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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2009 /  No CCHD funds go to groups that oppose Church teaching

by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 20, 2009

Detroit - Local Church officials added their voices to those of the U.S. bishops in assuring that no funds donated to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development will go to groups that oppose Catholic teaching.

Members of the U.S. bishops' subcommittee overseeing the CCHD reassured their fellow bishops meeting in Baltimore that "no group that opposes Catholic social or moral teaching is eligible for funding" from their domestic anti-poverty campaign.

The annual collection to fund the CCHD is to be taken in parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit at Masses this Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21-22.

Locally, the Communications Department of the Archdiocese of Detroit distributed a memorandum to pastors countering anti-CCHD allegations, said Michael Hovey, director of the archdiocesan Office for Catholic Social Teaching.

The reassurances about the proper use of funds comes in response to a campaign by some organizations to dissuade the faithful from responding to the annual appeal for donations to the CCHD.

"There are some groups accusing the CCHD of funding some groups that have policies or positions contrary to Catholic teaching, and they're advising that Catholics withhold their donations to CCHD because of that," Hovey said Tuesday.

He said the groups accusing the CCHD of incompetence or even willfully giving grants to inappropriate organizations are ignoring the evidence to the contrary provided by the CCHD on its Web site, www.usccb/cchd. "At that Web site, all of the accusations are addressed, and the bishops lay out their policies," Hovey said.

He also pointed to the response given by Bishop Roger P. Morin of Biloxi, Miss., who told fellow bishops that appropriate steps had been taken in the few cases where it was discovered grants had been made that should not have.

"We pledge our ongoing efforts to ensure that all CCHD funds are used faithfully, effectively and in accord with Catholic social and moral teaching," Bishop Morin, subcommittee chairman, and the five other bishops who sit on the subcommittee said earlier Tuesday in a statement to the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., chairman of the bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, joined the subcommittee in its statement.

"Across our nation, CCHD is helping thousands of low-income families improve their lives and communities, to seek justice and to defend their dignity," the statement said, adding that in the nation's current economic conditions it is needed "now more than ever."

"All CCHD grants are carefully reviewed at both the national and diocesan levels and are approved by the local diocesan bishop. No group that opposes Catholic social or moral teaching is eligible for CCHD funding," it said.

"If any CCHD-funded group violates the conditions of a grant and acts in conflict with Catholic teaching, CCHD funding is immediately terminated," the bishops' statement said.

"However, one case is one too many, and we are committed to strengthening CCHD's review and monitoring processes to assure that all CCHD funds are used in accord with Catholic principles," it said.

The bishops created CCHD at the urging of Detroit's archbishop at the time, Cardinal John Dearden, "to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ to 'bring good news to the poor, liberty to captives, new sight to the blind, and set the downtrodden free,'" the bishops said in the statement, quoting the Gospel of St. Luke.

"As we approach the annual CCHD collection, we urge your generous support of the help and hope that CCHD has offered for decades," the bishops said. "CCHD is needed now more than ever in these tough economic times when so many families are suffering and poverty is growing."

Organizers of the boycott urged Catholics to state their objections to CCHD by downloading a specially designed coupon and putting it instead of contributions in the collection basket.

The bishops' statement cited three cases - out of 250 funded groups during the last year - in which funding was terminated and the groups were asked to repay any grant funds that were spent.

Stephen Phelan, communications manager for Human Life International, said the reform group supports the Catholic bishops.

- Catholic News Service contributed to this story.