Catholics call on bishops to reform CCHD

I represented one of the "groups" vilified by Rey Flores in his letter responding to Stephanie Block's article. I have sent the following resonse to him by email and post it here as an open letter in order to address the calumny and injustice of his remarks targeting faithful Catholics.

Mary Ann Kreitzer, President
Les Femmes
Catholic Media Coalition


Dear Rey,

I was disappointed to see your response to Stephanie's article at Spero.com and I wonder if you really believe some of the things you wrote. Do you really think, for example, that those of us you met with in Chicago are "groups whose motivations and objectives are rooted in partisan politics?"

I would suggest, rather, that it is CCHD that has illustrated a solid commitment to partisan Democratic politics. The latest Bellarmine report on six CCHD grantees participating in an immigration voters' project in California illustrates it. They worked together against parental notification and traditional marriage, two Democratic agenda staples. This is typical of CCHD grantees. Don't you find that alarming? Should concerned Catholic simply ignore it?

Do your also really believe that we are not motivated by "faithfulness to Catholic teaching and concern for the poor?" You write as though CCHD is the only alternative for addressing poverty, but that is simply silly. Many of us, whom you dismiss so uncharitably, have long histories working with organizations that serve the poor - really serve the poor, vs. using the poor as pawns to advance the liberal agenda and elect pro-abortion Democrats like Loretta Sanchez.

It was a privilege and blessing to meet you and Bob in Chicago. I thought at the time it was a good-faith meeting. Which is one reason I'm so disappointed to see this personal attack on faithful Catholics who love both the Church and the poor. I suspect now its only purpose from the Archdiocese perspective was to buy time and convince us that we shouldn't boycott -- without any commitments on your part at all. Since the charm tactic failed you seem to have switched to attack mode and a dishonest attack at that.

The thing that bothers me most about your response is that it seems to be pulled straight out of Rules for Radicals - i.e. demonize your opponent. You've called us "hateful" and accused us of being "deceitful detractors" without producing one shred of evidence or addressing any of our legitimate concerns. Isn't that hateful and deceitful? It makes it difficult for me to believe that you were writing "In Christ's love." In fact, your letter illustrates rash judgment, calumny, and lack of charity.

None of us has any animosity toward you and your associates in Chicago. We do, however, have a problem with the partisan politics at the USCCB which is demonstrated in spades by the CCHD and has been for years. Stephanie addressed it well in her response to your letter.

We will continue to tell the truth about CCHD and reveal its networks that advance abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, and other moral evils. You don't help the poor by funding that kind of moral poison.

I don't mean to be sarcastic here just honest. In view of your comment at the Chicago meeting, I notice that the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering is being held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill in February. Is that a four or five star hotel? If you'll be there I'd be glad to pick you up and take you over to the Missionaries of Charity facility on Wheeler Rd. or we could go visit their hospice center for AIDS patients or Centro Tepeyac crisis pregnancy center. None of these are funded by CCHD but I suspect they all are much more effective at helping the poor than the community organizing groups being funded in Chicago.

Sincerely,

Mary Ann Kreitzer

"The first law of history is not to dare to utter falsehood; the second, not to fear to speak the truth."
Pope Leo XIII

by Mary Ann Kreitzer | Friday, November 06, 2009  2:39:27 PM  |  Report

Response by Stephanie Block

Let me begin by thanking Rey Flores, Nicole Wooldridge, Nicholas Lund-Molfese, Adrienne Curry, and Carol Smith – five dedicated associates of the Archdiocese of Chicago – for taking time to respond to my article “Catholics call on bishops to reform CCHD,” concerning a new coalition of pro-life Catholics who are asking US bishops to reconsider the nearly 40 year-old Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

I sincerely appreciate their personal service to the Church and their honest efforts to work on behalf of the poor. I also believe that this particular group of people is committed to reshaping CCHD, at least in so far as it operates in the Archdiocese of Chicago, into a more Catholic entity. This commitment to reshaping the CCHD has been evidenced in their “efforts on the part of the CCHD staff to reach out to these [CCHD> critics and respond to their concerns.”

However, here lies our problem: a program that needs to be reshaped or reformed or redirected – or whatever term reflects the “reaching out” attempted by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s CCHD staff to respond to pro-life concerns – is flawed. If CCHD were a perfect program, there would be no need for it to “reach out” to anyone.

Those “imperfections” are profound and systemic and less a matter of “partisan politics” (unless being pro-life is in some way a “partisan” political position) than they are a contradiction of Church teaching.

The Reform CCHD Now coalition objects to CCHD precisely because of that contradiction. Despite its rhetoric, CCHD can’t address or “break the cycle of poverty” unless it has a proper, Catholic understanding of poverty’s root causes. “Empowerment initiatives” and secular “justice education” – history supports me here – create economic serfdom for the majority of people, not prosperity.

That, however, is the least of CCHD problems. The most serious is that CCHD is not only failing to “protect the poor and vulnerable” but is actually working against protecting them. Every Alinskyian-associated or politically-progressive organization that CCHD funds – which in Chicago is the majority of CCHD grantees – supports abortion through a vicious and effective web of pro-abortion progressive networks.

Then pro-life American Catholics scratch their collective heads and wonder how it’s possible that we’ve made so little headway in saving babies from intentional destruction. Worse, how is it that the number of aborting fellow Catholics is as tragically high as those in the general population?

The sad answer is that for nearly two generations, they’ve been told that the mortal salvation for pre-born children is just another welfare program away. Now, if that were true, most abortions wouldn’t have happened, as the US has had a monstrous welfare system in operation for as long as abortion has been legal. Clearly, something else is wrong.

That “something else” is this: along with legal abortion has come the public conviction that abortion is a moral option – a conviction that is confirmed by the US Catholic Church that “says with its lips” abortion is an intrinsic evil but then encourages – through funding and programs – political fellowships between pro-abortion congregations and Catholic parishes – can you say, “United Power for Action and Justice?” Who can blame people for hearing the tacit message that abortion can’t be all that wrong…or, at least, community empowerment is a lot more important?

So, while I agree with you that there is a “legitimate and pressing need for a faithful response to poverty in our communities,” I vehemently disagree that CCHD, as it operates presently, is that response.

by mbarillas | Friday, November 06, 2009  10:40:51 AM  |  Report

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is the domestic social justice, antipoverty
program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Its goal is to break the
cycle of poverty through empowerment initiatives and justice education. Throughout its 40-year
history, CCHD has given thousands of people in the Archdiocese of Chicago the opportunity to
lift themselves out of poverty and live in dignity.
Recently, CCHD has come under attack from certain groups whose motivations and objectives
are rooted in partisan politics, rather than faithfulness to Catholic teaching and concern for the
poor. These groups have gone so far as to call for the elimination of the Catholic Campaign for
Human Development, making erroneous and inflammatory statements about the program, its
supporters, and the projects it funds. Despite efforts on the part of the CCHD staff to reach out
to these critics and respond to their concerns, anti-CCHD rhetoric has only become more
fervent and hateful, and the time has come to rally in defense of the Catholic Campaign for
Human Development.
As members of the Catholic community and followers of Christ, we are impelled to protect the
poor and vulnerable of our society. We are called to pursue not only charity but justice, and to
“set at liberty the oppressed.” (Lk 4:18) Those who are trying to destroy the Catholic Campaign
for Human Development deny the legitimate and pressing need for a faithful response to
poverty in our communities. We must not allow the deceitful cries of these detractors, whose
partisan agendas supercede their faith, to weaken our commitment to living out the message of
Christ and the ideals of Catholic Social Teaching.
On November 21-22, the annual collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development
will take place in parishes across the Archdiocese of Chicago. The money collected during that
weekend will go directly to funding projects in impoverished communities throughout the city.
Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we counter the lies being spread about CCHD. Take
a stand against injustice; break the cycle of poverty; support the Catholic Campaign for Human
Development!
In Christ’s love,
Rey Flores, Program Director, Catholic Campaign for Human Development
Nicole Wooldridge, Program Assistant, Catholic Campaign for Human Development
Nicholas Lund-Molfese, Director, Office for Peace and Justice
Adrienne Curry, Program Director, Catholic Relief Services
Carol Smith, Program Assistant, Catholic Relief Services

by ProCatholic | Wednesday, November 04, 2009  8:47:18 PM  |  Report