Rippling through the bulletin notices in parishes across the US tonight and tomorrow is the announcement of the collection NEXT weekend for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Most bishops seem to want to raise funds for the CCHD, since they rarely address the accusations against CCHD directly. Many pastors either don’t seem to have a choice, in which case they are being bullied into the collection, or maybe they really do support CCHD? Do they realize how such perceived support affects their own personal credibility? Probably not. But for the most part, the problem is not with the pastors, who ought to be able to count on their bishops having carefully reviewed the CRS and CCHD situations before collecting from the Faithful.
The most common argument from those who want CCHD to be funded is that the complaints against CCHD of giving parishioner money to organizations aligned against the Catholic Church’s goals is dismissed as being an old issue from years ago. Many claim that those inappropriate allocations were remedied and are just a matter of the past. True or false?
2011
If one checks out the USCCB site, we find the argument that the complaints brought by Lepanto had already been well handled by 2011. What has happened since? The defensive USCCB site still standing is from 2011! It can be found here: http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/Who-We-Are/cchd-report-9-28-2011.cfm
2015
Then there was an article in 2015 from The Bellarmine Forum, which can be accessed here: https://bellarmineforum.org/2015/09/12/why-not-give-to-the-catholic-campaign-for-human-development/
That 2015 article lists four reasons NOT to give to the CCHD:
- CCHD continues to make grants to organizations that directly support positions contrary to Catholic teaching.
- Most of CCHD’s grants still go to organizations that advocate for a larger, progressive package (which consistently pushes for positions that are contrary to Catholic teaching).
- Many CCHD-funded organizations are working to change Church teaching.
- CCHD has no intention of reforming.
2018-19
In 2018, Lepanto Institute continued to make accusations against the CCHD Collection and Disbursement, leading to the perception that nothing much had changed since the much earlier complaints. That article can be found reprinted here in the 9/7/19 Wanderer: “Lepanto Institute Report…Boycott the CCHD.”
So, the thread continues to run from pre-2011, to 2011 on the USCCB site, to 2015 in the Bellarmine Forum, to 2018-19 from the Lepanto Institute, as reprinted in the Wanderer.
Who to believe? Some will raise issues of relative credibility. It is a valid point, especially since the credibility of the USCCB now, post-McCarrick, is not what it was even in 2011. It is also worth a look at what other information is available; a search through Google will yield some additional worthwhile reading.
Personally, I will stick with my opinion from April 1, 2019 on Cleansing Fire: http://www.cleansingfire.org/2019/04/if-i-fund-sin-i-should-confess-it-shouldnt-i/
as applying not only to Catholic Relief Services (where Mr. McCarrick held a position of power for many years) but perhaps even more applicable to CCHD’s annual funding drive.
It’s our money, it’s our choice, it’s our conscience.
Final thoughts: Yes, there is an obligation under Church Law to support the Church. That does not mean every progressive project of suspicious accountability should be funded. Moreover, one can make the case that NOT to have looked into how CRS and CCHD deploy funds makes for questionable stewardship of the gifts we’ve been given, and potentially something worth mentioning in confession. One final note as we comb through the CCHD materials — there is a not insignificant hint permeating the communications that somehow “environmental” projects are beginning to be considered for support from CCHD collections. And that is not one of either the corporal or spiritual works of mercy. So, to whom should we turn for trustworthy counsel in these matters?
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