Catholic Campaign for Human Development Criticized, Funded Pro-Abortion Groups
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 23, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, an outreach of the nation’s Catholic bishops, is coming under criticism for funding groups that support abortion. A Catholic pro-life outreach called Bellarmine Veritas Ministry analyzed the CCHD grants and discovered the problems.
According to BVM, five groups that support abortion received money from CCHD according to its intensive study of CCHD grants from 2008 to 2010.
"Unfortunately some of the groups funded openly promote abortion," which is "not in line with Catholic teaching," BVM explains.
The groups include the Chinese Progressive Association , which has received CCHD funding for four years and is slated to receive $30,000 this year. In 2008, its voters guide urged California residents to vote against a statewide measure that would allow parental notification on abortion — something pro-life Catholics in the state supported.
The Los Angeles Community Network had received funding from the CCHD and was slated to receive $40,000 this year until it was recently defunded. The group promotes the morning after pill, which can cause an abortion in some instances after implantation.
The Rebecca Project for Human Rights, which has also been funded by the CCHD for the last four years, according to an opinion column by Catholic writer Deal Hudson joined Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion organizations in signing a pro-abortion ‘wish list’ for President Barack Obama for his first 100 days.
"This list includes proposals to increase funding for contraception and abortion, defunding abstinence programs, and the end of the Mexico City Policy," Hudson explains.
The Women’s Community Revitalization Project, was scheduled to receive $30,000 from the CCHD until it was exposed, and it is a coalition partner of the pro-abortion umbrella group WomenVotePA. Also, Young Workers United, which backs abortion and opposed the California parental notification vote, was scheduled to receive $25,000 from the CCHD.
"The research published by Bellarmine Veritas Ministry is highly detailed and irrefutable," Hudson says.
Fortunately, CCHD has responded to the criticism by de-funding some of the groups.
"CCHD, the social justice arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which ceased funding ACORN last year, has responded by defunding two of the four organizations, while the fate of the other two remains undecided," he explains.
BVM says it is happy that CCHD has responded to the highlighting of the pro-abortion groups that received funds.
"We are pleased with this first step and regard it as a sign of good faith by the CCHD. However, we remain concerned with how these organizations were cleared to receive funding in the first place," it says.
"When Catholics entrust their donations to the CCHD they should feel assured that not a single penny will be used to fund groups which promote abortion," it continues."As it stands, we have no such assurance. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have made their way to such groups and if the current standards remain in place, the risk remains for the future."
"Until the CCHD implements a more robust set of guidelines and filters, we must unfortunately continue to advise Catholics to withhold their donations from the CCHD. We are hopeful that the CCHD will indeed take this next step and we look forward to the day when we can report this good news," it added.
Hudson says pro-life advocates need to contact the local bishops where the groups are located since they are responsible for the funding decisions.
"This means that the scandal of CCHS grant-making is not just the problem of the USCCB staff, it is the problem of all the bishops who sign off on funding for groups like the Los Angeles Community Network in their dioceses," he writes today.
"Rob Gasper, the founder of Bellarmine Veritas Ministry, is to be congratulated for his investigation. I hope he will continue his investigation into lists of CCHD grantees from earlier years — I am sure he will find more of the same, unfortunately, for Catholics around the nation whose money was being ill spent," he concludes.
Hudson says he worries the problems are so pervasive that the CCHD may need to be eliminated.
Related web sites:
Bellarmine Veritas Ministry – https://bellarmineveritasministry.org
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
