Thursday, May 21, 2015

Catholic Relief Services Arrogantly Defends Its Disregard For Jesus' Moral Teachings

The Lepanto Institute reports on an interview between John Burger of Aleteia and Carolyn Woo, president of Catholic Relief Services.  Burger asked her about the many instances where CRS was caught partnering with organizations dealing in abortion, sterilization and contraceptives.  He also touched upon Richard Estridge, the CRS vice president who was exposed as being in a "gay marriage" for two years - and who still retains his position.

In typical progressive fashion, Woo describes as "attacks" our discovery and exposure of CRS derelictions of Catholic duty.  When queried about CRS's squalid association with anti-life organizations, she replie (with my comments in red):

"The type of attacks come in three forms. The first is: Why do we work with other organizations which don’t follow Catholic Church teaching?… So when we have responsibilities for these types of activities, for the scope of these activities, if we don’t reach out to other partners who have coverage of those territories, we are basically leaving a big swath of population unattended. … If we don’t collaborate with other agencies, we are leaving those people without any hospitals or clinics or access to those medications"  Our first concern as Catholics is to save souls.  Any other concern, while important, is secondary and ancillary to the overriding concern for eternal salvation.  There is no indication of any such concern in Woo's remarks.  The activities of CRS, in legitimizing contraception and abortion, may well be leading souls to eternal damnation.

In dealing with the CRS vice president who is in a "same-sex marriage", Woo trips over herself during her verbal tap-dance.  "CRS has a senior person who is in a civil gay marriage, and the question is, Is that a violation of Church teaching?  I just want to say we are working through this."  As I said in a previous post, if the person was found to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan, there would be no "question", no "working through this".  He would have been out on his ear in a heartbeat.  If Woo really has to ask if it's a violation of Church teaching, she should be handed her pink slip as well.

Catholic Relief Services is showing itself to be a thinly-disguised front group for all sorts of progressives.  It can be argued that CRS is merely the international version of Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  Both are under the direct control of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  The whole apparatus is showing itself to be quite the devil's liar and should be unceremoniously scuttled at once.

5 comments:

  1. I have always been fascinated by the subject of communications, and the apparent necessity by people to illuminate a viewpoint of theirs for the benefit(?) of others. One inclination of fallen man is to always denigrate one or more individual(s) or group(s) in the name of what is best for us all. The urge to do so and its implementation must be very strong these days because it seems to have become perfectly acceptable as a means of expression; to the point that one glosses over text, understanding the overall meaning, but missing the intent to do harm against another human being.

    In this author's communique, various words of intent to do harm just can't me avoided: "caught, exposed, progressive, squalid, a thinly-disguised front group for all sorts of progressives, devil's liar", and "unceremoniously scuttled" rests on the page as a direct assault on the actual, and not hypothetical or misconstrued, ministry of Jesus Christ. His ministry did not reject anyone based upon their past, but rather accepted them for their potential future Where would we be if Jesus had not found Saul on the road to Damascus because he had not met the standards this author purports to be proper Catholicism?

    If we could only communicate with a clean heart, we would all be better off.

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    1. Let's examine one statement of yours: "His ministry did not reject anyone based upon their past, but rather accepted them for their potential future." Jesus always called people to repentance. Even on that Damascus road, Jesus introduced Himself to Saul by confronting him with his sin of persecution ("Saul, why do you persecute me?"). In the case of Rick Estridge, we're not talking about his past, but his present, ongoing mortal sin in which he's been engaged for at least two years.

      You're comparing apples to oranges, Mr. Cummings!

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    2. Mr. Cummings said, "His ministry did not reject anyone based upon their past, but rather accepted them for their potential future."

      "You brood of vipers, how can you say good things when you are evil? For from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks." - Matthew 12:34

      “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’ Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets; now fill up what your ancestors measured out! You serpents, you brood of vipers, how can you flee from the judgment of Gehenna?" - Matthew 23:27-33

      "You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies." - John 8:44

      "He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there.g He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” - John 2:14-16

      There is a time for strong language, Mr. Cummings, and when individuals hold a place of prominence in the Church's institutions flout Church teaching and indeed attack it with their very lives, strong language is necessary.

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  2. First, my last name is spelled without an "s" on the end.

    Second, Jesus dd not ask each and every disciple, as He met them, to repent. Jesus said something more like, "Follow me"; in other words, His remark was more of a "Watch what I do, and learn from me as we go". Remember just how long it took before each disciple truly understood the concept of repentance. Evidence tends to support the belief that they never did. What is interesting here is the author's assumption that he/she is authorized to say when repentance must come or rejection is mandated. Perhaps that is where I have a problem with this author's discourse.

    Third, there is no lock on your interpretation of Jesus' question to Saul. One can just as easily take it for face value, and nothing else. After that encounter with Christ, Saul spent quite a few years away from public sight before he made his debut. Who knows what was truly going on during that period of time. My original point holds just fine.

    What is more interesting though, is that you did not question my primary issue. I will take it that we are in agreement.

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    1. The first recorded word of Jesus in Mark's gospel is "Repent". Even if we accept the "watch what I do and learn" scenario that you portray, that would entail listening to the message of repentance. And you hold that disciples never understood the concept of repentance? Recall that for hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the Old Testament prophets proclaimed that message incessanty. Many of those following Jesus initially did not embrace the concept of repentance in their own lives, true. They wound up separating from Him; that includes one of the chosen Twelve, Judas. I don't understand why you seem to have a problem with that concept of repentance. We all must take that route or find ourselves in hell.

      As far as this other point of your objection to my vocabulary, that's your issue and not mine. If you delude yourself into thinking we're in agreement, that's your decision.

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