Kathy S. sent this news about the upcoming CCHD drive planned for next weekend at Catholic Churches across the US.
I wonder if you are aware about the rapidly snowballing nationwide campaign AGAINST the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). One week from today, next Sunday, November 22, will be the annual bishops’ collection for CCHD in almost every Catholic church in America.
BIG NEWS is this: A few of the bishops have decided not to take up the collection–because of CCHD’s funding of ACORN, Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation, several other Alinsky-connected groups, many Marxist “social justice” and “social development” groups…
Think about that: On one hand, the bishops are all over Capitol Hill promoting the pro-life Stupak Amendment to the leftist health-care bill; on the other, they’re giving money to leftist groups that promote–surprise, surprise–abortion!
Some of us have been objecting to the ACORN funding for years. It took the Rathke embezzlement scandal to finally get CCHD to cut off ACORN funding last spring. But dozens of other leftist, sometimes blatantly Democrat-Party-building groups have gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions by well-intentioned Catholic parishioners who donated to “help the poor”–not knowing that the bishops were allowing their money to go to such objectionable organizations.
Richard A. Viguerie, a a conservative figure and writer on American politics, has written to other Catholic lay men and women throughout the nation to inform them of the nature of the organizations which are supported by the Campaign for Human Development. His letter is posted today at Christian News Wire:
You probably think you’ve never given money to ACORN and its allies. But if you’ve contributed to the annual November Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) appeal of the Catholic bishops, you’ve done just that.
Each November, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asks Catholics across the United States to contribute to the CCHD. Until last year, much of this money collected by the bishops’ appeal was funneled directly to ACORN.
Are you going to again let the bishops use your contributions — money that’s intended for charity — to promote extreme left-wing causes such as taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand?
Or are you going to take the ACTION STEPS listed below, to stop charity money from being diverted into causes you (and most Catholics) find abhorrent?
Scandals have forced the bishops to stop funding ACORN directly, but they still fund other groups closely tied to ACORN — groups that have the same aims and that use the same methods to promote a left-wing, extremist agenda.
Catholics are led to believe that their contributions to CCHD are used to help the poor — funding soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and other worthwhile projects that provide aid to the least fortunate among us.
In fact, it appears almost none of the money goes to the poor.
Rather, it goes to organizations that engage in “community organizing” to promote a political agenda that many Catholics would find abhorrent, if only they knew. CCHD’s stated goal is “breaking the cycle of poverty,” but CCHD-funding organizations support policies that make it next to impossible for the poor to escape their circumstances.
It’s time for America’s Catholics to rise up, let their voices be heard.
This group of conservative Catholics is urging church members not to participate in the CCHD Drive until the Catholic Church can guarantee that the funds are not going to radical organizations like ACORN that oppose the Catholic church doctrine.
November 16th, 2009 | 8:03 am | #1
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Right. Right said: {gatewaypundit} Catholics Organize Against Annual Church Drive to Fund ACORN Groups http://bit.ly/WOAce [...]
November 16th, 2009 | 8:03 am | #2
The NCC (National Council of Churches) accepts funds from Soros and Marxist groups on behalf of mainstream Protestants. http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6916 I’ve been trying to make some of our church members aware of this. This has gone on for years with most of us being unaware of it.
November 16th, 2009 | 8:09 am | #3
I was seriously considering converting from being an agnostic to a Roman Catholic but then I found out Catholics in America are pretty much a wing of the neo-communist Democrap Party these days. It’s too bad. They’ve chased off a conservative convert.
November 16th, 2009 | 8:09 am | #4
I am joyous the light is starting to shine inside the Catholic Church and I contune to pray it will clean the inside of its unclean cup.
When the Catholic Church, from the Vatican on down, was demanding “Universal Health Care” it should have known that the term ‘Universal’ meant everything; Universal is not just ‘working families’, it is also human beings growing inside life-giving wombs.
When the Catholic Church, from the Vatican on down, signed over its Universal soul to the government Health Care devil the leaders should have never expected that abortion would save them from this made-man Universal Health Care hell brought upon the earth.
I continue to pray the light reach the Pope, the Priests, the Bishops; that they come to know the word of God over the word of Marx.
November 16th, 2009 | 8:48 am | #5
It’s about time that these minor details are brought out front and center.
November 16th, 2009 | 8:54 am | #6
As a lifelong Catholic who no longer gives to the CHD or the Archdiocesan Development Appeal, let me offer this advice:
Give directly to the schools and organizations. Sunday collections at the parish are redistributed throughout the diocese for various things, also. Our school has a fund and I support it. I support the food pantry.
I give directly to Kenrick Glennon Seminary in St. Louis and Regina Cleri (Retirement for religious persons.)
Over 50,000 Bosnian Muslims were brought to St. Louis courtesy of dupes like me. Then the Reform Jews helped them build a 25,000 sf mosque in a Catholic neighborhood. Nothing like building your enemy a fortress.
And now the bishops, whose church built the world’s best hospital system on 6 continents, have turned over the job to the Democrat Party. Vote with your wallets.
My spouse is Anglican and his (former) church collected for Planned Parenthood and LaRaza.
November 16th, 2009 | 8:55 am | #7
Last year, rather than throwing my parish donation envelope in the wastecan, I placed it in the basket with a little NOTE inside instead of a check. It was important that my pastor and my bishop not think I had merely overlooked the special collection for CCHD.
My note: since the CCHD had misspent my prior contributions helping elect the most pro abortion candidate in history, I was withholding any further funds going forward. My pastor sent the note to our bishop. I will put a similar note in the collection basket again on Sunday.
November 16th, 2009 | 9:39 am | #8
marybel
November 16th, 2009 | 8:55 am | #7
Good for you. My pastor is pro-Muslim, anti-war (any war, except the war on prosperity) and he’d probably pitch a note like yours.
Charity is not handing over money whenever people ask for it.
I truly believe you cannot provide material help apart from spiritual help. That is why the government has wasted so much of our tax money treating symptoms instead of building futures for those in need.
November 16th, 2009 | 10:03 am | #9
aim.org has more on this stuff–Cliff Kincaid has been going crazy digging up more stuff on the links between the Catholic Church and ACORN. Yikes. You should check it out.
November 16th, 2009 | 10:16 am | #10
For these reasons and a host of others (including the Pope giving Nancy Pelosi and audience), I have decided that the Catholic Church is no longer a place that I will practice my faith or raise my children.
November 16th, 2009 | 11:17 am | #11
Progressivism has stuck its claws into practically every church these days. Even the evangelical mega churches play it safe and P.C. out of fear of offending anyone.
I’ve known for years there’s an element within the Catholic Church that is far to the left and got the gospel mixed up with Marx. When I was a kid in CCD, not-quite-reformed Communist Dorothy Day was widely admired. Plenty of Irish Catholics and Latinos are robo-Democrats, despite the fact the Dems are against everything traditional Catholicism teaches. Just because the Democrats greeted Great Grandpa Paddy O’Boozer at the docks with some free whiskey once he got off the boat from Ireland or because the Democrats promise free-for-all immigration and goodies for guillible Hispanics, they feel they owe the DNC their votes.
But to be honest, there are far more conservative, pro-free market Catholics than you think. A lot more than you’ll find among say, Episcopalians and non-Orthodox Jews. The life issue has led a lot of Catholics away from liberalism and some U.S. bishops and archbishops are finally starting to call shenanigans on pro-death politicians.
November 16th, 2009 | 11:22 am | #12
Please take a moment to visit the Reform CCHD Now coalition site:
http://www.reformcchdnow.com
There you will find that the main problem driving the current agitation against CCHD is the funds going to groups that not only “help the poor,” but promote abortion.
This is tragically ironic, considering how hard the bishops have been working to ban abortion funding from the healthcare bill.
The real problem with CCHD–beyond specific objectionable fund recipients–is similar to the real problem with the bishops’ overall support of healthcare reform, just with an abortion funding ban tacked on.
The core problem, I think, is the bishops’ political naivete, along with the high percentage of liberals among the lay staffers at the bishops’ conference, the USCCB, and in many cases, in the offices of individual dioceses. There needs to be a general critique of liberal thinking, and there needs to be a major housecleaning, sweeping the leftists out–for, when you get right down to it, leftism leads to socialism, and socialism always, in every single case, leads to marginalization and then persecution of the Catholic Church–not to mention, to a society that is gravely oppressive of human freedom and scornful of human dignity.
Fortunately, some of the bishops DO “get this.” Some of the bishops ARE offering a general critique of nationalized healthcare, and I really recommend this letter from Bishop Nickless:
http://www.scdiocese.org/Stewardship/healthcare/tabid/416/Default.aspx
as well as this article from–of all places–USA Today, about the efforts of Nickless as well as some other bishops:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-09-05-bishops-health-care_N.htm?POE=click-refer
Marsh and 5kidsnadgo, I pray you will reconsider. I DO sympathize completely with your frustration–heaven knows I’ve been frustrated, my own pastor is a liberal, drives me nuts!–but I always come back to this: Only the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Himself, and only in the Eucharist (not in the Lord’s Supper memorials in the Protestant denominations) can you receive Jesus Himself. What is the most important thing here?
It’s not about individual priests or misguided bishops; IT’S ABOUT JESUS. The Church is full of sinners because it is full of human beings! Jesus told us that it would be so until the end of time (Matt.13:24-30). He also promised that it’s His Church, not ours, and that the gates of hell would NOT hold up against it forever. It is up to us –for we are His Church–to keep pounding on those gates of hell until those suckers come down!!! For heaven’s sake, let’s stay united–for divided, we are weak indeed.
November 16th, 2009 | 11:31 am | #13
When, according to the bishop that investigated the sex scandal, there are 30-50%of Priests that are gay, it is no wonder that the church ends up supporting radical leftist causes.
November 16th, 2009 | 11:40 am | #14
I stopped giving money routinely a long time ago to ANY organization when I understood that by law, only 15% of what is donated needs to be spend for the reason donated. Instead, I give DIRECTLY to those who need it. I have given away money, cars, food, and goods to strangers and members of my community whose problems were revealed in front of me. This is the way it should have ALWAYS been done. Take care of your priest/minister and his little flock; your neighbors. Let the rest of the world take care of themselves as they should.
November 16th, 2009 | 11:43 am | #15
To averagemelon -
These people need it – http://www.FreeTheND88.org
November 16th, 2009 | 12:12 pm | #16
This is a very good thing, glad to see it and encourage it. Americans have been too trusting with handing over responsibility to other people. When money is involved, and big sums of it, it attracts sharks – funds are heavily looted before they end up in the hands for whom they was intended, if ANY of it makes it thru at all.
The big social failing that has allowed corrupt politicians, corrupt clergy of any church, allowing teachers and schools to indoctrinate instead of teach skills, is the failure of adults to recognize, value and retain PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for their selves, their families, their communities.
This “back to basics” is outstanding, cut out the “middle men.” Get to know one’s favorite charities, and donate DIRECTLY to them. No more “bundling” like UCC or the United Way, etc. – the lazy way to donate that allows partisan ideologues to bait with favorite charities, then give the lion’s share to Progressive Left causes.
Long overdue correction, yet very very welcome.
November 16th, 2009 | 12:28 pm | #17
I have decided that the Catholic Church is no longer a place that I will practice my faith or raise my children.
………………………………..
Good for you. I believe in freedom of religion.
Please understand that even if every priest were a pedophile, every collection taken were for ACORN, and every crooked politician a “Catholic,” the message of the Church is still the Truth.
As a Latin Mass devotee and all around conservative, I know it’s a struggle in some of these parishes. I spent 20 years in a very solid parish with sound pastoral grounding.
I moved and I won’t give the parish, but there are a few of us who meet and pray for the others, including the pastor, whose goal it is to be popular, not faithful.
I don’t answer to any of these earthly faith twisters. But I’m not abandoning my Faith.
………………………..
November 16th, 2009 | 12:37 pm | #18
Puzzled by the Catholic church actions. Sadly, most persons in the pews are senoir citizens and the church backs a health care bill that would drastictly reduce or even abort seniors’ health care needs?
I too, prefer to give charitably as I see fit and resent being patronized by organizations who solicit funds to cover their large over head cost and recieve praise and kudo’s for donating other peoples money.
November 16th, 2009 | 1:13 pm | #19
++
been putting out the warning for months now..
as far as i’m concerned Notre Dame sealed the deal..
A COVENANT FOR A NEW AMERICA
["At a press conference on December 1... the possible Presidential contender said, '...the network that Saddleback has helped to create has as much reach as any institutional force in our culture and has probably a wider reach around the world than just about anything that's going on right now.... I hope one of the things that comes out of this conference that Pastor Rick has emphasized again and again, is no single branch of our society is going do this alone. If government thinks they can do it by themselves they're wrong. Churches have to recognize that they've got to be partners with the government. Business has an enormous role....
"...you know the separation of church and state as a concept of the first amendment the biggest practitioners and the people who advocated most fiercely for it were actually evangelicals.'... [Yes, but later liberal humanists turned the meaning upside down.]
UCC member Sen. Barack Obama
discusses faith and politics
[Later -- during his interview with United Church News -- Obama continued his thoughts about religion and politics; specifically, the role of religious principles in reaching a balance between national security and social justice concerns.
"I believe that democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal values," Obama said. "Social justice and national security are both universal values, values that may originate for some in their religious beliefs, but are shared by us all."]
“I’m confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth”
~ B Hussein O
and that’s only the beginning, Obama is also laying the foundation for the wedding of Church/Mosque & State/Government, which will eventually lead to the acceptance of Sharia Law [Harold Koh Confirmed] , the final product being a New World Order under the auspices of an IslaMarxist UN Caliphate..
Obama to Orwell..
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
btw, that was just a sample, there’s much more..
Q: what do ie: politicians, corporations /
businesses & religions have in common??
A: they’re all spelled MONEY!!
==
November 16th, 2009 | 2:54 pm | #20
Them Catholics, playing all the angles.
November 16th, 2009 | 4:00 pm | #21
[...] Jim Hoft: “Catholics Organize Against Annual Church Drive to Fund ACORN [...]
November 16th, 2009 | 5:30 pm | #22
After much criticism for its leftwing funding, the CCHD has supposedly tightened up their standards. Unfortunately these new standards are not working because the CCHD is still funding groups that:
-Have a registered sex offender (child porn) on the staff
-Are working to change laws so you can not refuse to rent to convicted criminals
-Have an admitted socialist and friend of Code Pink member Jodie Evans as Executive Director.
-Have direct ties to Alinsky’s “Industrial Areas Foundation”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387280/posts
November 16th, 2009 | 6:44 pm | #23
++
Eric the Red @ 2:54 pm #20
not just Catholics, but you can bet your bottom
dollar none of the others shall be mentioned..
==
November 16th, 2009 | 11:36 pm | #24
Why would any sane thinking person want to put their hard earned money into the hands of many of the guys who worked so hard bring on the mess in the Church? And their lay staff!? There are wonderful orthodox Catholic organizations that serve poverty not their procurers. Send your money there.
November 16th, 2009 | 11:37 pm | #25
[...] tip: Gateway Pundit, where a reader emails: BIG NEWS is this: A few of the bishops have decided not to take up the [...]
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