Next Sunday Catholic churches all across the country will be passing the baskets for the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. It saddens me to say, you may want to consider not giving, this year.
Richard A. Viguerie, a ‘founder of the modern conservative movement’ and an active member of a Catholic parish in the Arlington, Virginia diocese, is sending word to Catholics throughout America, to inform them of the nature of organizations supported by the leftwing Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Until the problems are corrected, I see no reason to support this drive.
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, and take the ACTION STEPS listed below.
ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) received some $7.3 million from the CCHD in 1998-2008, and even more in earlier years. ACORN’s direct funding from CCHD was cut off in 2008, but only because of an eight-year-old embezzlement scandal that made it impossible to get a proper accounting of the money.
It appears that the Bishops’ problem was with ACORN’s poor “accounting” practices, rather than with the goals and tactics of a group that blurs the distinction between a radical political organization and a Mafia-style racket.
ACORN is currently under investigation or indictment in 20 states for voter fraud.
But ACORN is only one of many problematic organizations that has been supported by CCHD:
According to Matthew Vadum of the Capital Research Center, CCHD money has funded the Industrial Areas Foundation (described by its founder as a “school for professional radicals”), the Midwest Academy (which trains in left-wing confrontation and intimidation), and other related organizations such as the Direct Action and Research Training Institute, People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO), and the Gamaliel Foundation.
The network of organizations funded by CCHD is rooted not in the principles of Jesus Christ, who eschewed politics, but in the teachings of a Marxist and atheist, Saul Alinsky.
The Gamaliel Foundation, the Midwest Academy, and PICO have earned themselves profiles at David Horowitz’s guide to the political left, Discover the Networks.
You can read Viguerie’s complete media advisory, here.
Steps you can take:
It’s time to STOP THE BISHOPS FROM FUNDING ACORN-TYPE GROUPS.
Here are the ACTION STEPS you can take to stop them:
1. REFUSE to give a single cent to the bishops’ November appeal.
2. FORWARD THIS E-MAIL to friends, family members, co-workers, and all Catholics you know. (Even friends who aren’t Catholic can help by forwarding this message to their Catholic friends.)
3. SIGN OUR PETITION at http://conservativehq.com/petitions/
This petition that will be sent to the American cardinals and all other members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.4. COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR PASTOR and/or BISHOP (through a letter, e-mail, phone call, or personal visit) and tell him that you will not contribute to any cause that’s promoted in the names of the bishops until they STOP USING CONTRIBUTIONS TO FUND LEFT-WING POLITICS.
Hat tip: Gateway Pundit, where a reader emails:
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…
That’s good to know. They need to get together and straighten this out.
SEE ALSO:
Matthew Vadum: Left-Wing Radicalism in the Church: CCHD and ACORN
Related:
LifeNews.com reports:
Obama Will Remove Abortion Funding Ban From Health Care Bill, Advisor Says
News from Notre Dame:
A very worthy cause: Free The ND 88
Did you know that there are still charges pending against 88 peaceful defendants who protested onto Notre Dame’s campus, last Spring, when the Obama spoke there?
Among them were at least one priest and several nuns, Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, two ladies – Jane Brennan, author of Motherhood Interrupted (2008), and Laura Rohling – who preach about healing and hope after abortion in the Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, and many other non-violent participants in America’s pro-life movement.
