Catholic campaign for human development: Still entranced by leftist activism, despite growing unrest

Human Events, Nov 10, 2000 by Lopez, Kathryn Jean

The national office also declined to provide a list of 2000-2001 grants because some dioceses had not reported their awards, but a look at the 1999-2000 grantees shows some unwelcome, familiar grantees.

Is It Catholic?

For many of CCHD's. Catholic donors, the program's adherence to moral guidelines is more important than political concerns. In years past, CCHD has encountered difficulty with grants to groups that sometimes oppose Catholic teaching, and grants to coalitions that include groups like the avidly pro-abortion National Organization for Women (NOW).

Last year's revised guidelines addressed these concerns: "In such cases, funding decisions will be made in accord with the traditional Catholic moral principles governing cooperation." Those "moral principles" advise against "scandal" that might be caused by working closely with objectionable groups.

It appears that CCHD has largely corrected this problem. For instance, CCHD no longer funds Community Shares of Tennessee. Two years ago, the Capital Research Center reported a grant to the workplace giving program for grassroots activists, including AIDS Response Knoxville, which distributed condoms and promoted "safe sex techniques" contrary to Catholic teachings.

Last year, CCHD continued to fund Community Shares despite the program's expansion to include support for gay and lesbian rights activists.

Also not funded in the most recent round of grants is Asian Immigrant Women Advocates. In 1998 and 1999, the Capital Research Center reported CCHD's funding for the group despite its endorsement of the 1996 "Fight the Right March" in San Francisco. That event was organized by NOW and called for abortion rights.

But the "Fight the Right March" was also endorsed by ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which continues to receive substantial funding from CCHD. ACORN also co-sponsored the February 1996 conference of radical feminist Eleanor Smeal's Feminist Majority Foundation, which advocates abortion rights and government funding for contraception, positions contrary to Catholic teaching. In 19992000, CCHD granted a total of $517,000 to 17 state and local chapters of ACORN-an 18% increase over the previous year's grants.

CCHD also still funds the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, which received a $25,000 grant during the 1999-2000 cycle. That's $5,000 less than the previous year, but $5,000 more than the year before that. The project's "JOBS Campaign" coalition includes a branch of ACORN, AFSCME locals, the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia AFL-CIO, the state chapter of NOW, and the Women's Law Project-all supportive of abortion rights.

Class Warfare Continues

CCHD is stuck in, as one observer called it, a "'60s time warp" happy to fund leftwing, big-government political mobilization and "anti-poverty" groups.

As already noted, CCHD still funds several branches of ACORN, known for its radical protests against banks that fail to meet ACORN's quotas for housing loans issued to low-income borrowers.