By DEXTER DUGGAN
A veteran national Catholic activist defending Church moral teaching says the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) again has awarded grants to groups opposed to that teaching.
The CCHD is an office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Michael Hichborn, who documented serious misuse of Catholic parishioners’ donations to the CCHD while he conducted research for the American Life League (ALL), continued his service to orthodoxy when he recently established the Lepanto Institute for the Restoration of All Things in Christ. Both Lepanto and ALL are based in Virginia and are active nationally.
In separate news releases on November 25 and December 1, Lepanto called attention to two recent violations of CCHD’s own policy.
Lepanto issued a report November 25 on New York’s Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), saying that it received “$35,000 from the CCHD for fiscal year 2014-2015. The Reform CCHD Now coalition reported on this organization back in 2012, and at that time pointed out that NWBCCC’s project called ‘Sistas and Brothas United’ was directly involved in the promotion of homosexuality and Communist activities.”
Lepanto said NWBCCC “launched its own gay-straight alliance in 2014, participated in a homosexuality activism coordination event in 2013, and its director of operations signed a letter supporting same-sex marriage.”
Quoting Hichborn, the news release continued: “CCHD grant guidelines are very clear. CCHD says it will not fund organizations which are taking actions in violation of Catholic moral teaching. This is just one more in the long list of failures in the CCHD’s self-proclaimed rigorous screening process. . . .
“What’s perplexing is that in 2012, the Reform CCHD Now coalition sent a profile on the problems with NWBCCC to the Archdiocese of New York, and the response we received was that they decided not to fund that organization before we even sent them the letter,” Hichborn continued. “So why are they funding them this year, now that it’s clear that things have gotten worse?”
Hichborn was a major figure at Reform CCHD Now, which described itself as “faithful Catholics who are concerned that the funds we provide to the national Catholic Campaign for Human Development in special annual Sunday collections have gone and continue to go to corrupt and partisan political groups, and even groups which sometimes work against the Church.”
While some members of the Reform CCHD Now coalition remain active, the coalition itself is inactive, Hichborn told The Wanderer on December 1.
The Lepanto website (lepantoinstitute.org) says that while Hichborn was at American Life League, he “researched and produced an annual report on organizations receiving grant money from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. This annual report, exposing dozens of grantees that are promoting abortion, birth control, homosexuality and Marxism, has led to a nationwide review of the CCHD and a tightening of its guidelines.
“Michael has also conducted research on Catholic hospital systems that are involved in the performance of abortions and sterilizations,” the website said. “He wrote a detailed report on abortion and contraception-providing organizations receiving money from Catholic Relief Services; and produced a detailed report on Obamacare and its danger to women, preborn babies, and the elderly.”
Asked by The Wanderer why CCHD has such trouble reforming itself, Hichborn replied by email on November 28:
“The problems with the CCHD are legion, but it seems that the biggest issue . . . is that it is giving money to non-Catholic and secular entities that had no understanding or regard for Catholic teaching. As Pope Francis has said repeatedly, the Catholic Church is not a philanthropic organization, She is the living Bride of Christ.
“As long as the CCHD is giving money to organizations to do the work the Catholic Church Herself is called to do, then the CCHD will remain a mere philanthropy seeking to feed bellies while starving souls,” Hichborn said.
The Wanderer asked the USCCB’s media relations office by email for a response by the end of December 1 concerning this CCHD grant, but the USCCB didn’t reply. An automatic computer notice acknowledged that the media office had received the Wanderer inquiry.
Also on December 1, the Lepanto Institute issued a news release asserting still another violation, saying that a community partner of Planned Parenthood in Massachusetts received $35,000 from CCHD for fiscal year 2014-2015.
Lepanto said: “In 2011, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts filed a Title X family planning application, listing the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center (CNC) [also known as United Neighbors of Fitchburg] as a community partner. The CNC was given $35,000 by the CCHD for fiscal year 2014-2015, despite multiple assurances that the CCHD would curtail and end support for organizations opposed to Catholic teaching. . . .
“The Lepanto Institute’s profile of the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center . . . reveals a number of violations of CCHD grant guidelines,” the news release said. “In addition to being a community partner with Planned Parenthood, a presentation on teen pregnancy created by CNC’s youth outreach director recommends abortion shop, Planned Parenthood, as a resource for teens, especially if they are afraid of talking to their parents.
“The report also shows CNC as participants in a program that promotes condom use, which is a violation of both Catholic moral teaching and the new and supposedly enforced CCHD grant guidelines,” Lepanto said.
The Lepanto Institute describes itself as “a research and education organization dedicated to the defense of the Catholic Church against assaults from without as well as from within. Whether in the form of armies, heretics, or traitors, the Church has always faced enemies seeking Her destruction. Today, the Church faces all three.”
It takes the name of Lepanto from an epic naval battle in the 16th century between victorious Catholic and defeated Turkish forces that prevented Europe from being overrun.
Hichborn’s Lepanto website says: “In 1571, at the famous Battle of Lepanto, recourse to the rosary saved the Church against a powerful force. Soldiers and sailors still had to rely upon their wits, strength, and blood in the fight, but it was Our Lady of the Rosary who ultimately brought the victory. Today, a powerful force is again assaulting Holy Mother Church but in a much more subtle manner. . . .
“Sadly, organizations like Catholic Relief Services, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the Catholic Health Association, and many others are giving aid and comfort to the enemies of Christ,” the website continues. “Even worse, dissident and apostate Catholics in politics and other prominent arenas are giving a false witness to the faith by claiming to be Catholic while promoting abortion, contraception, and homosexuality.
“As a remedy to this grave situation, the purpose of the Lepanto Institute is to encourage recourse to the Holy Rosary, particularly offered for bishops and priests, while presenting the facts on individuals and institutions such as these,” the website says.
Earlier in November, the Lepanto Institute issued a news release asserting that CCHD’s director, Ralph McCloud, had a conflict of interest.
The November 18 news release said: “McCloud, who approves grants distributed to community organizing groups on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is a member of the board of directors of Interfaith Worker Justice. Three affiliates of Interfaith Worker Justice received CCHD grants for fiscal year 2014-2015.
“I sent the facts to McCloud in 2012, showing that the leadership of Interfaith Worker Justice is filled with self-professed pro-abortion, pro-homosexual Marxists,” Hichborn said. “By joining the board of directors of IWJ, McCloud has created for himself the very definition of a conflict of interest.”
McCloud’s sympathies indicate a key problem for CCHD and the USCCB itself. Both groups identify so strongly with left-wing interests that a disinterested or nonpartisan approach seems impossible — a vital point for Catholics to keep in mind before donating to either.
The CCHD page at the USCCB website has a link to an article titled “Race, Economic Injustice & Ferguson: An Interview With CCHD’s Ralph McCloud.”
McCloud views the Ferguson, Mo., August police shooting of a teenager through a left-wing prism. The facts of the specific case aren’t even mentioned; the criticism is broad-brush.
Asked in the September interview whether there’s an issue of “systemic or structural racism” motivating Missouri protesters, McCloud said in part:
“Why is it the norm when dealing with people of color and alleged ‘criminals’ to utilize violence? Why do we consider certain types of communities disposable? It’s a fact that racism shapes American attitudes and policies around criminal justice. It is systemic and structural, but on many levels and by many systems.”
Asked what can be done to bring greater economic justice and reduce poverty, McCloud even put illegal aliens into his reply:
“This tragedy should make us rethink the evil that rampant inequality is inflicting on our communities, the use of violence to enforce it, and the ‘roping off’ of opportunity to growing parts of our society. Whether it’s people of color, immigrants from the wrong country, or a growing group of people below the poverty line, we have to ask whether it’s appropriate to police the margins with violence and punishment.
“This type of punishment starts with impoverished communities and poor education, continues with lack of economic opportunity, and ends up in a prison and immigrant detention cell,” McCloud said.
Among his questionable assertions, McCloud misrepresented the immigration issue, as if there are “wrong” and “right” countries to come from, instead of acknowledging that illegal immigrants, regardless of origin, make a conscious decision to break U.S. law.
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