The following comes from a July 25 story on Catholic World News.
Days after Catholic Relief Services —the US bishops’ relief and development agency—issued a statement that referred to the National Catholic Bioethics Center in its defense of a controversial 2010 grant, the bioethics center president John Haas revealed that he had urged the Catholic Relief board not to approve the grant because of the “unavoidable” scandal that would result.
At issue is a Catholic Relief grant of $5,380,466 to CARE, a humanitarian agency that integrates contraception into its emergency and relief efforts. Catholic Relief Services’ newly-released tax return states that the purpose of the grant was for “emergency”; Catholic Relief later stated that the grant was “used by CARE for water and sanitation programs in four Central American countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua), for food and nutrition programs, as well as water and sanitation in Madagascar; and for food and nutrition programs in Zimbabwe.”
Following a LifeSiteNews report, Catholic Relief said that a recent investigation of similar grants conducted by the National Catholic Bioethics Center found that none of the funding from Catholic Relief was fungible. That is, there is little to no risk of the grant funds being used either (i) for purposes outside those outlined in the grant request or (ii) for freeing up money in the receiving organization for immoral purposes by virtue of their having received the grant from Catholic Relief. The bioethics center found that there could be a risk of scandal over such partnerships if people become confused and wrongly assume that Catholic Relief was endorsing a partner’s position on other issues.
Following the Catholic Relief statement, Haas said that the proposed grant to CARE was “of grave concern to me” and quoted from the comments he had submitted to the Catholic Relief board:
“On the anniversary of Roe v Wade in 2009 [CARE CEO Helen Gayle] called on President Obama to rescind the Mexico City Policy and fund abortions abroad. She issued this call on the very day hundreds of thousands of pro-life demonstrators including many bishops called for the reversal of Roe v Wade. Her testimony and statement are both posted on the website of CARE.
“Even though the grants going to CARE are for very laudable and indeed life-saving initiatives, I believe that these very strong public positions taken by the President of CARE in complete opposition to the policies and positions of the US Catholic Conference of Bishops would certainly give rise to legitimate theological scandal if not confusion as to why the bishops would fund such an organization.
“I think even some bishops would take exception to the grant to CARE if they were aware of the strong public advocacy of abortion and the positions at odds with those of the bishops …
“In my opinion because CARE is so well known and so high profile and because the advocacy of abortion has been so strong and public and in such opposition to the position of the bishops, scandal would be unavoidable.
“It would be different if [Gayle] weren’t so public about her opposition to the moral teaching in this area, and I said I had grave reservations about this whole thing going forward without the question of the scandal being addressed,” Haas recalled.
To read original story, click here.
For such reasons I long ago ceased giving to CRS, and some others. Not interested in their duplicity and loophole social theology. If they were all about preaching Jesus to people, then they would not be recognizable by the mix of social services and confused religion. You feed the poor so they can get to Heaven, not so you have a job.
Catholic Relief Services is obvously another Fake Catholic organtization that condones contraception and abortion!
CARE is such a common acronym, it’s necessary to google Helen Gayle to find it. The home page has the standard population control as reproductive health’ ruse. You’d think the Bishops would want to keep a 10 foot pole from that. It sounds like institutional inertia. In Canada, the opposite number is called Development & Peace. Their ‘Catholic’ pro-abortionists are so entrenched that they got Life Site News reporters banned from Canadian Bishops’ meetings. As I am under obedience to Sacramento Bishop Soto, I can only ask for your prayers for him.
So CRS gives millions of dollars of my donations to an organization whose CEO called on President Obama to rescind the Mexico City Policy and fund abortions abroad. How is money not fungible? The money given to them frees up money to fund campaigns to fund abortions. CRS needs to sever all ties to any organization that does not fully support Catholic Teachings.
If they cannot do that, then the CRS needs to be disbanded and the funds returned to the local churches to conduct their charitable giving in a way that properly comports with the tenets of The Catholic Faith.
It is sad that I won’t be able to support CRS anymore as they are doing such a tremendous good through-out the world. I was already upset with the USCCB for taking money that is donated for emergencies to be used for “teaching aids” as the Bishops call it; I call it something else. Care has also done so much good, but, it only takes one bad act to send someone to hell and giving out birth-control is one of them. CRS get your head straight and keep away from CARE. I don’t usually agree with John Haas, but, this time he is right about the scandal that this misguided act has done. Very sad. +JMJ+
It does seem reasonable to assume that if funds for charitable purposes are freed up then they are able to be used for the objectionable things.
Is he saying we must refrain from “saving lives” to avoid “theological scandal?” That doesn’t sound very pro life to me.
Does the Fortnight of Freedom include an escape clause for certain bishops to cause even graver scandal from within the Church? Who is watching Our Lord’s sheep? The US bishops’ relief and development agency is not listening to Holy Scripture or to the Holy Father. There is no excuse for this scandal. You cannot do good works in tandem with evil. There is either complicity with evil or indifference to evil. Ignorance is not an excuse because Our Lord has asked his lead shepherds to be attentive.
The Holy Father has spoken about the Loss of the sense of sin. “The restoration of the proper sense of sin is the first way of facing the grave spiritual crisis looming over man today, but the sense of sin can only be restored through a clear reminder of the unchangeable principles of reason and faith which the moral teachings of the church always upheld. There are good grounds for hoping that a healthy sense of sin will once again flourish, especially in the Christian world and in the church. This will be aided by *sound catechetics*, *illuminated by the biblical theology of the covenant*, by *attentive listening* and trustful openness to the magisterium of the church which never ceases to enlighten consciences, and by an ever more careful practice of the sacrament of penance.”
These words are from Holy Scripture and they were taken from the USCCB website. Why are certain bishops ignoring Holy Scripture and the Holy Father’s words to be attentive?
Psalm 139: ” See if there is a wicked path in me; lead me along an ancient path.” This is a hymnic meditation on God’s omnipresence and omniscience. The psalmist is keenly aware of God’s presence in every part of the universe and of God’s control over the psalmists very self. Summing up Psalm 139 “There is only one place hostile to God’s rule – and that one place is WICKED PEOPLE. The psalmists prays to be *removed from their company*. Why are our bishops in the company of those who loathe God? Why are our bishops allowing this scandal by giving money to organizations who loathe God?
Pslam 21-24 “Do I not hate, Lord, those who hate you? Those who rise against you, do I not loathe? With fierce hatred I hate them, enemies I count as my own. Probe me, God, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts.”
I agree Catherine. This stuff always disturbs me that our church has so many of these kind of scandals. They don’t care about compromising one thing for another. Our church should never deal with anything that is connected to abortion. What is their mentality on this issue? So they think that caring for the poor means to ignore funding for abortion and other immoral issues? Oh how wrong they are. Truly hypocritical! To truly care is to help even the most innocent and that includes the unborn!
Catherine you commented “You cannot do good works in tandem with evil. There is either complicity with evil or indifference to evil”. I agree with you but Archbishop Chaput says that depending on the situation “yes, you can cooperate with them”. One of the quotes I have heard from an Alinskyite person is that sometimes you have to break some eggs to make an omelette. Do some bishops believe that sometimes you have to break some babies to make the world more just? It seems like many bishops don’t have a problem with cooperating with and funding those who promote ‘intrinsic evil’ in order to achieve ‘social justice’.
Just like our Development and Peace scandal in the Catholic Church in Canada.
The Bishops denied that money was going to abortive organizations,were CORRECTED by Bishops in affected countries,angrily blamed the messenger-Lifesite News-which is STILL forbidden to cover CCCB meetings.
Donations have plummeted and in my envelope I explain that there are too many heterodox PAID “PROFESSIONAL CATHOLICS”(in the words of Pope Benedict XVI)running this thing AND our Dioceses and that they are causing scandal to the Church.
NOT ONE DIME.
The USCCB must stop the SCANDALS of their organizations. Until then we are bound not to donate one penny. Both “Catholic Relief Services” (CRS) and “Catholic Campaign for Human Development” CCHD have been guilty of SCANDAL by donating to organizations which defy Church teachings. It’s too bad that the USCCB automatically gets money from each Diocese or we could stop funds going to them as well – to be certain they would get the message.
I was giving regularly until several years ago until I was read Charity Navigator. I’m very happy with Mary’s Meals which goes directly to feeding children and brings the family into the picture. The charity gives food that is raised in the country being assisted, or at least nearby. The mothers or aunts cook the meal at school so the children receive a nourishing homecooked meal of food that they’re familiar with. The focus is keeping it simple…educating and feeding children involving the family and communities. One campaign was so successful they ended it because the community became self-sustaining. Mary’s Meals lets you know if when a campaign ends so you can decide where you want your money to go. If you’re not familiar with it you should google it. It started in Scotland as a man’s passionate response to the war in Bosnia. He collected food and clothes and drove his little truck there, amidst bombing and fighting. People kept giving him & his family food etc. so they just kept making dangerous runs and it has grown to many countries now. I recently came upon the website, neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk where a British school girl has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for this wonderful charity by sharing her school menu ratings as well as those of children from all over the world. Fun! Some of you with children would really enjoy it!
The U.S. Bishops have shown themselves again and again to be incompetent and duplicitous in their use of the faithful’s money. It’s well past time to cut them off. Donate your money to: 1) the BUILDING fund of your local parish (all other money flows to and is the property of the diocese) and 2) charities you’ve researched thoroughly and trust. Anything else is poor stewardship. This takes time and effort, yes, but in our information age, such things are definitely doable. Being faithful is not easy.
So, the money that went to CARE was not donor money, it was federal grant money that CRS was obligated to give to CARE and was not used for contraception. Question: Why is CRS getting federal money to allocate to CARE? Why can’t CARE get the grant itself?
Please see below for the reply that I just received from CRS about CARE. It sounds like Obama’s nonsense about how “Obamacare” won’t require churches to fund contraception and abortion. From now on my donations will go to CARITAS, which is under the auspices of the Vatican. By the way, Bishop Gerald Kicanas is Chairman of the Board for CRS. He is the former VP of the USCCB passed over for President in favor of Cardinal Dolan. It is conjectured that Bishop Kicanas, whose own reputation for orthodoxy is suspect, was given the chairmanship of CRS as a consolation prize of sorts. Cardinal Dolan used to chair CRS and outrages like funding CARE never happened during his tenure.
What seems fairly clear is that we are responsible for insuring we understand where the money we donate ends up. This CARE/CRS issue came as a surprise to me. I had been donating monthly to CRS. I stopped. I sent an email to the director and asked for clarfiication. But, that I would no longer support them financially and make a point to insure my neighbors knew about their scandalous activity.
I have been shifting more of my montly donations away from the Bishops appeals. Although, I still feel I should contribute to where I recieve the sacraments day in and day out now (Oblates of St Joseph). Try the missions run by the FSSP and the Marians of the Immaculate Conception. They are authentic and loyal to the Magesterium.
This is the CRS reply mentioned in my last post:
Thank you for your recent communication to Catholic Relief Services.
Catholic Relief Services, in communion with the Church, strictly upholds Catholic moral teaching. All of the CRS programs and all of the funds used by CRS are entirely consistent with Church teaching. Faithfulness to Church teaching always has been and always will be our policy. CRS always has taken very seriously decisions we make about the groups with which we collaborate or form partnerships to ensure that we are not violating the Church teachings. We do not fund, support or participate in any programming or advocacy that is not in line with Church teaching, including artificial birth control.
These concerns about grants and partnerships, including the concerns over CARE, were raised to CRS last year. The agency undertook a thorough review of all partnerships together with Dr. John Haas of the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC). After careful review, their report came to three main conclusions:
1. None of the activities listed suggest support of or involvement in immoral activities. In the terminology of moral theology, there is no material cooperation with evil.
2. None of the funding from CRS was fungible. That is, there is little to no risk of the grant funds being used either (i) for purposes outside those outlined in the grant request or (ii) for freeing up money in the receiving organization for immoral purposes by virtue of their having received the grant from CRS.
3. The NCBC found that there could be a risk of controversy or scandal over such partnerships if people become confused and wrongly assume that CRS was endorsing a partner’s position on other issues. To avoid any misunderstanding, such as the Lifesite news article, CRS worked with the Bishops and the NCBC to address this risk through internal and external communications on our work, and continues to do so. This is spelled out in a statement posted below our Mission Statement on our website, titled The Catholic Values of CRS: (deleted)
CRS does promote abstinence and Natural Family Planning as embraced by the Church. You can find more details at (deleted)
Thank you for the opportunity to clarify this point.
May God bless you,
Kay Henson
Donor Services
Catholic Relief Services
228 W. Lexington Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
In the 1st article I read on this CRS scandal the communications director was asked if CRS would fund Planned Parenthood if the monies were directed only for use in ‘good programs’ for women done by PP. The communications director emphatically said “NO”. What the heck is the difference? A life killed by abortion or the morning after pill funded by CARE is just as dead as one terminated by PP. Right?
There is no excuse for CRS to grant money to CARE and no excuse for the USCCB to support CRS in doing so. Bishops stand up!!
Sure would like the opportunity to read some of those (deleted) ideas which might clear up some of these accusations againt Catholic Relief Services.
No ideas were deleted, just links to websites and e-mail, which Cal Catholic Daily protocol for posting comments forbids.
If you go to the web site for CRS you will find that they have a simple mission: Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We are motivated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to cherish, preserve and uphold the sacredness and dignity of all human life, foster charity and justice, and embody Catholic social and moral teaching as we act to:
•Promote human development by responding to major emergencies, fighting disease and poverty, and nurturing peaceful and just societies; and,
•Serve Catholics in the United States as they live their faith in solidarity with their brothers and sisters around the world.
If you go to the web site you will see a Board of Directors made up of the most “conservative” Bishops in the country. They do good work!
Lifesitenews interviewed Dr Haas and Haas said that the donation to CARE was of “of grave concern to me.” Haas also said “Even though the grants going to CARE are for very laudable and indeed life-saving initiatives, I believe that these very strong public positions taken by the President of CARE (Gayle) in complete opposition to the policies and positions of the US Catholic Conference of Bishops would certainly give rise to legitimate theological scandal if not confusion as to why the Bishops would fund such an organization. Haas also said “that CRS wanted to retain the long-standing relationship with CARE nonetheless. At that point he advised that the only way to do so was to publicly chastise Gayle and CARE.” “I said ‘I think that would be a necessary part of going forward, if you decide to go forward, it’s up to you,’ because the scandal question rests with the local authority, so in that case it would have been Bishop Kicanas and the CRS Board,” said Haas. Did Archbishop Dolan, president of USCCB, make the WRONG choice in selecting Kicanas, who has a history of partnering with very liberal and radical groups, to lead CRS????
Of course Archbishop Dolan made the wrong decision in selecting Bishop Kicanas.
Archbishop Dolan listened to his advisors, who told him that same sex “marriage” had no chance at all in New York.
Now even an ignorant non entity like myself could have better advised His Grace Archbishop Dolan, who may very well have presided over the definitive, camel’s-back-breaking, civilization-destroying defeat of the post-conciliar era.
The circle cannot be squared, there can be in the end no fellowship between Christ and Belial, and the Council has failed.
Is CRS Catholic? You sure could have fooled me!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
All of this is necessary, if painful.
We have been told that the Church could somehow make Her way in civilization based on the American, instead of the French, Revolution; that somehow this American Revolution provided us a modus vivendi within which we could live.
The idea of religious “liberty” was accepted, the John Courtney Murray Americanist doctrine was promulgated in the documents of the Council (may God have mercy on us!).
We are simply reaping the fruits of this decision.
May God bless Bishop Cordileone in his new assignment as pastor of the souls of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Would it be OK for the Knights of Columbus to donate mammography machines to Planned Parenthood since PP doesn’t do mammograms? The donation would not free up money for abortion or contraception. Can we ever cooperate with evil, even for a good cause? It seems the USCCB thinks it is OK.
Why is it so hard for people to see through the charade? It does not get any simpler: Give to evil, become evil.