Two weeks ago, the Catholic bishops of the United States met in Louisville, KY for their annual plenary meeting. One of the topics for the meeting was the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the official anti-poverty program of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). In April, the long-term executive director of the CCHD, Ralph McCloud, departed his post without explanation, and evidence of the financial failure of the program came to light.During the meeting, which took … [Read more...]
Ostara Initiative (UPDATED for 2025)
NOTE: To download a PDF version of this report, please click here. October 2025 Update We at the Lepanto Institute can confirm that Ostara Initiative was continually funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) for all three full fiscal years following our original 2022 report (Which can be found below). They were awarded a total of $165,000 over that period of time. This marks six grants totaling $355,000 for the Ostara Initiative since its first ever grant in 2019. … [Read more...]
Catholic Bishops Fund Project Promoting Abortion Services in Women’s Prisons
Under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the Ostara Initiative received its first ever grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), totaling $60,000.The stated goal of Ostara is “to end prison birth in America.” Initially called “Isis Rising,” the Ostara Initiative was founded in 2004 in order to address the “needs of pregnant and parenting women in prison.”Unfortunately, the Ostara Initiative considers access to abortion and contraception … [Read more...]
