Alinskyianism In DC Parishes

First let me set the stage.  On June 21st, my Catholic Media Coalition colleague Stephanie Block wrote an expose on how Alinskyianism was to be introduced into the average parish.  A group called "Catholic Truth in Education" published some letters decades ago regarding their own findings about a strategy orient parish offices towards "social action" and "community organizing".  Apparently one of the steps to be undertaken by these "change agents" was to implement "outcome-based education" - that is, the manipulation of students' values and behaviors.  The Obama administration is attempting the same exact thing through the Common Core project.

Today I attended Mass at Blessed Sacrament and picked up their bulletin from last weekend.  On page 6 we see "News from the Washington Interfaith Network" - WIN for short.  WIN is the local affiliate for the Industrial Areas Foundation, founded by Saul Alinsky himself (with Msgr Jack Egan being a board member).  I've written much about WIN and other Alinskyian organizations that have infested ADW parishes for a while now.  The Blessed Sacrament bulletin column invites the parishioners to get involved with WIN.  How about getting involved with working to end abortion?  Even the bishops recognize (at least on paper) that the murder of babies is the premier social concern of the day - now only if they'd walk the walk along with talking the talk.

Boycott CCHD Collection THIS Weekend!

(This originally appeared Sunday Aug 5th.  Now the collection is here - DON'T GIVE!)

The CCHD collection for the Archdiocese of Washington will occur on the weekend of Aug 11-12 (THIS WEEKEND!).  In the August 2nd edition of the Catholic Standard, Mark Zimmerman waxed lyrical about the "virtues" of the CCHD.  Read it.  Notice that one of the CCHD recipients is the Washington Interfaith Network.  Zimmerman describes WIN as being an organization that "advocates for the poor and forgotten in our community".  Well, not exactly!

At the very first glimpse of the WIN website, we see that they are an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation.  The IAF (and thus, WIN, the recipient of CCHD funds from the Washington Archdiocese) was founded by Saul Alinsky himself.  Barack Hussein Obama launched his career as a community organizer along the model of Alinsky, working for both the Gamaliel Project and the now-disgraced ACORN (the latter having received thousands from the ADW in the past).  Here are some quotes, by the way, from Rules for Radicals, Alinsky's signature work.  Notice therein the tribute to Obama issued by David Alinsky, Saul's son.

Now consider where this "community organizer" sits - in the White House.  He, with assistance from faux-katholics Nancy Pelosi, Kathleen Sebelius and others, have enjoined upon each and everyone of us a draconian mandate to fund abortifacients for everyone who thus demands them.  He has been propelled into power with the assistance of Alinskyan organizations such as WIN.  And the Catholic Standard continues to shill for them??? 

I will now go into another personal irritation with Zimmerman's shill piece.  He mentions "Gabriel Network of Prince George's County".  What???!!?!  Whazzup with this "of Prince George's County" nonsense???   The Gabriel Network is a state-wide organization that is over ten years old!   As a former board officer of the Gabriel Network, I am rather familiar with the structure of the organization - it is not limited to PG County.  This gaffe on the part of the editor of an archdiocesan publication is absolutely inexcusable!!!!

The Gabriel Network is most definitely a worthwhile charity, offering practical aid to mothers in crisis situations.  Here is their website.  If you are inclined to support their excellent work, please donate directly to them.  That is in fact a suggested practice for any favorite charity.  Donate directly to them.   Why trust a "middleman"?

To render more effective your boycott of the CCHD collection, I make available to you now a flyer that you can place in that CCHD collection basket.  Last year we sent this out as a postcard to Catholics in the Baltimore area to urge a boycott of their CCHD collection.  We didn't have time to do the same here, but you can still use this.  Print it out, preferably in color.  If you have a duplex printer, you can print the two pages on both sides (flipping on the long edge).  In the big white space, you can sign your name or write a note elaborating on the need for a boycott; of course you'll want to maintain respect and decorum as you write that note.  You can fold it and put it in your envelope if you use them.  Who knows?  If the chancery sees enough of these notes, they might finally wake up.

Those of you outside the DC area who might want to use this template for your own locality, please contact me via the comments and I'll be happy to email the original file (in Microsoft Publisher 2010) to you.

EmpowerDC - Recipient of DC's CCHD Funds

EmpowerDC has been a regular recipient of CCHD funding from the Archdiocese of Washington.  They are an organization that claims to be for grassroots organizing for the plight of poor people.  As with many recipients of CCHD funding (and thus of Catholic donations) questionable connections abound.  Although they do have a website, I find that their Facebook page lists their mission statement, address and key players in one succinct place.  As you look down their list of campaigns on the right side, their goals all have to do with getting the DC government to spend more and more money - money that the DC government just doesn't have.  Now recall what I posted earlier about the Cloward-Piven Strategy.  You see it in play here - this is a key feature of Alinskyan organizing, whether or not the EmpowerDC folks are conscious of it.

Daniel Del Pielago, their "quality education organizer", has given workshops sponsored by DC Jobs for Justice and Washington Peace Center.  As you look to the left of the WPC webpage, you'll see some planned events - including Bank of America's Week to Pay.   We all know from the riot that "community organizers" (really labor-union types) staged on the front lawn of a Bank of America official in Chevy Chase what "payment" can entail.  I have to admit that I am somewhat intrigued about the idea of a "Sleepful Protest".  Does that means the protest is boring?   A perusal of the coalitions of DC Jobs for Justice lists not only EmpowerDC but other sordid little cabals such as: DC Democratic Socialists of America, DC Trans Coaltion, Feminism Without Borders and sundry big-labor unions.

On Empower's "grassrootsmedia" page, we see a link to DC's Independent Media Center.  Click on that.  On the left side we see "calendars and feeds".  Scroll down to "Machination.org's clippings" to see a most ominous title: Why We Must Ration Healthcare.  It is a New York Times op-ed piece, written in 2009 by Peter Singer, the notorious anti-life Princeton professor.  This is indicative of how EmpowerDC values (or doesn't value) the lives of the ill and elderly, allowing for imperious bureaucrats to determine who receives medical care.  So much for championing the disenfranchised.

EmpowerDC has another connection to another entity - one that I hope not too many of these Alinskyan organizations have.  It's so unique that I was taken aback.  If you look at Empower's Facebook page, you'll see that its street address is 1419 V Street, NW in DC.  That address is identical to that of St Augustine Catholic Church in DC.

My, my!  Doesn't this just raise a bunch of questions?

• Neither St. Augustine nor EmpowerDC are up front about their shared address on their respective websites.  Why?
• The DC real estate data base makes clear that the usage code is "religious".  How is that justified with EmpowerDC's presence?
• Do any St Augustine staff members hold positions with EmpowerDC (and vice versa, too)?
• Under St Augustine's "social committee" webpage, we see WIN, that is, Washington Interfaith Network, listed.
• Why is that the only activity listed without its own contact person?
• What is the nature of the relationship between this parish's WIN and EmpowerDC?
• For the information of this blog's readers, WIN is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation, founded by Saul Alinsky himself.

A little "aside" about St Augustine's - they have "liturgical dancers".  That's a liturgical no-no.

I mention all this because next month, the weekend of Aug 11-12, the second collection will be for "Catholic Communication and Human Development".  Yes, they're mish-mashing it again this year with another collection (Catholic Communications).  It seems that they're trying to disguise the name a bit so you won't know that this is a collection to be boycotted.  Please don't give one red cent to this collection.  Give that money to a truly deserving charity.

Local CCHD Funds Alinskyite Organization

If anyone thought that the local CCHD in the Archdiocese of Washington was not funding any innimical organization, please be advised that they are.  Proof can be found in the November 11th issue of the Catholic Standard, page 9.  If you don't have a copy, no problem - it's online right here.

We read that Holy Comforter-St Cyprian parish has a "relationship" with the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN), which in turn receives CCHD funding.  Let's look at the website of the Washington Interfaith Network.  Right off the bat we see that they are affiliates of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF).  Let's look at the "about the IAF", then "overview" page.  They unabashedly admit to being founded by Saul Alinsky, the self-proclaimed "radical" who has made it his publicly-stated aim to remake our country into his image of a socialistic utopia.  Read his book, "Rules for Radicals", obtainable anywhere online.  Read as he states quite plainly that he believed that the "ends justify the means".

Let's go to the "links" page and look at VOICE.  My colleague at Les Femmes, being based in Virginia, has done much research on them.  Rather than rehash what she's learned, I post two of her links:
http://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2009/09/fr-mitch-pacwa-and-thoughts-on-alinsky.html
http://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2009/09/fr-gerry-creedon-trivializes-murder-of.html
http://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2009/09/turn-up-heat-on-catholic-campaign-for.html

Have you noticed something that seems to be a problem for the CCHD, everytime there's an effort to convince Catholics that the CCHD is "on the up-and-up"?  Their very attempts betray more squalid associations.  They simply can't get away from the putrid stench of Alinskyite organizing.  I regret saying that there is an obvious reason to this plight of theirs.  That foul stench doesn't merely permeate them; it is the very essense of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Let's step away from the dubious entanglements and look at some of the problematic statements made by archdiocesan officials.  Anthony Bosnick, the director of the archdiocese's Department for Charity and Justice, stated that the CCHD helps to "reach out to the poor and vunerable and that's really the most important thing that we can do as a community."  Well, that's not my understanding of the mission of the Church.  As I see it, and as I've been taught, the primary mission  of the Church is about the saving of souls.  That's not to say that "reaching out to the poor and vulnerable" isn't important.  It is an important thing that we do, but it is NOT "the most important thing."  Msgr Charles Pope, pastor of the church mentioned above, said something similar, "Certainly care for the poor is central to the Gospel, and every Catholic should support the poor."  Again, is not eternal salvation central to the Gospel?  Of course it is.

Now why do you think there is the emphasis on "reaching out to the poor" at the expense of eternal salvation?  Here it is, in a nutshell.  Saul Alinsky, the inspiration behind the CCHD, was an atheist.  As a non-believer in eternity, he saw only the here and now as being reality.  Unfortunately, some of the apologists for the CCHD are unwittingly chanting that Alinskyan mantra, even though they themselves believe in eternity.

Again, I urge a complete boycott of the CCHD collection this weekend.

National Shrine Scheduled To Be Defiled

On September 17th, I gave "first notice" about the blasphemy at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception that is scheduled to occur on Tuesday, November 16th.  It is called "The 31st Annual Interfaith Concert".  It is being produced by the Interfaith Conference.  I urge you to look at the link to the September 17th post, for contained therein is some information about the foundation - namely, how it greases the skids to the heresy of indifferentism.

The notice I just received informs me that Fred and Lesley Israel will be honored.  Just who are they?  The announcement doesn't say a whole lot - but a person's politics does say lots  about their beliefs and governing philosophies.

A person's politics govern how he/she donates.  Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you are aware that your contributions to candidates for Federal office are a matter of public record.  As such, websites are devoted to the same - newsmeat.com is one of them, and that does tell a story about Fred Israel.  You can link to that record here and here, but I'll just highlight some key recipients of his donations over the years: Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Barbara Mikulski, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Mark Shriver, Frank Kratovil - pro-abortion Democrats (save for one donation to Phil Graham) all.  Lesley Israel has made it a point to contribute - several times - to Emily's List, which is explicitly devoted to electing pro-abortion candidates.  Others on her list include Mikulski, Ben Cardin and yes, the Messiah Most Miserable himself.

With their last name, I don't believe the Israels are Catholic, so it's incorrect to state that they are violating their creeds with such contributions.  However, the question must be asked - why are supporters of abortion rights being honored at a Catholic Bascilica?  In fact, why is the entire blasphemy being allowed to occur there?  There will be Baha'is, Buddhists, Muslims, etc singing songs and praying to their false gods on a Catholic altar!   Ladies and gentlemen, can we say the word "abomination"?

Here is contact information.  Please let your concerns be made known.  Thank you.

CCHD Monies Going to DC-Area Alinskyan Groups

I had searched the website of the Archdiocese of Washington (DC) to examine grants given to local groups, both from the national fund and the local fund. None were to be found. I contacted Mary McGinnity who runs the social justice efforts of the Archdiocese to ask where I could find these.

Ms McGinnity was very cordial and replied that many of her staff, including the CCHD Director, were laid off this past year due to cutbacks (I do remember that happening). She knew off the top of her head four local groups that received national funding last year. They are:

Washington Interfaith Network
Project Action
Partnership for Renewal in Southern and Central Maryland
Empower DC

Let's look at two of these, one by one. As I describe each, please click on its hyperlink to note interesting and troubling points.

Let's look at the Washington Interfaith Network. Right away, you'll notice that it is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation. This foundation was established by Saul Alinsky in 1940 "to restore the democratic way of life for modern society." Alinsky was an atheist and a socialist: qualities about which he was very frank in his book, "Rules for Radicals". In that book, he outlines what he considers to be principles for "community organizing": ostensibly to better the lot of marginalized people, but also to foster socialism. I would urge its close study, since that has become a key guidebook to all such "organizers", including Barack Hussein Obama himself. It is interesting to note that Alinsky dedicates his book to Lucifer, "the first community organizer..who at least won his own kingdom."

The motto that flashes through the lead WIN page is "we organize for power to transform communities." Well, gee whiz, if that's true, why did I not see any sign of them at last Sunday's "The People's Rally", where hundreds of local DC residents gathered to insist that they be allowed to vote on the DC Council's same-sex-marriage recognition? (Note: see my post a few down this page to see what happened at that rally).

Partnership for Renewal in Southern and Central Maryland is an affiliate of the Gamaliel Foundation. An examination of their website reveals their position on the Obama health care behemoth before Congress. They itch for the public option and they utter not one peep in protest about the multiple threats to the unborn and elderly that is inherent in this bill. At the bottome of the Partnership website is a link to the Gamaliel Foundation website. Click on that and scroll all the way to the bottom. You'll see extolled thereon the Messiah Most Miserable himself; they gush over Obama's former affiliation with them. But wait! Who else appears on that page? Why, it's Valerie Jarrett, long-time Chicago-political-hardball crony of the Messiah Most Miserable. Now an organization such as Gamaliel that ostensibly prides itself on championing the poor and downtrodden feature a woman who has had uh, some troubles managing residential real estate?

While it's true that CCHD might have disowned ACORN (after many years of pleas on the parts of alert, faithful Catholics), recipient organizations such as the two just described do indicate that the CCHD remains unacceptable as a recipient of donation dollars on November 22.

We urge a complete boycott of the CCHD collection on November 21-22. Please visit the CCHD-related and ACORN-related posts on this blog for more information and tools for the boycott. Also, please visit the blogs listed at the right. I also urge close study of the information posted on the website of the Catholic Media Coalition. Comments and questions welcome, given the already-stated rules for such.