VOCAL: Since EWTN's special programming of "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" in late 2016, we are learning more about Saul Alinsky and CCHD. Reform CCHD Now and Catholic Media Coalition are considered a "right-wing fringe element", conducting a "witch-hunt" against CCHD. These descriptive phrases are uttered by Street Roots director Israel Baer
On the left side of God: How politics and religion mix in the world of charitable giving
By Joanne Zuhl, Staff Writer
A 4-inch-square, 96-page booklet once was considered the embodiment
of social justice and empowerment of the poor, and for years, its
publisher attracted financial backing from the Catholic Campaign for
Human Development through the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon.
The local Catholic Campaign — a private nonprofit foundation operated
by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — helped launch the
booklet with a $5,000 grant in 2008, making sure information on health
care, shelter, employment and supportive services was in the hands of
people experiencing homelessness and poverty.
That was until this spring, when a call to the office of Justice and
Peace of the Archdiocese of Portland pointed out the offense on page 25.
There, under the category of health care, was a listing for Planned
Parenthood, which in a half-inch space included a description of the
various basic services, including contraception, that the organization
provides to low- or no-income customers seeking health care.
The message from CCHD managers at the Portland Archdiocese, although
supportive of the booklet’s overall mission, was made clear in terms of
funding: If Planned Parenthood remained in the booklet, CCHD, in keeping
with Catholic teaching, could no longer fund Street Roots, the
publisher of the Rose City Resource guide. Street Roots decided to keep
the listing.
But what was behind the call? Why now? What changed after five years
of CCHD support for Street Roots? How did a piece of information
suddenly morph into a theological offense?
Starting in autumn 2009, other groups began asking the same
questions. The Chinese Progressive Association in San Francisco was
among the first to get the call: CCHD, which was one of the founding
funders for the 38-year-old Association, had to cut ties with the
workers’ rights program. Also in California, the Young Workers United
was told it was being cut from funding as well, as was the Rebecca
Project for Human Rights, which helps homeless and disadvantaged women
who have children. L.A. Community Action Network was "defunded" at its
own request after CCHD tried to censor its newspaper. Women in
Transition in Louisville, Ky., had its grant rescinded, and Preble
Resource Center, which serves homeless youths in Portland, Maine, was
ordered to return to CCHD funds for its Homeless Voices for Justice
program. In Oregon, Children First for Oregon, a child advocacy group
for vulnerable children, was culled from the list of grantees earlier
this year.
Besides CCHD’s support, and beyond the commonality of their missions,
these groups share something else: They were all targeted, investigated
and determined unfit by a campaign of Catholic conservative groups
that, via the prolific capacity of the Internet, have formed a
nationwide coalition calling for the defunding of more than 50
poverty-alleviation organizations, and a radical overhaul — and even
disbandment — of CCHD.
To date (2010), 10 U.S. bishops, an unprecedented number by Catholic news
reports, have publicly suspended their annual, mandatory collection
among parishioners for CCHD because of claims that CCHD funded
“anti-Catholic” organizations. The allegations by the group
called“Reform CCHD Now” against grantees begin as crimes against the
Catholic Church for supporting abortion and gay-rights issues, and
extend to direct attacks on community organizing and social empowerment.
It could be dismissed as a fringe element, if not for the use of the
campaign by politically vested parties to discredit, disrupt and defund
the work of community organizing groups long-supported and heralded by
U.S. bishops.
This year, Catholic Campaign for Human Development celebrated 40
years of funding community programs that address the root causes of
homelessness and poverty. Nationwide, it has distributed more than $400
million in self-help grants to 8,000 agencies across the United States,
making it the nation’s largest private funder of self-help groups for
the poor.
CCHD is a rarity in the world of charitable investment in that it
does not fund direct services like its faith-based counterparts,
Catholic Charities or St. Vincent DePaul. Instead, CCHD’s grantees are
organizations that work to foster systemic change through partnering
with common-cause groups and community organizing. Because of its role
in community organizing projects, the Portland Archdiocese is considered
a core funder of poverty-alleviation and empowerment projects in Oregon
and a voice among faith-based efforts to shape policy around
social-service needs in Multnomah County.
The attacks by Reform CCHD Now and its followers are prompting a
“review and renewal” process by the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, which prepares to meet later this month. What the bishops
decide could have major consequences for the thousands of cash-strapped
nonprofits that CCHD supports, and the millions of poor and
disenfranchised people who rely on these programs that today serve as
proxy to government initiatives.
‘Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom’
In the summer of 2009, the Texas-based Bellarmine Veritas Ministry,
an opaque “Catholic grass-roots organizing ministry” traceable to one
man, Rob Gasper, released an investigation into CCHD grantees. This
June, the Virginia-based American Life League released a report echoing
Bellarmine’s conclusions: that CCHD was funding what it called
“anti-Catholic organizations” based upon the grantees’ actions and the
actions of their partners and affiliates. These groups called on
parishioners to boycott their donations to CCHD until the bishops revise
the granting oversight. The groups specifically target 50 organizations
they are demanding the CCHD stops funding.
These reports surfaced during the thick of the health care reform
debate, a flagship in President Obama’s agenda, which the bishops
opposed over abortion issues. In fact, the reformers singled out the
bill and demanded that any grantees that supported the health care
reform legislation “must state clearly and publicly that they will not
promote any piece of legislation which gives federal support to abortion
or family planning.”
Bellarmine, American Life League and Human Life International, also
based in Virginia, are the three primary organizations behind Reform
CCHD Now, although Reform CCHD Now claims more than 20 organizations
working on behalf of the nationwide campaign. These three groups have
driven the reform movement to viral levels online with blogs and video
and through the multitude of online Catholic and pro-life news services,
including LifeNews.com and LifeSiteNews.com.
“We started forming the coalition when we found very anti-Catholic
things being funded by Catholics,” says Stephen Phelan, communications
manager with Human Life International. “Michael Hitchborn (with
American Life League) wanted to meet and they refused, and Bellarmine
also tried and didn’t a get a response. So everybody went public with
it.”
“Because of the Internet, we’ve been able to get the information out
to much more people in a much shorter period of time,” says Michael
Hitchborn, a researcher with the pro-life organization American Life
League. “Which is why the CCHD is finding it much harder to hide with
their tactics they’ve been using.”
Those tactics, according to Hitchborn, are to fund groups that do not
conform to Catholic teaching, deny that they are “anti-Catholic”
groups, and then continue funding with the complications essentially
swept under the rug. Many of the organizations already defunded this
past year were longtime recipients of CCHD funding, and praised for
their work in building cross-community partnerships and networks to
fight the causes of poverty. However, it’s those partnerships that
factor into nearly all of the groups singled out by the reform movement.
In fact, more than 30 groups reformers want defunded are listed because
they are members of the Center for Community Change, a D.C.-based
cross-community organizing movement that stopped receiving CCHD funding
in 2001.
“That’s a problem because there’s no accountability,” Hitchborn says.
“The groups that are receiving CCHD money are getting trained by
(Center for Community Change), which means they are being trained in
cross-issues advocacy. And that’s a problem. So what we called for is an
immediate disassociation from (Center for Community Change) for any
group receiving CCHD money.”
Hitchborn says he will continue investigating organizations to weed
out the grantees and says he’s working on a new report for release soon,
as the bishops conference and the annual CCHD collection approaches.
“Because of the long history of CCHD funding errant organizations,
there’s no way that we could let up,” Hitchborn says. “Eternal vigilance
is the price of freedom. And if we are going to make sure that an
organization that claims to be Catholic remains Catholic, they need to
adhere to Catholic teaching.”
‘We didn’t even do anything wrong’
For nearly four decades, the San Francisco-based Chinese Progressive
Association organized the Chinese and Asian immigrant community,
including thousands of restaurant workers who received less than minimum
wage or were living in the margins. With the support of CCHD, the
organization engaged workers to successfully raise San Francisco’s
minimum wage from $6.75 to $8.50, and in 2006, helped lead the charge
for all workers in the city to receive paid sick leave. This work, along
with its housing program, youths and environmental justice work, and
its workers center, was funded by CCHD for years. But by September, the
local CCHD said the relationship was over. It was pulling the plug on
$30,000 it had granted to the organization’s worker center.
“They called me and they said they needed to talk, says Alex T. Tom,
the Chinese Progressive Association’s executive director, “that people
were getting ready for the bishops meeting in the fall and they were
fanning the flames and pushing CCHD to resolve the issue.”
The issue was the Association’s publication of a voter pamphlet that
opposed California’s Propositions 8 and 4, which banned same-sex
marriages and required parental notification for some abortions. It was
an effort that had nothing to do with the CCHD’s funding, which was
specifically allocated for the organization’s Worker Center.
“It was right when the economic crisis happened,” Tom says. “It was
really poor form, poor taste and very bad timing when they decided to
revoke the funding.”
“In general, worker centers don’t have the easiest time. Anti-poverty
work is not something that is heavily supported,” Tom says. “That was
why CCHD was important. It helped us build a movement. And now we have
to find a consistent revenue stream that doesn’t rely on support that we
used to receive from CCHD.”
Preble Street in Portland, Maine, received CCHD grants for 13 years
for its work in empowering the homeless, most recently a $30,000 grant
in 2009. However, it was defunded at the end of 2009 and asked to return
unspent grant money to CCHD because the organization joined the
campaign against a measure to overturn the state’s same-sex marriage
law.
For Preble Street, it was an extension of their advocacy for rights
and opportunities for the homeless youths within the GBLT the
organization cares for and supports. The CCHD grant, however, actually
was awarded to Preble Street’s project called Homeless Voices for
Justice, which works for social change on behalf of -- and with the
leadership of — people in poverty and homelessness. Homeless Voices did
not participate in the campaign on the law. However, as Homeless Voices’
fiscal agent, Preble Street was called to return funding, and did so
with a $2,400 check.
In a letter to CCHD Director Ralph McCloud, Preble
Street Executive Director Mark Swann defended his group’s position:
“Throughout our history, when Preble Street and Homeless Voices for
Justice have taken differing positions, there has never been any effort
to force or stifle the opinion of the other. Indeed, regardless of
Preble Street’s point of view, we have chosen to facilitate the
expressions of opposing positions such as those of (Homeless Voices) by
the support we offer them — embodying the principles of CCHD social
justice teachings.
“Punishing Homeless Voices by demanding the return of much-needed
funds because of Preble Street’s advocacy around issues of social
justice is deeply troubling,” Swann wrote. “It is unfortunate that the
CCHD and the local Diocese is choosing not to be part of these important
efforts.”
Women in Transition in Louisville, Ky., is but a shadow of its former
self after CCHD rescinded a $25,000 grant at the end of 2009. Women in
Transition runs skill-building programs for at-risk women and organizes
on issues of affordable housing and health care. CCHD was a sponsor of
the organization since 2005, until this past year when it received a
letter from someone pointing out Women in Transition’s relationship with
Wench Self-Care Collective, a local women’s health organization. Wench
is pro-choice, and has helped escort women to and from the city’s
abortion clinic, but it also focuses on women’s nutrition and education
around healthy eating habits, which is where Women in Transition and
Wench crossed paths. Women in Transition says it never worked with Wench
on reproductive rights, just healthy eating, cooking classes and health
fairs.
Women in Transition’s executive director, Khalilah Collins, says her
organization had received CCHD grants for $20,000 and $25,000 each year
since 2005. The 2009 fall grant for $25,000 had been approved and the
check in the hands of their fiscal sponsor, Catholic Charities, but it
was never delivered. Collins says she was told by Catholic Charities
that unless she signed a letter saying that her organization regretted
the situation and would not work with the Wench group or any other group
whose mission contradicted Catholic teaching, the money was in
jeopardy. It was more than a third of the organization’s budget, and
money they had counted on.
“The more I thought about it, the more upset I got,” Collins says. “We didn’t even do anything wrong.” (Collins says there were also questions about their 501(c)3 status, but that had not disrupted funding before.)
Collins didn’t write the letter. “I felt that our integrity was
questioned as an organization, and all we have is our integrity and our
voice, and you’re questioning that,” she says. “We can’t be a part of
that.”
Collins says she never knew who wrote the letter about Wench, and
that the relationship is not even traceable through Women in
Transition’s website. However, by November, just before the 2009
collection for CCHD, Women in Transition and others were singled out in a
press release by the American Life League and others within Reform CCHD
Now for ties to Planned Parenthood, which led a workshop at an event
the organization-co-sponsored with Spalding University.
“It’s not about WIT and Wenches,” Collins says. “We’ve never done any
work on choice at all. We steer clear of that number one thing because
we know we could lose our funding.”
But the funding is gone. “We have no money right now. None. I didn’t
get paid last week, the rent hasn’t been paid, because we’re out of
money,” Collins says.
‘It’s taking away care from those who need it’
“These are politically motivated attacks,” says Chris Korzen,
executive director of D.C.-based Catholics United, a nonprofit,
nonpartisan organization doing online advocacy and education programs
around the Catholic Social Tradition. “And they fit into this broader
narrative that we’re unfortunately seeing in our system now, where
social change is limited to charity and not actually fixing social
structures that cause poverty and other problems.”
The intent of these attacks, Korzen says, is to demonize community
organizing behind the arguments against abortion and same-sex marriage.
That’s the end result of what this campaign is doing,” Korzen says.
“It’s taking away care from those who need it.”
A Catholic himself, Korzen says Catholic social teaching is being hijacked by political agendas.
“This hyper-individualism that some are pushing in a political
context does not have a lot of support in Catholic social teaching,”
Korzen says. “So, essentially what we’re seeing is groups who are using
Catholic teaching to promote what really is a secular agenda.”
It’s not a new thing, Korzen says. Indeed, CCHD for decades has had
its critics. But today it gets the added boost of leveraging political
gains with a galvanized voting block, further inflamed by the
personalities parading through our ever-expanding media options.
“For sure, we’ve seen a movement to the right in Catholic
institutional settings, and I’d even go as far to say there are some
elements of the Catholic institutions and some parts of the (U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops) that have essentially been taken over by
the Republican Party. That sounds like a strong statement, but it’s the
truth. Over the years, the conservative movement has worked very hard
to cultivate support in the Catholic churches.”
Case in point, Korzen says, is the U.S. bishops’ opposition to the
health care reform bill, which was singled out as a defundable offense
by the reformers, “even though the Catholic Church believes that health
care is a human right,” Korzen says. “That never would have happened in
the 1980s.”
In response to the reformers’ investigations and allegations, bishops
across the country have issued statements in defense of CCHD’s
operations, including Archbishop John Vlazny of the Portland Diocese.
Vlazny wrote on the issue in the Catholic Sentinal in late 2009, prior
to Street Roots being defunded.
“Once again this year objections have been raised to the Campaign
because some CCHD-funded groups have taken actions in conflict with CCHD
guidelines after they were funded,” Vlazny writes. “… When the facts
were confirmed, the groups were defunded. Other allegations were raised,
but the charges proved to be inaccurate or a misunderstanding had
occurred. Mistakes are made, they are quickly corrected. But the
negative voices drone on, and I suspect their problems are more
political than religious.” (I disagree with Archbishop Emeritus Vlazny on this. Street Roots was filled with infractions, but I think we still fund it from time to time VO
Ralph McCloud, the executive director of CCHD based in Washington
D.C., says CCHD isn’t beholding to the partisan arguments behind the
attacks. “We go to where poor people are, where nobody else wants to go,
to let them speak boldly. I think we’re somewhere boldly embedded
between the right and the left, and neither one of them can have a claim
on it,” McCloud says.
McCloud says he cannot go into details on the upcoming review and
renewal of CCHD, which will be conducted by the bishops, but that it
will look at ways CCHD’s funding process can be more “responsive to the
needs of the contemporary current realities,” McCloud says.
“I think where it gets murky sometimes is when people are in
coalitions with a group where their main focus is somewhere else,”
McCloud says. “That’s one of the things hoping to come out of the review
and renewal process. We’re securing assistance from folks who are
theologians and ethicists to find where the line is so we’re not
arbitrary in our decisions.”
Just as the reform campaign proliferated on the blogosphere last
summer, Matt Cato was hired to head the Portland Archdiocese Office of
Justice and Peace, which administers the local CCHD funding process.
With his appointment in August, 2009, the office merged with the
Archdiocese’s Respect Life Activities Office. By early December, CCHD
informed Children First for Oregon that it would not be considered for
future grants because of its 2006 opposition of a measure to require
parental notification for minors seeking abortion. Cato said Children First has the support of the Archdiocese, but that the group could not
receive CCHD funds.
Children’s First advocates on behalf of children in foster care,
living in poverty, those who need health care and those suffering from
abuse or neglect. Children First declined to talk on the record about the situation,
but Cato said it could not longer be funded by CCHD because of its
opposition to the measure, even in cases of incest or abuse. “The bishops do not recognize any exception to abortion,” Cato says.
Those are doctrinal objections for the Catholic Church. Cato says he
has no contact with the groups attacking CCHD, but that he is familiar
with the more political ideologies behind their motivation. “I’m not speaking for these organizations, but I do know that plenty
of people are uncomfortable when a group of low-income or poor persons
have power,” Cato says. “So you have the power of money, which
corporations have, and you have the power of people, which is what
community organizing is. The power of people which needs to balance the
power of money, and that’s what community organizing is about, and a lot
of people are uncomfortable with the poor having the voice.” ( TOTALLY disagree. VOCAL)
‘I’m not attacking social justice’ Stephen Phelan, communications manager with Human Life International, denies any political agenda to the reform movement. “It’s easy to confuse what we’re saying with a political message,”
Phelan says “We’re not out to get anybody. We want to see real Catholic
teaching take hold.”
Phelan says that what has changed, from groups receiving years of
funding from CCHD to being considered inappropriate and defunded, is the
political backdrop.
“I think when (CCHD) first started, it made more sense for Catholics
to align with the more liberal (groups),” Phelan says. “The Democratic
side of the coin was doing good work back then. It wasn’t all these
other things — anti-marriage, abortion, and Marxism. So what’s happened
in the last 40 years is the same groups that were once pretty cool to
work with have gotten more radically political, and the CCHD has
continued to work with them, and been opposed to the church on a lot of
these issues. After a couple of decades, it’s like, really? What are you
guys thinking?”
Regardless of Phelan’s intentions or viewpoint, the criticism and
condemnation of CCHD has for decades been framed by politics. In the
1980s and ’90s, former political appointees from the Nixon and Reagan
administrations painted CCHD as a political arm of the liberal agenda.
One appointee distributed a paper saying CCHD used Catholic money to
prop up “leftist political activists plotting to destroy our economic
system” and told Catholics to instead give their money to direct
services. Others have said CCHD promotes a “political agenda far to the
left of mainstream America,” Repeated attacks conclude that people
should not give money to CCHD because its mission is not charity, but
rather social justice.
“I have gotten a lot of feedback from people who are both excited and
angry about the research that I’ve done,” American Life League’s
Hitchborn says. “It’s interesting. The people who write me that are
angry say I can’t believe that you are arguing against the bishops. They
don’t address the concerns, they say, ‘Why are you doing this? Why are
you attacking social justice?’ I’m not attacking social justice.”
A more recent voice to the opposition to CCHD has been Deal W.
Hudson, the former director of Catholic outreach for George W. Bush’s
2000 and 2004 campaigns, and now the director of InsideCatholic.com. He
has advanced the Reform CCHD Now, citing its defunding campaign in his
writings online, and added among those to be defunded the attendees to
the U.S. Social Forum 2010 that included workshops on reproductive and
gay rights.
“One criticism leveled at the CCHD Reform Now research is that it was
alleging ‘guilt by association.’ But that misses the point completely,”
Hudson writes. “The presence of 21 CCHD grantees at U.S. Social Forum
isn’t problematic because grantees are keeping company with the wrong
people, but because they’re actively participating in a forum designed
‘to set a national action agenda.’ Looking at the program, it’s safe to
assume that the agenda includes the right to abortion and gay marriage,
as well as a larger ideological commitment to various forms of Marxism —
an ideology condemned by the Catholic Church.”
The Catholic Media Coalition, another Catholic news source, for years
has pushed to revamp CCHD, and calls for Catholics to boycott giving
money to the charity because “The good groups funded by CCHD are not
sufficient to balance the many evil groups supported, groups working for
socialism by electing liberal politicians. CCHD helped to give us the
radical, left-wing Congress we have today.”
Compare that to celebrity pundit Glenn Beck, who told followers
earlier this year that that if they find the words “social justice” or
“economic justice” on their church website, to “run as fast as you can.
“Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I
advising people to leave their church? Yes! … If you have a priest that
is pushing social justice, go find another parish,” Beck said.
“One of the effects of this, too, is essentially these folks are
saying to a new generation of Catholics who still believe in social
justice that you’re not welcome here anymore,” Korzen says. “It’s going
to shift demographics, where folks who still believe in social justice
are just not considering themselves Catholic anymore. I saw that growing
up as an altar boy in Rhode Island. From the perspective of the
Catholic community, which should be a diverse community across racial
and cultural lines; I don’t want to be a part of a church that builds
itself as an exclusive club. It’s damaging to the church, as is any
attempts to use Catholic teaching as a political battering ram. And we
just see more of that every day.”
‘There’s a point where you’ve got to draw a line’
Matt Cato with the Portland Archdiocese office of Justice and Peace
and Respect for Life, says that the reform movement’s attacks on CCHD
have not changed how they consider grantees. However, Cato says he has
added a line to the local CCHD grant application.
“We still look at the same criteria. It’s always been on the
application do you act in accordance of the teachings of the Catholic
Church. I just added to that, can you tell me the ballot measures that
you or your executive director has supported in the last five years.
That was an easy one to have missed. It’s usually not on someone’s Web
site.”
The decision came after learning of Children First For Oregon’s position on Measuren 43.
Still, Cato maintains that there are differences between material and
proximate relationships between organizations that would determine if a
group is eligible for funding.
“There’s a point where you’ve got to draw a line. Just because the
organization does this here or is associated with another organization,
it doesn’t mean this organization is tainted,” Cato says.
Planned Parenthood, however, is the exception.
Since 2005, Street Roots has received $40,000 from CCHD for the
newspaper, the Rose City Resource guide and for the eastside expansion
to open a remote office for vendors. In all those years, Planned
Parenthood has been a part of its listings (prior to 2008, the Rose City
Resource was included as a part of the newspaper). Likewise, Street
Roots has always included information on organizations helping at-risk
gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual youths and adults. Planned
Parenthood is a “nuclear” red flag in the Catholic Church, Cato says. It
is simply too hot to handle. “I’m not going to tell you how to run your business, you guys do
great work,” Cato told this interview. “You make the decision in future
resource guides to include that information or not, and if you include
(Planned Parenthood), we can’t give you a CCHD grant.” Cato says.
Cato says there is room for working together, regardless of whether CCHD is funding a program.
“Jesus had dinner with the tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners,”
Cato says. “You just can’t completely separate your self with those you
completely disagree with. As Catholics, we’re called to evangelize, not
preach to the choir.”
(Street Roots has not been asked to return any funding from CCHD)
“It’s disturbing that a small group of right-wing fringe elements
within the Catholic Church are being successful at undermining the
Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s work to address the root
causes of poverty through promotion and support of community-controlled,
self-help organizations and through transformative education,” says
Street Roots Executive Director Israel Bayer.
“At the end of the day, a witch hunt is a witch hunt, and that’s
exactly what Street Roots and dozens of community organizations working
to fight poverty in the United States are facing, a witch hunt born out
of fear and intolerance. And let’s be clear, this is far from over.
Every group that currently receives funds from CCHD is being asked to
not take part in activities, or align themselves with the very groups it
will take to dismantle poverty in this country. In our case, the very
tool is the Rose City Resource guide. The guide gives people
experiencing homelessness and poverty a chance to become their own
advocates through education, and now it’s being used against us because
we have chosen to deliver to people, without judgment, the resources
that are available to them in our community.
“Saying that, we’re not defeated,” Bayer says. “Maybe it was a
blessing in disguise that one of the groups defunded in this fiasco was a
community newspaper like Street Roots that takes its journalism
seriously enough to tell the whole story, and get it out to the broader
public for a larger debate."
Sidebar: The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) was founded in
1970 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It is the
anti-poverty, social justice arm of the Catholic Church, with a mission
to address the causes of poverty through community-controlled, self-help
organizations and education. Each year, CCHD distributes about $12
million to between 250 and 300 social justice organizations in the
United States.
For years, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development supported the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, ACORN. However
allegations against various ACORN franchises in 2008 and 2009 turned the
nationwide community organizing group into a pariah, and CCHD cut off
all funding for ACORN organizations, locally and nationally. ACORN was
recently acquitted in New York of any wrongdoing surrounding the
pimp/prostitution videotape scandal, the most salacious accusations
against an ACORN franchise.
We
recently received a disappointing ruling in the case of Bill Diss, a
Portland, Oregon public school teacher who was fired after he objected
to facilitating a Planned Parenthood sex education program in his
classroom. The judge granted the defendant’s motion for summary
judgment, which means the case cannot go before a jury. Life Legal https://lifelegaldefensefoundation.org/
(side note from VOCAL. David Daleiden who was sued for being part of the Baby Body Parts videos which exposed this evil, is part of the organization helping Bill)
Bill Diss became “enemy number one” with his local Planned Parenthood
affiliate when he led opposition to a new PP mega-facility in downtown
Portland.
When Planned Parenthood employees wanted to come into Diss’ classroom
to recruit students for their “Teen Outreach Program,” or TOP. Diss
said no. TOP is a federally-funded sex ed program that targets children
as young as 10 years old. Diss respectfully asked to be excused from
facilitating the program, as the content violated his religious
convictions.
The school refused and then fired Mr. Diss.
The same Planned Parenthood affiliate was caught on video giving a 15-year-old girl advice on how to access pornography and engage in dangerous, deviant sexual acts.(we will not be showing the video because of the content VOCAL)
The lower court ruled that teachers like Mr. Diss should not be
afforded the full protection of the Constitution when they have
religious objections to teaching content that violates their most deeply
held beliefs.
Life Legal vehemently disagrees and we have filed notice to appeal
the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. We are honored to
represent Bill Diss and we will continue to fight for his First
Amendment rights.
So far the Archdiocese has remained quiet regarding this issue, except for Archbishop John Vlazny in 2013 who wrote a letter of support for the Archdiocese.
Prayer request from Bill Diss. His daughter and a niece are pregnant and he would like your prayers for mothers, children and for great health for all.
Why we Vote for " Life". The reasons are simple: Indelible Marks and Avenues of Grace.
When we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit we receive an indelible mark on our Soul. When we are confirmed, we will have two indelible marks on our Soul. Priests receive a third indelible mark on their Soul.
We are now part of the body of Christ, called to be "in the world but not of the world" and therefore have different responsibilities and obligations than the rest of the world. We were paid for with the greatest Price ever...and must not forget it.
In the beginning.
Since the Creator is the Author of All Life we defend and give dignity to his creations.
These marks are ours forever. Nothing we can do remove them. So, it is a grave responsibility for our parents to have us baptized, in the Roman rite it behooves us to know what we're doing for the second mark.
When our Heavenly Father revealed Himself to people for the first time, He chose the Jews. Moses carried our original "guidelines for living" down a mountainside. Twice the Lord had to write in stone what would one day be written on our hearts: the natural law.
To breech any of these commandments, these stepping stones to Heaven, bring chaos to the world and spiritual death to us, an eternity without God and no way to change this.
Basic Values on the Issues
Abortion/Euthanasia/Embryonic Stem Cell Research - "Thou shalt not kill (murder)."
We cannot vote for someone who believes that killing is the answer to problems. God alone is the author of life and death. We must trust Him. We are called to think about things differently.
Regarding embryonic stem cell research - "It is immoral to produce human embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material." Code of canon law.
The US Government is not using tax payers money to kill any new embryos for their research, only embryos already killed are being used. The private sector continues using embryos in their stem cell research.
Homosexual unions- "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Fornication, sexual relations between unmarried persons, is part of this commandment.
We cannot vote to keep people in a state of mortal sin, even if they are ignorant of this fact.
We are culpable. Remember those indelible marks.
War and capital punishment are subjects theologians can and do have differing opinions about. But, abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research and homosexual unions unravel the fabric of our civilization and are things we cannot support.
Learning about these differences, instead of lumping them into one, will help us slowly eliminate war, crime and other social ills.
Let's remember that we have Avenues of Grace from the seven sacraments: Baptism, Confession, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders and Last Rites. (and those indelible marks on our souls) to get us through anything.
"Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable.
―
G.K. Chesterton
This article originally appeared in the November 2009 edition of Crisis Magazine by Sean P. Dailey has been the editor-in-chief of Gilbert Magazine.
There is Protestant drinking and there is Catholic drinking, and the
difference is more than mere quantity. I have no scientific data to back
up my claims, nor have I completed any formal studies. But I have done a good bit of, shall we say, informal study, which for a hypothesis like this is probably the best kind.
To begin with, what is Catholic drinking? It’s hard to pin
down, but here’s a historical example. St. Arnold (580-640), also known
as St. Arnulf of Metz, was a seventh-century bishop of Metz, in what
later became France. Much beloved by the people, St. Arnold is said to
have preached against drinking water, which in those days could be
extremely dangerous owing to unsanitary sewage systems — or no sewage
system at all. At the same time, he frequently touted the benefits of
beer and is credited with having once said,
“From man’s sweat and God’s
love, beer came into the world.”
Wise words, and St. Arnold’s flock took them to heart. After his
death, the good bishop was buried at a monastery near Remiremont,
France, where he had retired. However, his flock missed him and wanted
him back, so in 641, having gotten approval to exhume St. Arnold’s
remains, they carried him in procession back to Metz for reburial in the
Basilica of the Holy Apostles. Along the way, it being a hot day, they
got thirsty and stopped at an inn for some beer. Unfortunately, the inn
had just enough left for a single mug; the processionals would have to
share. As the tale goes, the mug did not run dry until all the people
had drunk their fill.
Now, I’m not saying that Catholic drinking involves miracles, or that
a miracle should occur every time people get together to imbibe. But
good beer — and good wine for that matter — is a small miracle in
itself, being a gift from God to His creatures, whom He loves. And as G.
K. Chesterton wrote in Orthodoxy,
“We should thank God for beer and burgundy by not drinking too much of
them.” In other words, we show our gratitude to God for wine and beer by
enjoying these things, in good cheer and warm company, but not enjoying
them to excess.
Just what constitutes excess is for each person to judge for himself.
However, we now approach the main difference between Catholic drinking
and Protestant drinking. Protestant drinking tends to occur at one
extreme or another: either way too much or none at all, with each being a
reaction to the other. Some people, rightly fed up with the smug
self-righteousness of teetotalers, drink to excess. And teetotalers,
rightly appalled at the habits of habitual drunkards, practice strict
abstinence.
It seems to occur to neither side that their reaction is
just that: a reaction, and not a solution. If they considered it a bit,
they might see a third way that involves neither drunkenness nor
abstinence, yet is consistent with healthy, honest, humane Christian
living.
Here we encounter Catholic drinking. Catholic drinking is
that third way, the way to engage in an ancient activity enjoyed by
everyone from peasants to emperors to Jesus Himself. And again, it is
not just about quantity. In fact, I think the chief element is
conviviality. When friends get together for a drink, it may be to
celebrate, or it may be to mourn. But it should always be to enjoy one
another’s company. (Yes, there is a time and place for a solitary beer,
but that is the exception.)
For example: The lectures at the annual Chesterton conference are themselves no more important than the attendees later discussing
those same lectures over beer and wine (we tend to adhere to Hilaire
Belloc’s rule of thumb, which is to avoid alcoholic beverages developed
after the Reformation). These gatherings occur between talks, during
talks — indeed, long into the night — and we typically fall into bed
pleasantly stewed. I cannot imagine a Chesterton conference without
this. And yet I also know how detrimental it would be if we all stumbled
back to our rooms roaring drunk.
Avoid each extreme — that’s how you drink like a Catholic.
This is the art of Catholic drinking. There are plenty of our brethren
who consider drinking somehow immoral, and there are plenty of others
who think drinking must end with great intoxication. But the balanced
approach — the Catholic approach — means having a good time, a good
laugh, sometime a good cry, but always with joy and gratitude for God’s
generosity in giving us such wonders as beer and burgundy. Remember
that, and the lost art of Catholic drinking may not remain lost.
Here is an explanation of the song we all love at this time of year. No
matter what challenges the "world" gives Catholics, we find a way to
remember the - REASON FOR THE SEASON
The Twelve Days of Christmas - December 25 until January 6th Epiphany.
Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829 were prohibited by
law to practice their faith either in public or private. It was illegal
to be Catholic until Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England
in 1829.
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England as one of the
"catechism songs" to help young Catholics learn the basics of their
faith. In short, it was a coded-message, a memory aid. Since the song
sounded like rhyming nonsense, young Catholics could sing the song
without fear of imprisonment. The authorities would not know that it was
a religious song.
"The 12 Days of Christmas" is in a sense an allegory. Each of the
items in the song represents something significant to the"The 12 Days of
Christmas" is in a sense an allegory. Each of the items in the song
represents something significant to the teachings of the Catholic faith.
The hidden meaning of each gift was designed to help Catholic children
learn their faith. The better acquainted one is with the Bible, the more
these interpretations have significance.
The song goes, "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…"
The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn’t refer to an earthly
suitor, but it refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents
refers to every baptized person. i.e. the Church.
1st Day: The partridge in a pear tree is Christ Jesus upon the
Cross. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother
partridge because she would feign injury to decoy a predator away from
her nestlings. She was even willing to die for them.
The tree is the symbol of the fall of the human race through the sin of
Adam and Eve. It is also the symbol of its redemption by Jesus Christ on
the tree of the Cross.
2nd Day: The "two turtle doves" refers to the Old and New Testaments.
3rd Day: The "three French hens" stand for faith, hope and love—the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (1 Corinthians 13).
4th Day:
The "four calling birds" refers to the four evangelists who wrote the
Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—which sing the song of salvation
through Jesus Christ.
5th Day: The "five golden rings" represents the first five books
of the Bible, also called the Jewish Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy.
6th Day: The "six geese a-laying" is the six days of creation.
7th Day: The "seven swans a-swimming" refers to the seven gifts
of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude,
knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.
8th Day: The "eight maids a milking " reminded children of the eight beatitudes listed in the Sermon on the Mount.
9th Day: The "nine ladies dancing" were the nine fruits of the
Holy Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
10th Day: The "ten lords a-leaping" represents the Ten Commandments 11th Day: The "eleven pipers piping" refers to the eleven faithful apostles.
12th Day: The ‘twelve drummers drumming" were the twelve points
of belief expressed in the Apostles’ Creed: belief in God the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin
Mary, mad"e man, crucified, died and arose on the third day, that he
sits at the right hand of the father and will come again, the
resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.
This is the time of martyrs too, St. Stephen and the Holy Innocents. May
2011 be a year when we remember those who have suffered real losses for
Christ. Let us continue to bring real peace and justice to earth by
valuing the sanctity of life.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours,
"The more we are proud that the Bethlehem story is plain enough to be
understood by the shepherds, and almost by the sheep, the more do we
let ourselves go, in dark and gorgeous imaginative frescoes or pageants
about the mystery and majesty of the Three Magian Kings." - Christendom in Dublin, Ch.3 by GK Chesterton
The message from CCHD managers at the Portland Archdiocese, although
supportive of the booklet’s overall mission, was made clear in terms of
funding: If Planned Parenthood remained in the booklet, CCHD, in keeping
with Catholic teaching, could no longer fund Street Roots, the
publisher of the Rose City Resource guide. Street Roots decided to keep
the listing.
