The open letter copied below was just now emailed to Ralph McCloud and John Carr
_________________________________________________________________
Open Letter to the Directors and Staff of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in Particular, and to Those of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as a Whole
Ladies and gentlemen:
For many years now, monies donated to the CCHD have been funneled to groups that have actively worked to trivialize Church teachings on the life issues (abortion, euthanasia, homosexual behavior, various abuses of embryonic children) in favor of causes favored by left-wing elements in high places (such as supposed “climate change”, “poverty”, “health care reform”,etc). In some cases these groups have allied themselves with those who seek to actively undermine the Church on life-issue matters. Despite any pretenses that you may attempt to offer, you are well aware of our deep grievances with you on these matters. It is no stretch of the imagination to suggest that the election of the most pro-abortion President in the history of this country would not have been possible without the financial backing of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the recipients of CCHD grants. However, should there still be some in your organization who insist on feigning ignorance, we invite them to peruse the following websites and blogs and to follow their documentation.
http://www.reformcchdnow.com/
www.all.org
http://bellarmineveritasministry.org/
www.catholicmediacoalition.org
and our own http://restore-dc-catholicism.blogspot.com
For years now, concerned Catholics have been pleading with you to stop the funding of these aberrant groups, most notably ACORN. Only when the embezzlement scandal of the Rathke brothers broke (along with voter registration fraud allegations) did the CCHD cease funding of ACORN. However, funding and other support of other anti-God organizations continues.
Recently your support of left-wing organizations took on an offensive and even blasphemous dimension as the CCHD hijacked and attempted to deform the Stations of the Cross to be celebrations of some of these anti-Church outfits. I need not go into the disgusting details in this letter, as they are already exposed on our blog as well as others. Of course you were already aware of that. Hours after the first expose went online, you pulled your so-called “stations” from your website. You did so with no notice nor apology for offense caused, indicating that this removal was just another sorry attempt at damage control.
Happily, though, your attempt was a failure and the profaned “stations” are available for all of the world to see. And what do they see? They see that the USCCB is still supporting organizations whose philosophies and governing members are openly at odds with the Magisterium on the non-negotiable life issues. These “stations”, and their subsequent disingenuous removal adds resolve to many of us as we call upon His Holiness to dissolve the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and in particular, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Should you be interested at all in restoring any shred of goodwill, we urge you to post an unequivocal apology on your website, apologizing for the support of any and all left-wing “community-organizing” outfits, making plain that you will immediately cease any and all types of support for the same. You should then support only those organizations that uphold the Church’s teachings on the life issues and who perform the various Works of Mercy – both Spiritual as well as Corporal.
Please be advised that this letter is open and even now appears on our blog. Any replies from you to us will likewise be posted thereon.