Lepanto Institute broke this. lepantoinstitute.org
UPDATE: Estridge’s Facebook and LinkedIn profiles have been deleted.
Public records obtained from the Clerk of Circuit Court for the City
of Baltimore, Maryland show that Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS)
Vice-President of Overseas Finance is in a same-sex “marriage.” His
postings on facebook also indicate that he actively and publicly
supports same-sex “marriage.”
According to
Linkedin, Rick Estridge
is Vice-President of Overseas Finance at Catholic Relief Services. In
his online profile, Estridge states his duties at CRS as follows:
“As Vice President of Overseas Finance, I
lead the development and implementation of all overseas financial
management systems, policies, processes and activities to ensure strong
resource stewardship, operational efficiency, consistent financial
performance, risk mitigation, and exceptional financial management
across all overseas operations. I also act as the lead Finance
representative of the Agency to all donors, partners and other
stakeholders related to overseas financial reporting, and
contract/agreement, policy and compliance matters related to overseas
financial management.”
According to page 26 of
this document written by CRS,
Estridge was either a regional director or country representative for
CRS in 2001 and has been an employee of CRS ever since. Estridge
assumed his role as Vice President of Overseas finance in April of
2013. Prior to that, he spent four and a half years as Manager of
Finance and Administration for CRS’s program called AIDSRelief, he spent
two years as Senior Technical Advisor for Finance and Management in
Emergencies, and five years as Director of Overseas Finance. All told,
Estridge has been working for CRS for at least fourteen years.
The Lepanto Institute applied for Estridge’s public marriage record
from the City of Baltimore. A link to the document as it arrived in the
mail can be
viewed by clicking here. Below is a section of the marriage record, with key areas highlighted.
It may be coincidence, but it is worth nothing that
Estridge entered into his same-sex “marriage” the same month he was promoted to a vice-presidential position at CRS.
In addition to being in a same-sex “marriage,” Estridge has clearly advocated for same-sex
“marriage” on his
facebook page. To be clear that this is the same individual, here is a
picture of
Estridge on his own facebook page
.
By comparing this image with that on the linkedin page, it’s clear that this is the same person.
What follows below are a series of screen-captures showing Estridge’s
support and promotion of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. This
first image is taken from his
“about” page on facebook,
where all of the organizations he “likes” are listed. Of note are the
following, Matthew Shephard Foundation, Gay Rights, Human Rights
Campaign, No H8 Campaign, and Freedom to Marry.
In a
facebook post by the Human Rights Campaign (which is all about same-sex marriage), Estridge thanked the four politicians mentioned “for their leadership.”In a
facebook post by the Human Rights Campaign (which is all about same-sex marriage), Estridge thanked the four politicians mentioned “for their leadership.”
In the next post, Estridge actually suggested
sending Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern to Gitmo (a military
prison that held unlawful combatants during the War on Terror), because
she filed three bills against same-sex marriage and suggested that the
notion that ‘homosexuality is normal and healthy’ is more dangerous to
young people than terrorism is.
Conclusion
Bishops across the country are working hard to defend their schools
and parishes against the encroachment of those openly and actively
engaging in sodomitical acts. In San Francisco,
Archbishop Cordileone is fighting to preserve Catholic principles in archdiocesan high schools.
Bishop Lenon in the Diocese of Cleveland
has banned teachers in his diocese whose “actions or speech” in any way
support abortion, contraception, or same-sex “marriage.” In Omaha,
Nebraska,
a man had lost his teaching contract renewal at a Catholic high school because
of his plans to “marry” another man. And while all of this is taking
place, a man in a same-sex “marriage,” who actively advocates for
same-sex “marriage” on facebook, holds a Vice-President’s position at
Catholic Relief Services.
There is something very seriously wrong with that picture.
Considering that Catholic Relief Services claims to uphold Catholic moral teachings, while it is regularly
caught doing the opposite,
one has to wonder how many other individuals such as Rick Estridge hold
high level positions at CRS. And if other individuals such as Estridge
hold high positions, how many of them are responsible for conducting
the internal investigations at CRS which tend to exonerate them of any
wrongdoing, even when
all the facts say otherwise?
With a high level executive at CRS being involved in a same-sex
“marriage,” it becomes very difficult to trust the “Catholic Identity”
of the organization. It is also very difficult to take CRS seriously as
a Catholic organization, especially since this man was elevated to his
vice-president’s position in the same month he was “married.”
In light
of this, it is worth noting that the funding for the
contraception-promoting programs implemented by CRS appear to have been
conducted under the auspices of this vice-president. This may not be
the case, but it is a possibility that the bishops really should
explore.
