Regardless of what one thinks about the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic there is no doubt that people are suffering. On one hand you have those who are fighting the illness itself, and on the other are those impacted economically and emotionally through lost jobs and a depressed market. This impact is even worse for those already impoverished and those in less developed countries.
The Church has always been on the front lines providing relief to those impacted by disaster through the ministries of religious and lay led efforts. Some of the greatest saints are best known for their tireless work in areas of plague and pestilence. But some organizations are asking for money while also receiving large amounts in federal funding.
A supporter recently saw a fundraising appeal from Catholic Relief Services related to their Coronavirus relief efforts and asked us if CRS was worthy of support in this instance.
Based on our ongoing series of reports about the facilitation of contraception and other grave evils CRS is involved with, our immediate answer is “absolutely not!” However, supposing for the sake of argument that CRS was NOT involved in the promotion of evil; would we then recommend donating to their coronavirus response then?
What you may not realize is that you already HAVE donated to CRS’ Coronavirus response, through your tax dollars! The majority of CRS’ funding comes from the US Government. According to its 2018 Annual report, CRS received over $387 million from the US Government as opposed to $23 Million from its Rice Bowl and annual collection. In fact, CRS expects to receive a chunk of approximately $274 million being made available to conduct Coronavirus relief from the US Government.
We’re not saying this imbalance is necessarily immoral (though it certainly carries a large set of risks and temptations!) However, with CRS being such a large recipient of Caesar’s largess, perhaps our funding would be better directed to faithful organizations that actually rely on the support of the faithful rather than the government to do their good works.
This is one of the reasons we started our Charities Reports, to help you decide which organizations are worthy of your contributions. So far, we’ve identified two worthy organizations from our list that are directly addressing the pandemic and need your support:
Aid to the Church in Need is requesting help for nuns and priests on the front lines caring for the sick in communities stricken with Covid-19.
Cross Catholic Outreach is ramping up its efforts to help poor communities increase their levels of hygiene in response to the pandemic.
Both Aid to the Church in Need and Cross Catholic Outreach are listed as “safe” on our charities report list and are deserving of your support. Please take the time to learn about each of these fine groups and direct your contributions to organizations that truly need your support and will also be good custodians of the hard-earned funding you provide.
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