Archdiocese of Baltimore Social Ministry - Brainwashing For Progressivism - Part 1

On Saturday, April 13, 2024, the Archdiocese of Baltimore hosted its 45th Annual Social Ministry Convocation.  Instead of Mercy High School, the location changed to Calvert Hall College Hight School.  It's not far from Mercy, where it had happened for quite a few years now, just a few miles north off Loch Raven Boulevard.  One wonders why they felt it necessary to make the switch.  In reality, Calvert also seems to be inclined to coddle various perversions among its students.   Under the "about us" section of the page, we see a sub-header for "diversity, equity and inclusion".  We know what these buzz words signify.  From that page we read (copy and pasted here) "We endeavor to instill in our students respect, understanding, and appreciation for all individuals, regardless of race, sex, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, socioeconomic status, age, or religion. "  So in practical terms, what does that mean?   Does that mean if some young gal thinks she's a guy and changes her name from Ellen to Allan, can be admitted to the school under those pretenses and share a gym locker room with 15-year-old biologically-born males?  Inquiring minds (like donors and parents) would like to know.  But I digress.

When we discovered what was about to happen last year, one of our friends attended that thing to see how bad it was going to be.  The Archdiocese of Baltimore, regrettably, lived down to the expectations.  This blog covered that quite a bit, and the mess was written up in the March-April 2023 issue of the Defend Life newsletter, starting on page 4.

I attended the mess myself, and another faithful Catholic did the same.  When I registered, I had to write a $25.00 check to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  I was quite revolted at the idea, but did so to gain admittance.  The beginning prayer service was in full swing by the time I got to the auditorium.

Shortly thereafter, the beginning panel discussion took place.  The panelists are pictured to the right.  I will name them, left to right.  The first lady is Giuliana Valencia-Banks, Chief of Immigrant Affairs for Baltimore County.  She was not a member of the panel but was simply the discussion moderator.  The panelists are, moving to the right:

• Father Matthew Buening, pastor of St Matthew's on Loch Raven Boulevard and Archdiocesan Coordinator of LGBT Mininstries
• M. Gayle Briscoe, Baltimore City Organizer for Bridge Maryland Inc
• Erin Younkins, Director of Office of Life, Justice and Peace for the Archdiocese of Baltimore
• Jose Aguto, Executive Director of Catholic Climate Covenant

I will give some background on some of these people and/or their organizations, not in order of their appearance in the line-up.

We'll start with Ms. Briscoe's organization.  Bridge Inc, as evidenced from their website, is a community-organizing bunch affiliated with Gamaliel Inc.  I've written a bit about Gamaliel before; among other things, it is with them that a young Barack Obama got started in "community organizing".  As you read that anthology of posts, you'll notice Gamaliel's ties to CCHD.  To whom did all us convocation attendees have to fork over $25 to attend the little gab-fest?

Let's look at Catholic Climate Covenant, shall we?  Readers of this blog will recall that I've written a bit about them in the past. Exposes on them and other such organizations have shown them to be into the promotion of population control, one-world government, and earth-worship.  One can often get a decent sense of the organization by looking at its board of directors.  Notice that Stephen Schneck sits on that board.  At one time, Schneck was co-chair of "Catholics for Obama".

Then we have Sister Patricia Talone, of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.  They are headquartered in an office suite in Silver Spring, MD.  I remember several years ago that some of us picketed them when they hosted New Ways Ministries for one of their meetings.  A gander at this site makes plain their own disobedience to Church teaching on sexuality.

Moving onto Father Buening, some background is in order.  He succeeded Father Joseph Muth as Pastor of St Matthew's church when the latter was forced to retire by Archbishop Lori.  Muth had been there approximately 20 years.  During that time, he led St Matthew's down the primrose path of all manners of gay-coddling.  He even led a contingent from St Matthew's in several of Baltimore's gay pride parades.

After Muth left and Buening took over, many of us had hopes that he would restore some semblance of the Catholic faith to St Matthew's.  I am not so sure of that now.  During the panel discussion, Buening remarked how he met "holy gay and trans people".  FULL STOP!  One cannot be "holy" while continuing to reject the very nature of how God created them, and that is precisely what those engaged in sexual perversions are doing.  Moving on, he said his ministry was about "listening, hearing stories, accompanying people on a long and winding road..."  Then he lamented how the Church has been "condemning and judgmental...I started to feel very strongly that we as a Church need to change this, not just with dry catechesis, but love and relationships."  

Fr. Muth

Let me pause for a little unpacking. First, don't we all hear echoes of Francis in this speech, what with all the talk about "accompanying" and "dry catechesis versus love"?  Accompany?  To where, precisely?  Moreover, this "dry catechesis" is God's word and commands.  Without these being promulgated clearly and often, the sexually deviant person will be "accompanied" straight to hell.  All are welcomed into the Church, but all must come in via way of repentance, and that means repentance from sexual perversions of all sorts, including the LGBTQ categories.

The last question for the panel members was who inspired them the most.  Father Bruening stated that his inspiration was Father Muth, his disaster-laden predecessor at St Matthew's.  He also gave a shout-out to Muth for he was in attendance.  In fact, Muth was seated just a few rows in front of me.  Truth be told, when I first noted him as I sat down, I thought he looked somewhat familiar.  As Bruening spoke, the bulk of the attendees broke out into a rather loud yet dismaying applause.  Such adulation revealed the regrettable mindsets of too many Catholics. 

Thus the panel discussion ended and we all headed to various workshops.  They will be the topic of subsequent posts.

Serious Clean-Up Needed At Baltimore's Catholic Review Diocesan Rag

Several years ago I leafletted cars of the attendees at one of these "Social Ministry Convocation" in Baltimore, knowing that they were smooching up to the gay agenda.  Indeed, as I was leafletting, I couldn't help but notice all the sodomy-affirming bumper strips on the cars. 

This past March, they did so again.  It's no surprise since the Catholic Campaign for Human Development seems to be spearheading these things.  But please look closely at that link.  Yes, it is the Baltimore Catholic Review to which I'm linking.  This rag is the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.  This is from their March 16th edition, advertising for this gathering that was to occur on March 26.  

The schedule says quite blatantly that one of the "workshops" is "Dreaming of a Church That Is Inclusive and Welcoming of LGBTQ+ Catholics".  Because I see no sign of calling to repentance those who are engaging in homosexual acts and/or making a monstrosity out of marriage, I could just as well reword that title to read "Dreaming of a Church That Coddles Sexual Perversion and Ushers LGBTQ+ Catholics Straight to Hell".

I might have expected such an announcement from New Ways Ministry or the Washington Blade, but not from an official publication of a Catholic archdiocese.  Is there any kind of archdiocesan oversight for the Review?  Or are archdiocesan officials complicit in the promotion of sodomy?

By the way - I believe the CCHD collection for Baltimore will be in November.  Here you have yet another reason to utterly boycott that collection.

Baltimore CCHD Gets A New Director

Here is the write-up in Baltimore's Catholic Review.  Monsignor Richard Bozzelli is replacing Monsignor William Burke, who ran the Baltimore CCHD for 50 years.  According to the Review, Burke "left his legacy of social justice in the Baltimore area."   Legacy of social justice!  If these escapades are their idea of "legacy of social justice", no wonder Baltimore has degraded into a decrepit slum town!

Burke was at the helm of the CCHD these past several decades, so he completely owns responsibility for those debacles.

Truth be told, I don't expect much improvement (if any) under Bozzelli, for the corrupt hierarchy would not choose someone who might actually bring Catholic faith and morality into its social-justice rackets. I'd be delighted if I were proven wrong in that respect, but I don't think that will happen.

The Baltimore CCHD Debacle Last Saturday

A few weeks ago I wrote how the CCHD of the Archdiocese of Baltimore was openly planning to provide a platform for gays to promote their mortal sins.  Mind you, this was not New Ways Ministry, not Dignity, not even St Matthew's or St Ignatius churches.  This was conducted by an office of the Archdiocese of Baltimore itself.  The Baltimore chancery owns complete responsibility for this debacle that was allowed to pollute a Catholic high school.  This is why we don't give to any diocesan collection, and certainly not to the CCHD.  When the time comes for that in-pew collection, I will call this (and other travesties) to your memory.

The gab-fest happened last week as scheduled.  However, it did not go unanswered.  Approximately fifty attendees received a dose of truth per the flyer below.

We saw quite a few cars festooned with gay-activist bumper strips.  We made sure that they received one of these.

I mention this because we all have a responsibility to speak against evil when we see it.  Gone are the days when we can simply shrug our shoulders, pretend "it's not my problem" and let these travesties occur without so much as a whimper from us.  This little leafleting project really didn't take much time at all.  If I and others can do this, so can you.

CCHD = Catholics Colluding with Homosexual Deviants

What else would you call this?  I'm talking about the (drum roll, please!) "41st Annual Social Minstry Convocation".  It will happen Saturday, Feb 29, at Mercy High School in Baltimore MD. 

Take a visual stroll through this flyer.  It's chock-full of the usual "social justice" dribble: environmentalism, poverty, immigration, etc, with one striking addition.  Item 9 touts a workshop entitled "Why Our Parishes Need LGTBQ+ Ministries" - for safe places and all that!  You notice there's no talk of assisting these people out of their sinful lifestyles.  Given what we've seen of St. Ignatius and their group, we could safely surmise that these "ministries" aren't much more than dating services for deviants.  In other words, these "ministries" are about the sordid business of cooperating with mortal sin.  Is that what they mean by "social ministry"?

Now go to the very last page, the registration section.  To whom does one make their check to attend this gab-fest?  Why, to CCHD/Archdiocese of Baltimore!  So the Archdiocese of Baltimore is actually putting on this claptrap?  Well, let's look at their own webpage versus the flyer, which was found on St Matthew's site.  Shrewdly they did not post that flyer on their own site, but they do tout this "convocation".   Now look at the subpage for the awards presented.  You see that the same awards mentioned are similar to those in the flyer.  Despite their attempts to be discreet about their pro-gay shilling, Baltimore's CCHD has been caught with its hand in the cookie jar, so to speak.

So can one imagine CCHD facilitating sinful conduct?  Would they do it for any other destructive lifestyle choices, like usage of "recreational" drugs?  Well, yes.  Nationwide, they have given grants to marijuana farms and funded needle-exchange programs. 

As if we needed it, here is yet another reason to boycott the next CCHD collection.  For Baltimore, that will happen in November.  If you need additional reasons to boycott the collection, I'm sure some will sprout up between now and November.

Say #no2CCHD On Nov 23rd And 24th

Last week's abysmal mess of a "bishops' meeting" in Baltimore should have given you ample reason to boycott any national collection by the USCCB.  In fact, reasons to boycott the CCHD collection have always proliferated.  Yet now even more scandal is brought to light.

In the clip below, Michael Hichborn of Lepanto Institute reveals his latest findings regarding abuse of Catholic donations.  You will notice towards the end that he admits the possibility that the bishops aren't merely lovable bumpkins who are naive regarding the usage of the CCHD money.  Many of them are in fact in cahoots with the leftists who want to tear down the Faith and western civilization.  I have seen it too often in the Archdiocese of Washington.  As a sidewalk counselor in this area, I now have reason to believe that the chancery has been working to undermine our efforts on the sidewalks over the years; consider who the prelates have been and the myriad of scandals surrounding them.  But I digress.

This is a long clip but well worth your time in watching it.  Around the 1:15:00 mark, Hichborn and Marshall discuss ways in which we can take action - and yes, they involve leaving our comfort zones.

Most dioceses will have their collections this coming weekend.  This collection should be boycotted completely.  As part of acting proactively, I'd suggest going to this post and printing off the envelope stuffer at the bottom.  Sign it and put that in your envelope in lieu of money.  Here are other posts to read.  This report goes more into the sordid origins of the CCHD.

Now the video.

Archdiocese Of Baltimore Aids And Abets Border Crashers

Canon 212 pointed me to this article from Not-At-All Catholic Reporter.  Given its dissident slant, NCR speaks glowingly of this nonsense.  However, it is scandalous on several fronts.

This isn't the first time that Lori has pandered to border-crashers.  Dare I opine that the scent of federal grants is a strong impetus for this pandering?

One of the parishes that will roll out this program is St Matthews - yes, that St Matthew's!  This sorry excuse for a parish has openly participated in Baltimore's "gay pride" parades during the summers.  Lori ostensibly told them that they were not to carry signs that identify the parish in last summer's parade.  Mind you, he didn't tell them not to particpate at all, but just to keep the parish name hush-hush.  Of course St Matthew's flouted that directive anyway.  So what did Lori do?  Absolutely nothing.  He just turned a blind eye as he always has.  A real bishop with half a spine and sense of duty would have placed that errant parish under interdict a long time ago in addition to defrocking the dissident pastor.  Doesn't it make one wonder just what Muth et al are holding over Lori's head?  And now we hear that Lori is giving them a prominent role in his own smooching up to illegal aliens.

We also hear that an outfit called Baltimore United In Leadership Development is also playing a prominent role.  Now click on its "about us" subpage.  Notice that they are affiliates of the Industrial Areas Foundation.  The IAF was founded by Saul Alinsky himself.  Please study the posts in the preceding two links to understand why it's most harmful for the Church in Baltimore to grant legitimacy to any Alinskyite organization.

So there you have it!  To curry favor with the progressives running Baltimore and to glom onto some grants tied to illegal immigration, the Archdiocese of Baltimore is striking hands with both a flaming dissident parish and a left-wing Alinskyite organization.  What could possibly go right with this arrangement?

I believe the Archdiocese of Baltimore is conducting its CCHD in-pew collection in a weekend or two.  This is one collection that should be totally boycotted.

The USCCB Resenting Faithful Catholics

Today Michael Voris received a call from the Baltimore City Police Department.  Apparently the officer received from the USCCB a request for "help".  The bishops are slandering those faithful Catholics who will be participating in the Silence Stops Now prayer effort that will happen outside the bishops' semi-annual meeting.  They have accused those Catholics of plotting violence.  In their railing against faithful Catholics, they accuse them of adopting antifa-like tactics.  By the way - when did you last here any of these bishops denounce the violence carried out by the real antifa over these past few years?  Neither did I - but I digress.  The vortex is immediately below, but I also have more news of the US establishment wailing and gnashing their teeth at us.



An entire slew of officials from various Catholic "charitable" organizations are shocked - shocked! - that faithful Catholics are reluctant to give to them in light of the clergy sex abuse scandals.  Sr. Donna Markham, CEO of Catholic Charities, is "deeply concerned" about the donation drop-off.  I might suggest to her that she cease the efforts of Catholic Charities to help sneak into this country thousands of illegal immigrants.  I might suggest that local offices cease their needle exchange programs.  A reminder - Sr Donna was a supporter of the pro-abortion Obamacare.  Why on earth would any decent Catholic think that Catholic Charities is a worthy steward of Catholic donations?

In response to this problem (question - since this involves the shrinkage of donations, does this matter rise to the status of a "massive, massive crisis"?), these leaders have consulted with Alexia Kelly.  Now when have we heard that name before?  Yep!  She sounds like quite the expert, doesn't she?

Meanwhile, the Lepanto Institute revealed today yet another reason why the CCHD collections in a few weeks should be totally boycotted.

We havc more conclusive proof that they do listen to the language of money.  We need to speak it - namely by our withholding of it.  Let that cause them to quake in their boots.

Time For A Ma$$ive Ma$$ive Cri$i$ In ADW Coffers!

The Knights of Columbus held their Supreme Convention in Baltimore a few days ago.  In attendance were Cardinal Wuerl and Father Thomas Rosica.  Rosica interviewed Wuerl, probably as part of his coverage for his "Salt and Light" thing.  You can put both their names in the search box at the top left to understand why this interview is a huge joke.  No one with two brain cells firing in syncopation could possibly take this seriously.  When Wuerl congratulates Rosica for his "fine work", did he have in mind Rosica's attempt to sue the blogger behind Vox Cantoris?

At 6.35 Wuerl glibly distorts the Fifth Commandment and the Church's Traditional support of the death penalty.  He says that (sit down!), the state's usage of armies and death penalty are exceptions to the Fifth Commandment.  No, Your Eminence!  The Fifth Commandment prohibits murder - that is, the deliberate killing of innocent human beings.  The usage of armies and the death penalty were - and are - never proscribed by the Fifth Commandment!  A few minutes later, he says, that "we don't have to do that anymore, we can put them in jail".  But wait a minute!  Pope Francis has also bad-mouthed life imprisonment, calling it "torture".  Here we have a prime example of the progressives collectively talking out of both sides of their mouths.

Here is the interview.



Did you catch, at 3:11, when Wuerl says "I don't think this is some massive, massive crisis".  He's speaking of the bishop sex abuse scandal.  Oh really, Your Eminence?  Try saying that to the men who have left the priesthood and even the Faith after they were abused and subsequently dismissed!  Try saying that to the parents of the shattered young men!

Well, what might he think is a "massive, massive crisis"?  Yes!  The shrinkage of archdiocesan bank accounts!  Perhaps if we give him that ma$$ive cri$i$, maybe then he and his ilk will understand that we are going to clean house!

Any parishioners of St John Neumann who are reading this, please boycott the CCHD collection this weekend.  For your envelopes, you may wish to use the stuffer at the bottom or make up your own note.  Let's give them a "ma$$ive, ma$$ive cri$i$" in their wallets!

USCCB = Underlings of Soros Conducting Communist Business

That does seem to be the order of business at the USCCB meeting that opened in Baltimore yesterday.  They opened their meeting by asking President-Elect Trump, in oh-so-thinly-veiled language, to adopt a policy of blanket amnesty to illegal immigrants.  This, of course, is right out of the progressive marching orders.  As pointed out in the anthology of previous posts, there is plenty of money to be had with regards to illegal immigration (hopefully Trump will shut off that cash spigot).  The bishops are doing the bidding of their puppet-masters; that's why they've put their bid for amnesty front and center.

When a sane, faithful Catholic thinks of issues for which the bishops might petition for governmental action, one thinks of intrinsic evils that pollute our culture.  These evils include:

• The wholes-scale murder of helpless babies, aka, abortion
• The growing threat of euthanasia
• The enshrinement of homosexual perversions as societal norms that no one may question
• The marginalization of Christians who live out their faith in their businesses

I don't know where the meeting is happening, just that it is in Baltimore.  Would someone who knows please advise via comments?  Perhaps someone in the vicinity can go and lodge a protest there.

One thing we can all do to send the USCCB a message is to boycott the CCHD collection this coming weekend.

Reason # 5,289 To Boycott The CCHD Collection - Say #no2cchd

Aleteia published a piece today by Steve Weatherbe entitled "Bishops React to Obama's Executive Order on Hiring Discrimination".  The article offers commentary on the USCCB's reaction of July 21 to Obama's action.  It's worth noting that one of the two authors is Archbishop Lori of Baltimore - who just applied for a federal grant to finance his aiding and abetting of illegal aliens.

He too seems to see through the smoke and mirrors that the USCCB is throwing up in the wake of this order.  They know that the federal funding spigot is about to be closed.  He quotes a statement by Michael Sean Winters of the Not-At-All Catholic Reporter: "Call me foolish, but I find it astonishing that a statement signed by an archbishop and a bishop on behalf of other bishops fails to mention God, makes no reference to the Bible, and is so utterly devoid of pastoral sensibility. This is the work of a lawyer, not a bishop."

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe this is the first time that I find myself in agreement with Winters.  They are not acting as successors to the Apostles.  Another "case in point" many years ago was the so-called "child-protection policies" crafted to ostensibly deal with the clergy sex-abuse scandal.  In the one found on the Archdiocese of Washington's site, not one mention of the words "sin" and "repentance" could be found.  They act like politicians, lawyers, insurance agents, social workers - anything but Catholic bishops!

Weatherbe also points out the reaction of Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities.  Apparently, Father is quite pleased with the executive order as it stands.  Now bear in mind that 67% of Catholic Charities' budget is funded by the US government.  A reasonable person might assume that Fr. Snyder would be concerned that his funding would be significantly reduced.  But he's not!  Why could that be?  I can think of only two reasons:

1. Father Snyder is hopelessly naive in thinking that federal dollars don't come with strings, OR
2. Father Snyder has no intentions of running counter to the "directives" to admit actively gay people into Catholic Charities circles.  They pulled out of gay adoptions, but that was largely at the orders of individual bishops.  Who can forget the lobbying firm, owned by an openly gay man, that they retained in 2011?  I'm also posting a video below in which Sister Jeannine Grammick of New Ways praises Catholic Charities for being gay-friendly; regrettably, she's probably correct. 

Guess which of the two I think is most likely the case?  Do we think it will be different for Catholic Relief Services or the Catholic Campaign for Human Development?  I certainly don't: especially when they're playing "henchman" for the Obama cartel's Central American human trafficking.

Next month the Archdiocese of Washington will have a second collection for the "Catholic Communications and Human Development Campaign".  It'll be during the weekend of Aug 9 - 10.  This is the third year, I believe, that they combined the CCHD collection with that of the Catholic Communications Campaign so that the name of the CCHD collection could be disguised.  As a further step in the deception, the ADW moved the CCHD collection from November to August.  The CCHD collection had come under well-deserved scrutiny and probably shrunk as a result.  They can't fool us.

I am urging a boycott of the second collection during the weekend of August 9-10 in the Archdiocese of Washington.  It is the CCHD collection.  Those of you in other dioceses should check to see when your CCHD collection will occur and boycott that.  Most are still in November, but some diocese have moved the collection.  At any rate, just say #no2cchd.   Now the video.  It's from last year, but quite relevant today.

Victory! Baltimore CCHD Defunds New Lens

Two weeks ago some of us broke the story that Baltimore CCHD was funding New Lens and, by extension, their partnership with Planned Parenthood of MD in the promotion of abortion and contraception.  Baltimore-area Catholics were urged in email and robo-call blasts to boycott the collection and to voice complaints to Msgr William Burke, the archdiocesan CCHD director.

He must have heard our complaints for lo and behold, an announcement has appeared in yesterday's Catholic Review.  It's on page A5 and I reproduce it below.

Whew!  Just in time for this weekend's collection, too!  Now all is hunky-dorey, peaches-and-cream with the world!  You can all just dump gobs of money in that second collection, right???

Not so fast!  Look at the article again.  Notice that it said New Lens produced "a video".  Actually it's at least three videos they produced.  Notice too that the Review article is quite cagey with the details of these videos.  There is absolutely no mention of the partnership that New Lens struck with Planned Parenthood of Maryland.  With all due respect to the editors of the Catholic Review, this article is typical "cover your ass" damage-control poppycock, omitting so many details as to render it disingenuous on its face.

Let's be very clear about something else.  The only reason why Msgr Burke "noted that New Lens...is no longer eligible for CCHD funding" is because we melted his phone lines and filled his email box with the irrefutable evidence of the inimical uses that New Lens was making with CCHD dollars.  Had we not raised a hue and cry, there would have been no defunding and New Lens might well have been receiving even more Catholic dollars with which to promote the murders of tiny babies.

The CCHD of the Archdiocese of Baltimore has not acquitted itself of misappropriation of Catholic dollars.  True, it has defunded New Lens - but only because they were embarrassed enough to do so.  By no means am I reassured that their vetting processes are sound - quite the contrary.  I still urge my Baltimore friends not to drop one penny in this weekend's second collection.

We Catholics in the pews can take some encouragement from this episode.  When we raise our voices, complain and - most potently of all - speak with our wallets, we can effect change.  Never think that you don't make a difference.  You obviously did in Baltimore.

It's still recommended that all good Catholics say #no2cchd.

CRS Double Talk From The USCCB Meeting Today

The nation's bishops are in the midst of their annual meeting in Baltimore.  Today Archbishop Joseph Naumann (of the Archdiocese of Kansas City) in light of the CRS scandals, proposed a rather reasonable suggestion: to make the Catholic Relief Services subject to the same guidelines as is the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  While on a practical level I don't see the benefit of that, since the CCHD is so adroit at violating those standards (rather ironic since this meeting is being held in Baltimore, given the New Lens scandal), the response that the Archbishop got was revealing.  The verbal tap-dance is a sight to behold in this clip.  Bishop Kicanas is the one who engages in the double-talk; he's the same bishop who crabbed about the light being shown on the CRS scandals by American Life League.

Now at 2:08 he's definitely uttering something factually incorrect, given the scandals last summer.  If he's aware of them (and I cannot believe he isn't) then we have an Eighth Commandment issue here.  And of course the funds ARE fungible, speaking from my own experiences with not-for-profits.  Bishop Kicanas' blather provides ample reason why the entire USCCB should be dismantled immediately.

Baltimore CCHD Directly Funding Promotion Of Contraception And Abortifacients

On the website of the Baltimore CCHD is a list of its grantees for 2013.  Notice under "local grants" that $13,000.00 of donations bilked from Baltimore-area Catholics went to an organization called New Lens.  They appear to be a youth-targeting community-organizing bunch that specializes in the usage of new media to sell its philosophies and wares.

A look at New Lens' "projects" sub-page gives more detail regarding the misuse of Catholic donations.  They work with "a wide variety of organizations and topics".  These organizations include Planned Parenthood and ACLU.  Using their new media training, proteges of New Lens have produced a video about "making good contraceptive choices for the Health Department of Baltimore City".  Now ponder this, if you will.  Catholic donations are being used to shill for contraceptives and abortifacients, and this promotion is then being donated to the City of Baltimore?  It's bad enough that the City of Baltimore would do this deed on their own, but now Catholics are donating to this over and beyond their tax dollars?  Ladies and gentlemen, how many things are so wrong with this picture???  Anyway, here's the results of Baltimore Catholic dollars - promoting contraception and abortifacients.  Now here's another video, a joint effort of New Lens and Planned Parenthood, called "Birds and the Bees".  If you do watch this, pay attention to the girls on the swings.  There is an outright lie regarding Plan B; it acts by inhibiting implantation of the newly-conceived child into the uterus.  That is an early abortion.  The video ends by thanking Planned Parenthood of Maryland and referring additional questions to them.  So Catholic dollars are purchasing free advertising for the death peddlers known as Planned Parenthood.

UPDATE - Michael Hichborn of American Life League has placed much of the New Lens information into a Power Point presentation.  The pdf of that is located here.  Please download it for your reference.

I understand that the Archdiocese of Baltimore will hold its in-pew collection for the CCHD during the weekend of Nov 23-24.  Might it not be time to say #no2cchd?

ADDENDUM
I forgot to provide some historical perspective.  This is NOT the first time that Baltimore CCHD directly funded immoral activity.  Four years ago this blog reported that Baltimore CCHD funded a local ACORN office that James O'Keefe targeted in one of his stings as ACORN staffers advised him on "best practices" for running a brothel filled with underage girls.  The post is here.

With this in mind, we cannot reasonably ascribe the New Lens funding to inadvertent error.  Think of it; I and others easily exposed New Lens as peddling instruments of baby-murder.  A little "due diligence" on the part of Baltimore CCHD staff would have revealed the same information.  Do we really believe that people with any modicum of intelligence and integrity would not have learned from their lessons of four years ago?   In all honesty, I believe that Baltimore CCHD directors are completely complicit in funding grave moral evil.  Do we have all elements necessary for mortal sin to have been committed - in the name of the Archdiocese of Baltimore?

Baltimore Catholics, please boycott your CCHD collection.  Say #no2cchd.

CCHD = Catholic Cash for Hooker Development

In today's Vortex that I'll embed below, you'll see highlighted a DC-area grantee called EmpowerDC.  In addition to the fact that EmpowerDC is giving prostitutes "advice" for plying their trade, I learned some disturbing facts about them that you can read in these posts.

Giving aid and comfort to prostitutes is nothing new for area CCHD grantees.  Remember this?  Three years ago, this Baltimore ACORN office, a grantee of the Baltimore CCHD, was caught giving their sage advice to reporters posing as pimps.

Click here if you can't see embedded video.

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.

CCHD - A Different Sort Of Prostitute

The CCHD of Boston has sunk to new lows in the foisting of Catholic money upon dissident groups.  According to this Boston Globe article, the Chelsea Collaborative, a community-organizing group that partners with "gay-rights" organizations, has received grants from the local CCHD from the years 2000-2007.  They have always known that their stances put them at odds with official CCHD organizations.

Last March a representative from the CCHD paid them a visit and emphasized the need for them to avoid collaborations with "gay-rights" efforts that are in variance with Church teaching if they wished to receive CCHD funds.  Gladys Vegas, Chelsea's executive director, made the decision to forego CCHD monies in favor of their gay alliances.  Chelsea returned a $40k grant and withdrew their organization for the following year.

One might think it might have been the end of that story.  We actually see an example of a CCHD staff person doing their job in making certain that Catholic monies remain untainted by association with dissident groups.  And to be clear, Ms. Vegas's actions were quite commendable.  Granted she didn't voice agreement with Catholic teaching, but at least she acknowledged it for what it is and respected the prerogatives of the Church regarding usage of Catholic donations.

Not nearly as honorable was the behavior of Randy Keesler, a CCHD "grant specialist".  He sent an email to Vegas to suggest that she should have contacted him first before returning the money.  He states,"“We have relationships and work in partnership with many organizations at the national level which differ from the Catholic church’s teachings."

In response to that most revealing (Freudian slip) statement, some questions need to be asked:

• In heavens' name, WHY?
• Surely there are enough organizations that don't oppose Church teaching that would be worthwhile partners.  Why not stick with those?
• Why on earth should a faithful Catholic want to donate one penny to the CCHD that is pathologically driven to kiss-up to organizations that oppose Church teaching?

As I was reading about this latest CCHD episode of insanity, the following verses from the prophet Ezekiel came to mind (Ezekiel 16:33-34) "Gifts are given to all harlots: but thou hast given hire to all thy lovers, and thou hast given them gifts to come to thee from every side, to commit fornication with thee. And it hath happened in thee contrary to the custom of women in thy fornications, and after thee there shall be no such fornication: for in that thou gavest rewards, and didst not take rewards, the contrary hath been done in thee."    

The following verses would make for worthwhile reading, too.

For those of you who might think I'm over the top in comparing the CCHD with prostitutes, please recall this less-than-lovely incident that occurred in Baltimore several years ago.

If You Gave To The CCHD Collection Last Weekend...

I direct this post particularly to readers within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.  If you gave to the CCHD last weekend, you gave to organizations that seek to undermine our society and the Church.  The video below, of the United Workers Association, shows your contribution dollars at work!   (Click here if you can't see embedded video).

More CCHD Follies At The Bishops' Meeting!

As if we needed yet more reasons to deny them another penny of our hard-earned money, the CCHD committed some more nonsense.  Well, I suppose they're just being who they are.

From the National Catholic Reporter we read the CCHD bestowed upon Rosibel Mancillas Lopez the Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award at the bishops' meeting in Baltimore on November 14th.  Cutting through the NCR's liberal-code talk, we see that she helps illegal immigrants continue to break US law.  Although this young lady is studying law, she seems to have little appreciation for it - and she seems not to have much grasp of Catholic morality as she thinks she has.  While she talks of "the rights of immigrants", I see absolutely no mention of the immigrants' corresponding obligations to obey the laws of their host country. 

When she complains that "immigrants are stripped of their human dignity just because they were born in a different part of the world", she misstates the matter to the point of being absolutely disingenuous.  It is not a "stripping of human dignity" to insist that they obey the rule of law that is enjoined upon one and all who live and seek to come to this country.

As you read the NCR article, you'll notice that Lopez got her start in a church affiliated with the San Diego Organizing Project.  If you've read any of Stepanie Block's articles, you'll recall that it is a PICO affiliate - in other words, a "community organizing" bunch.  PICO lent its support to the Obamacare bill that is ensconsing abortion into our cultural landscape with our tax dollars.

Further down the article, we read that Lopez was commended by Bishop Soto - the same bishop who wrote that lame excuse for a rebuttal of the American Life League's well-documented report on the current dismal state of affairs at the CCHD.  I dealt with that here. 

By the way - after you read the NCR article, read the comments at the bottom.  They're quite heartening!  Many people are seeing through the smoke and mirrors of the CCHD.

Enough of Lopez.  In an earlier NCR article, you can read how the "CCHD wants to woo back bishops who left the reservation campaign".  As you read this, just imagine a scene from the "godfather" movie, where the old man says "I'll make an offer he can't refuse" or something to that effect - you get the point!  Does that mean there's arm-twisting going on in Baltimore even as I type this post?

FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS GIVE TO CCHD!

BOYCOTT THE CCHD COLLECTION!

"Reform OF CCHD" - Smoke And Mirrors

You may recall that after the CCHD was embarrased by the publicity garnered by the ACORN scandals of last year.  ACORN, a major community-organizing conglomerate, made national news with its various corrupt activites including (but not necessarily limited to):

• Voter registration fraud
• Misappropriation of funds by high-ranking officials (most notably the Ratke brothers)
• Video stings showing ACORN giving advice on how to exploit underage girls for sex-trafficing to undercover reporters masquerading as pimps (This occurred in Baltimore!)

In the past, ACORN was a major recipient of CCHD funds.  Over the years, faithful Catholics have been warning the denizens of the CCHD, and the USCCB, of the corruption within the very foundation of ACORN.  Our warnings fell on deaf ears.  Thus, the humiliation of last year was long in coming - and totally avoidable.  The USCCB promised us that reforms have been undertaken, and now all is hunky-dorry with the CCHD.  Or is it?  The evidence points to the contrary.

Today the American Life League released a report of its review of the 2010-2011 CCHD grantees.  It is posted on the site www.reformcchdnow.com.  It is downloadable, as is the CCHD's list of grantees.  Take a look to see how the CCHD still funnels large sums of dollars donated by Catholic in the pew to organizations that work against the Church, against unborn children and that tear at the fabric of civilization itself.

For now, I'll direct your attention to pages 65-70 of that report, for it gives details on the anti-life leanings of a Maryland CCHD grant recipient, the United Workers' Association.  You'll see on that site how they've aligned themselves with Progressive Maryland and Equality Maryland.  On Speroforum is an expose on two other Maryland-based recipients of Catholic donation dollars.  Also on Speroforum, my colleague fron the Catholic Media Coalition, Stephanie Block has commenced a multi-part series that also examines recent grantees of CCHD funds.  Part 1 went online last weekend.

I will go out on a limb and say that there was no real intention on cleaning up the CCHD.  Ladies and gentlemen, it was founded with the intent of diverting the donations of unsuspecting and unquestioning Catholics towards "community organizing" outfits that are at emnity with the Church.  The empty promises of the USCCB to "reform the CCHD" was nothing more than a "CYA" strategem to once again lull Catholics into a false sense of well-being.  It's not working this time.  As more material is published online, I will be directing your attention to these.  We must all be informed.

For the Archdiocese of Washington, the CCHD collection has already occurred.  The collection for the Archdiocese of Baltimore is still in November.  I call upon all in the Archdiocese of Baltimore to boycott the CCHD collection this November.  Please redirect your donations to a truly Catholic and/or pro-life charity that will utilize your donations to the real benefit of people and the Church.

I now repost below an hour-long Vortex presentation on the CCHD, including its shady origins.  It's well worth the time spent in watching it.  Click here if you cannot see embedded video.