . . . . . . 202-541-3210
Fax Number . . . . . . . . . . 202-541-3329
Main Email . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]
Ralph McCloud Director: 202-541-3367 [email protected]
Lydia Jiles Grants Administrator: 202-541-3210 [email protected]
Is this the same as The Bishop’s Annual Appeal which is happening now in the Diocese’s? If not, is any money from the Appeal funneled to this?