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CCHD Reformed? – NOT!
Janet Baker
After the nation’s bishops were embarrassed by the very public scandals of ACORN, they vowed to reform the CCHD’s grant-making process. The ostensible aim was to ensure that recipients of Catholic monies did not engage in activities inimical to Catholic moral principles, or partner with other organizations that engage in such contrary practices. We were subsequently assured afterwards that the necessary steps had been taken to preserve the integrity of our Catholic donations. Sadly there is cause to doubt the efficacy of such reforms – if indeed it can be said that such reforms actually existed.
I’d suggest to the reader that they download their own copy of the 2010-2011 list of CCHD grantees. It can be found online at http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/grants/upload/cchd-grantees-2010.pdf . I will now highlight the ways which some local grantees violate these so-called “reformed guidelines” of the CCHD.
Looking on page 6 of that report, we see an organization called “Out For Justice”. Its website is http://www.out4justice.org/. This Baltimore organization exists to “change unjust policies affecting incarcerated individuals and their families”. This I gleaned from the site’s “about” page. The picture on that page is rather curious, as it seems to be that of a war protest effort. Whatever one’s opinions may be of the nation’s current military engagements, such a protest would seem to be outside the scope of this stated mission. That, however, is a minor issue. For the real problematic issue with “Out For Justice”, click the “funders” page. You’ll see that the CCHD is one of two major donors. Who’s the other? The Open Society Institute. Yes, this is the same George-Soros moneybag group that funded Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a dissident bunch that helped elect the likes of Kathleen Sebelius to her office of Kansas governor – and that greased the skids for justifying a Catholic vote for Obama in the 2008 elections.
Let’s move down the grantee list to “People Acting Together in Howard” (PATH). Their website is http://www.path-iaf.org/. In the url you can see that it’s affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). Those of you with internet can look up both the IAF and Saul Alinsky. You’ll see that Alinsky founded the IAF to carry on the antics he so aptly described in his book “Rules for Radicals”. The IAF’s own site says that a core purpose of theirs is to train community organizers. One such “organizer” was Barack Obama. David Alinsky (Saul’s son) remarked that Obama learned his lessons well.
The next one down is United Workers Association. In 2010 they joined the coalition spearheaded by Equality Maryland to push for “gay marriage” in Maryland. They’re also affiliates of Progressive Maryland. Fellow members of that group include National Organization of Women, the Service Employees International Union and Equality Maryland.
Please go to page 9 of the grantee report, to the section showing grantees within the Archdiocese of Washington (DC and the bordering Maryland counties). The Partnership for Renewal in Southern and Central Maryland (PRISCM), according to their website http://priscm.gamaliel.org/, is an affiliate of the Gamaliel Foundation. That in turn was founded in Chicago in the Alinskyite tradition. It was within this group that Obama got his feet wet in “community organizing”. An examination of the “health care” section of the web site makes plain its unequivocal support for the Obama “Health” bill – including the opening of the floodgates of more widespread abortion.
Washington Interfaith Network (WIN), like PATH, is an IAF affiliate. See http://www.windc-iaf.org/. What was written above about PATH could easily be written here.
It is not possible in this amount of space to delve into the community-organizing theories of Saul Alinsky. His aim was to recruit people into agitating for progressive changes, under the guise of helping them improve their lots. I’d suggest that one and all procure a copy of his book “Rules for Radicals” and read it. You’ll notice right away his salute to the world’s first “community organizer” – Satan. Then as you take a look at these various grantees, you’ll see Alinskyan thought throughout their operating philosophies. You’ll also see a bit of it throughout the Catholic Campaign for Human Development itself. It was co-founded by Msgr Jack Egan, a close friend of Alinsky’s and a board member of the IAF. According to Human Events, its original purpose was to funnel Catholic funds into the IAF. As you can see from the grantees from the Baltimore/DC area, the CCHD continues to fund the IAF and other Alinskyan groups. ACORN was just one such group – but the others still continue to receive Catholic money.
Except for a few token changes, no substantive reform of the CCHD has happened. Given its jaded foundations, I say that not only should the CCHD be defunded, but it should be abolished outright. On the balance, it has done great harm to the Catholic Church and to society at large.