Fund Progressives In Disguise

The title of this post should be the title of this flyer to the right, for that is what we are being asked to do.  This was enclosed in our parish bulletin today.  Because there was no second collection today I realized this in-pew shake-down will happen in the near future.  Sure enough, here is the second collection schedule for the Archdiocese of Washington, showing it scheduled for May 13, two weeks from today.

Lepanto Institute, led by Michael Hichborn, has done much research into Catholic Relief Services.  Much of that research has been featured in previous posts in this blog on CRS (as well as additional research).  Among the many insults to Catholic faith and moral teaching committed by the CRS, we find the following:

• the employment of flagrant sodomites in executive positions
• the distribution of condoms and abortifacients by CRS staff
• the funding and cooperation with other international organizations for the distribution of contraceptives, often against the wishes of local authorities.

Read that flyer very carefully.  Notice how most of the language centers around the theme of immigration.  Is that because there is really all that much compassion for the immigrant - or might there be other rea$onS?  Yes, I used dollar signs deliberately, for the CRS gets quite a bit from the feds to settle immigrants, regardless of legal status.  I link now to an article written by Deal Hudson on how CRS and other Catholic organizations have sold their souls for federal dollars.  Hudson brings out a good point by stating that those who contribute to CRS give to anti-Catholic outfits twice: once via federal income taxes and again through the donation.

Catholic Relief Services continue to prove why the "CRS" might well stand for "Catholics Riddled with Scandals".  They deserve not one red cent of the money of decent Catholics.  Please boycott this collection.  Say #no2crs.  This Lepanto article has a form at the bottom that you can put in your CRS collection on May 13.  Readers in other areas should check their second collection schedules as they may vary from place to place.  As the collection time draws near, I will be posting reminders.  Please pass this along to your email lists and other social media outlets.  Thank you.

P.S. - Please check your envelopes.  If your envelope gives a different date, please advise via comments.  Thank you.

#no$2crs - Not In The Rice Bowl Nor In The Second Collection

About eight days ago I posted a suggestion for faithful Catholics regarding the Operation Rice Bowl campaign conducted by the Catholic Relief Service during Lent.  It is one of their biggest fundraisers; regrettably CRS has seen fit to divert millions of these dollars to organizations that distribute contraceptives and abortifacients.  In some cases, CRS personnel have been caught committing the mortal sins themselves.  I hope many of you are implementing that suggestion.

Today the USCCB announced that the second collection to be taken during the weekend of March 5-6, Laetare Sunday, will be for CRS.  That will be the case in most parishes.  For the Archdiocese of Washington, the CRS collection will occur during the weekend of May 14-15.  Please check your local calendars to ascertain when that collection will be held in your parishes.

In my post regarding the CRS, I suggested putting in that "rice bowl" a flyer created by Lepanto Institute.  That same flyer would do nicely for use in your CRS envelope in lieu of money.

Lepanto Institute Speaks Truth, USCCB Shrieks In Fear Of Exposure

Some time ago Lepanto Institute exposed the fact that the Catholic Relief Services is acting in concert with organizations spreading the culture of death, itself participating in the distribution of contraceptives and abortifacients.  When Lepanto's report was released, the CRS predictably went into "damage control" mode.  Hichborn called them out on it.

The CRS is under the direct control of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  The USCCB is having its semi-annual meeting in Baltimore, starting today.  Michael Hichborn, president of Lepanto, penned an open letter to the US bishops regarding CRS's misbehaviors.  Also today Archbishop Paul Coakley, USCCB Chair, asked the prelates in attendance to pay no attention to Lepanto's hours of research and the evidence pointing towards CRS's complicity with evil.  His request is itself a betrayal of fear and resentment at having the dissidence of CRS, along with the USCCB, brought into light.

LifeSiteNews has details of Carolyn Woo's sniveling reaction to Lepanto's work.  I don't think she realizes what she revealed when she claimed that "original sin was kind of abstract".  In her time at CRS, particularly with the cover-up of the "gay-married" CRS vice president, she betrayed an abysmal lack of basic Catholic moral teaching.

As always, the only language that gets the attention of the progressives who occupy high places in the USCCB is the language of money.  Thus, in addition to prayer, we must speak that language by withholding our donations.  It is not time for the annual in-pew CRS collection.  However, the in-pew collection for its national counterpart, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (also under direct USCCB control) is this coming weekend.  I urge all to boycott that collection this coming weekend.  Here are some tools to assist you in this boycott.

CCHD And CRS - And Time To Boycott The CCHD Collection Again - Say #no2cchd

My Catholic Media Coalition colleague Stephanie Block recently published an article entitled "What Is Going On With Catholic Relief Services?"  I urge all to read it, as well as previous blog posts here regarding this entity.  She points out that CRS has a history of providing only real aid to needy people overseas, but has been going astray since it started receiving government funds in 1961 and then it started spouting "community organizing noises" like its CCHD cousin.  So what induced CRS to accept government funds?  I suspect such acceptance was merely par for the course, owing to the fact that CRS, like CCHD, is under the direction of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  There are some who hold out a hope that these two organizations can be reformed.  Not I.  The entire USCCB needs to be tossed into the garbage.  But that is way in the future.  Right now we have another related duty that requires immediate attention.

Right now the federal government is operating under reduced capacity.  While the federal government has shut down many times in the past, never has it shut down under such a petulant man-child like Barack HUSSEIN Obama.  Life could go on as normal were it not for the fact that he and his Minions Most Mindless, particularly those in the Senate, are doing all they can to maximize discomfort to vulnerable people: aged veterans, military families, etc.  All during this, though, folks are beginning to wake up to the fact that Obamacare will be an unprecedented disaster.  But how did Obama get to the position that he currently holds?

In large part, we have the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to thank/blame for this mess.  Over the years, they have diverted millions of dollars (mostly collected during the November collection) to "community organizing" organizations who have in turn helped Obama and other progressives advance their political careers to where they know are in positions to inflict incredible damage.  Think ACORN, Gamaliel Foundation, PICO, etc - just a few of the recipients of Catholic cash.  Put "Catholic Campaign for Human Development" or "CCHD" in this blog's search box for much more information (actually, those phrases are hyperlinks).

Traditionally the CCHD collection was held in November throughout the US.  Because of the well-deserved criticism and the resulting boycotts of the collection, some dioceses have been holding their collections at other times (and even disguising the names, as did the Archdiocese of Washington) to catch us off-guard.  The DC collection was held in August, but was met with our "say #no2cchd" campaign.  Most of the nation's dioceses, however, will still conduct their CCHD collections in November - in other words, next month.  Click on the above link for more information.

Perhaps if the CCHD collection had dried up a few years ago, Obama's career might not have gotten off the ground.  Let's ensure that no other progressive lout derives benefit from our collection dollars.

How Faithful Catholics Can Do Operation Rice Bowl - #no$2crs

Today is the first Sunday of Lent.  On this day, the ubiquitous cardboard "rice bowls" from Catholic Relief Servcies are in all Church lobbies to be picked up by unsuspecting parishioners.  I say "unsuspecting" because many, if not most, of these parishioners have no idea that CRS is funding the distribution of contraception, abortifacients and "population control" propaganda to the people whom they are ostensibly assisting.

The Lepanto Institute has done stellar work in exposing the malevolence of the Catholic Relief Services.  They recently published a piece outlining some of their most egregious violations of Catholic moral teachings.  In that post, Hichborn published a slip that can be used during CRS collection times.  Please keep that page open; I'll return to it in a minute.

Hichborn didn't include every wrong of the CRS in his litany; others can be found here (and this is most likely not exhaustive either).  Let me highlight a few other "lowlights" from CRS's checkered record.

• Thanks to Lepanto, we learned that a CRS vice president was "married" to his accomplice in the mortal sin of sodomy.  The man made no secret of it, blasting it all over his twitter page.  It was only after public scrutiny was brought to bear on the situation that the man resigned.
• In 2005, while Terri Schiavo was being deliberately starved to death in the Diocese of St Petersburg Florida, the local bishop, Robert Lynch gave thinly-veiled approval to her murderous husband to have his way with her.  At the time, Bishop Lynch was chairman of the board of CRS.  That brings us to the third "bullet".
• The pro-euthanasia crowd in Florida was being heavily funded by George Soros during the struggle for Terri's life.  If you read the link from the second bullet, you'll see that Soros was also funding CRS (along with other progrssive "katholyc" organizations).
• Please read my anthology of prior posts and follow the links to learn more of CRS.  Clearly they are utterly unworthy of one penny from faithful Catholics.

So how do we faithful Catholics do Operation Rice Bowl?  First, we give them not one red cent.  As Lepanto stated in that first link, there will be more information released; I'll notify you as it becomes available.  So here are the steps to our Operation Rice Bowl.

1. Pick up one of those "rice bowls" from your church lobby and assemble it.
2. At the bottom of the Lepanto article is a note that you can use to let CRS know why you'll not contribute.
3. Place that note in your now-assembled "rice bowl".  I intend to sign mine, but that's optional.
4. When your parish announces that it's time to return the rice bowls to church, please do so.  Yours will have the note and no money.

Like most progressive "katholyc" organizations, the only language CRS seems to understand is that of $ka-ching$.  Well, let's speak it and encourage all faithful Catholics to do the same.  Give the money that you would have donated to CRS to a worthy organization, such as your local pro-life pregnancy center.  Please spread the word on your own social media cites and among your contacts.

First Sunday In Lent - Time To #sayno2crs - Boycott Operation Rice Bowl

Today and tomorrow mark the First Sunday of Lent 2017.  This is the weekend when the ubiquitous Catholic Relief Services rice bowls will sprout like kudzu in the lobbies of most Catholic parishes in the United States.  Last year many of us Catholic bloggers urged a boycott of this CRS collection.  When we do so, we always hope that the offending target of the boycott will heed the message of the boycott and take corrective measures to make themselves more worthy of Catholic donations.  Alas, our hopes are dashed this year as CRS has proven itself to be even more unworthy of Catholic dollars than they were last year.

So what have been the lowlights of the Catholic Relief Services since Lent of 2016?

• One of their vice presidents was found to be in a same-sex #mowwidge, that is, he was a flagrant pervert.  Only when the light was shown on this sin did CRS announce his resignation.
• Brushes off our discoveries of their moral failures as "attacks".
• Questionable influence of Caritas over CRS
• Two more sodomy promoters within its ranks

Such are the relatively current scandals of the CRS.  For some of their older scandals, see here, here, here (with some videos), here (w/more videos).  You can also put "crs" or "Catholic Relief Services" in the search box at the top left to see much more material.  The scandals abound.

Last year I suggested a way to do an effective boycott of the rice-bowl effort. I reiterate the suggestion below.

• Pick up one of those "rice bowls" from your church lobby and assemble it.
• At the bottom of the Lepanto article is a note that you can use to let CRS know why you'll not contribute.
• Place that note in your now-assembled "rice bowl".  I intend to sign mine, but that's optional.
• When your parish announces that it's time to return the rice bowls to church, please do so. Yours will have the note and no money.

So why are the scandals so numerous?  I suspect that CRS, like its cousin CCHD, was never founded to be truly conformable with the Catholic mission of saving souls.  Please participate in our boycott and urge your family and friends to do the same.  Feel free to post this blog post to your own sites.  CRS is a beast that needs to be starved to death.

Boycott The Upcoming Collection For Catholic Relief Services - Say #no2crs

In my parish it was announced that the annual in-pew collection for CRS will occur during the weekend of May 14-15.  I've blogged copiously about the many scandals in which CRS participates and in some cases initiates.  A few of these include:

• Funding pro-abortion organizations in Mexico
• Employing as a vice president a flagrant sodomite marriage-mangler
• Distributing abortifacients in Madagascar - not merely funding but distributing themselves
• Accepting funding from notorious progressive George Soros
• Joining forces with CARE, MEDICAM, and CORE to foist eugenics on developing third-world countries
• Accepting massive amounts in federal grants - notably from USAID - with all strings attached

Both Lepanto Institute and Church Militant.com have more info regarding CRS.  Search those sites for additional information.

Catholic Relief Services is merely the international version of Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Whereas the latter is used to funnel Catholic donations to organizations that undermine the Faith in the United States, the former funds international "culture of death" organizations.  Both are run by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

If any of you (particularly in the Archdiocese of Washington) received a yellow sheet in your bulletins that sounded the praises of CRS, please be advised that it is full of ... bovine manure!  As the links above demonstrate, the "humanitarian aid" comes at the price of submission to sterilizations and chemical abortions.

As I did for the "operation rice bowl" shakedown during Lent, I suggest that not one penny be given to the CRS during the collection.  Instead, please place in the envelope the clip-out statement that is found at the bottom of this Lepanto page.  CRS is an ungodly monster that needs to be starved, not fed.  Say #no2crs.

Catholic Relief FUND????

Having been at the Mount picket yesterday and then focused on the video and blog post (to be published very soon), I was not paying attention to the second collection schedule.  I should have, for I know full well that the Catholic Relief Services second collection occurs in May.

I was immediately alerted to that when, during the announcements right after the Creed, it was announced that the second collection would be "for the benefit of the Catholic Relief Fund".  I realized immediately that this name-change was an attempt to obfuscate the name "Catholic Relief Services", much like the name "Catholic Communications and Human Development" is intended to mask the real intent of that collection, that to fund the CCHD.

Immediately I got out pen and paper and jotted a note, saying that I will not contribute to CRS as long as they participate in the distribution of contraceptives and signed my name.  I dropped that in the second collection basket.  As the collection was taken, we were thanked for our support of the "Catholic Relief Fund".  So again that bogus name was used.

After Mass, I checked the Archdiocesan website, and sure enough, today is the day on which the second collection is for the Catholic Relief Services.

I went into the lobby and noticed the CRS envelopes next to the song booklets.  I asked Father about that strange wording and he replied that was what was written in his notes.  I've no doubt about that and he was merely announcing what he had been told to announce via the notes.  The question remains is, who dictated the contents of those notes?  While it's true that we do have some Spanish-speaking people in the parish offices, I cannot see how any confusion between "fund" and "services" could have occurred in any translation.  In Spanish, fund is "el fondo" and service is "el servicio".  That translation would be impossible to confuse.

So...  Who ordered that change from "services" to "fund", and why????

Did anyone else notice similar anomalies?

Does Caritas Control The Catholic Relief Services?

Many of you recall that I have blogged about Caritas, the faux-katholyc "social justice" racket honchoed by Cardinal Maradiaga.  I won't rehash all its deadly and anti-God activities; the link to the anthology is here for your review.

When I posted yessterday's article about Carolyn Woo's statement as released by Zenit, one tiny detail caught my eye.  I repost it here.  Notice - in the very first sentence - that Catholic Relief Services is being billed as "the US branch of Caritas".  Am I the only one who did not know this?  Here I thought all along that CRS was an arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and wholely controlled by them.

This fact raises a whole bevy of questions:

• Are all donations and grants raised from US sources staying with CRS, or is a percentage of them making its way to the international organization?  How much of Catholic's donations to the CRS in-pew collection are being funneled to Cordaid and the World Social Forum?
• How much control do US bishops have over the doings of CRS as opposed to Caritas leadership?
• Does Caritas exert any control over other areas and outreaches commonly believed to be controlled by the USCCB?
• When and how did Caritas become insinuated as a controller of CRS?
• If Caritas is controlling CRS and proiding leadership to the World Social Forum (see the first link for a treatmetn of World Social Forum), would that not mean that CRS and the World Social Forum are sister organizations?  It is reasonable to believe that CRS and Cordaid are sister organizations since Cordaid is the Netherlands branch of Caritas.

By the way - if any overzealous CRS employee is reading this and is thinking of asking Zenit to pull this article down in "knee-jerk damage-control fashion", don't bother!  It's been archived!  Why make yourselves look sillier than you already do?

This is just the latest reason why not one red cent should be given to any outreach run by the USCCB.  We don't know where that money is going.

Do NOT Donate To The Catholic Relief Services Collection!

Many dioceses are having their in-pew collection for the CRS this weekend, March 19.   Others will have their collections next weekend.  PLEASE BOYCOTT THIS COLLECTION!

Michael Hichborn of Lepanto Institute produced a comprehensive report of the many ways in which they operate at variance with Catholic morality - promotion of contraception (even going so far as to have their workers distribute it), homosexuality, etc.  In addition, this blog has featured many articles about the details of their disregard for Catholic teaching.  One of the articles reveals that a high-ranking CRS official was in a "gay marriage" and quite open about it.

Clearly these people are not to be trusted with one penny of your money.  Tomorrow, when that collection basket comes about, drop a note in it (maybe even put that note in your CRS envelope) detailing exactly why you won't be contributing.  Then give that donation to a truly worthwhile charity.  Again, we can thank Michael Hichborn for researching many charities and determining which ones would use your donation dollars properly.

Boycott The Catholic Relief Services Collection This Weekend

In most dioceses across the nation, the second collection at Masses on Sunday March 30 will benefit the Catholic Relief Services.  Locally, both the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Archdiocese of Washington will be collecting for the CRS.  The CRS is under the direct control of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

As you can see by my link, there have been multiple moral failings of the Catholic Relief Services, such as direct distributions of condoms, employing an openly "gay-married" man as a vice president, creating a "health network" in Africa that includes abortionists, etc.

Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) exposed the fact that CRS has been heavily funded by USAid.  Fortunately that is now drying up.  The CRS now needs to go away completely.  Please do NOT give them one red cent of your money this coming weekend.

Lepanto Institute has done much work in exposing the Catholic Relief Services.  Additionally, they have materials that you can place in the second collection when that basket is placed in front of your face.

Let's allow this faux-Catholic cabal to die its ignominious death.

CRS Gave $2.7 Million To Pro-Abortion Marketing Firm

I'm not going to rehash the excellent LifesiteNews article.  Rather, I urge you to read it on their site.  This is really no surprise, as both the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Catholic Relief Services are run by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  It seems their goals are the same: to divert Catholic money to anti-God organizations.  The only difference between the two is that CCHD gives money to organizations in the USA while the CRS focuses outside the USA.

The next CRS collection in the Archdiocese of Washington will be in May 2014.  Right now the focus will be on the upcoming CCHD collection.  But we will be watching and reporting on the misdeeds of both these organizations.

Lepanto Institute Exposes Catholic Relief Services

Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute has recently completed a month-long investigation of the malfeasances of the Catholic Relief Services.  The resulting report is quite long, owing to the voluminous evidence found that quite frankly, incriminates CRS and the entire USCCB for actions committed agaisnt Catholic faith and morality.  Because his findings were so extensive, Hichborn has opted to release his reports in installments.

Today he released the first one and it can be found here.  This one focuses on CRS's involvement in the distribution of condoms in Africa.  Mind you, CRS isn't merely partnering with other organizations that are doing the condom distribution.  CRS is doing the deed themselves - funded by donations from faithful Catholics.  That leads me to my next point.

Lent has just started and we have all seen the obiquitous "Operation Rice Bowl" things in our church lobbies.  A few days ago, I suggested what you could do with them.  You can do the same when CRS conducts its in-pew collection in mid-May.  The precsie weekend is May 17.  I believe the schedule for this collection is nation-wide, but check your envelopes.  Let's not only starve this beast, but let the "powers-that-be" know exactly why they won't get one penny from us.

Collections For Aid To The Philippines

Good advise from my Catholic Media Coaltition colleage Jim Fritz.  Do NOT give to any in-pew Philippine aid collection; if you do, your money will be commingled with funds that CRS will use for inimical purposes.

In most dioceses this weekend the second collections at Mass will go toward the Diocese support for the Philippines. The dioceses will be using the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to distribute the funds collected. Many of you have asked me for an alternative to the CRS as the CRS has a reputation for donating some of the funds to other organizations who are in conflict with Catholic doctrine.  Some have suggested the cause of this is due to the fact CRS also collects funds from the government and must follow government requirements and not Catholic doctrine.

I wish to point out the Knights of Columbus are also collecting donations for their organization and the money collected  will be given directly to the Knights in the Philippines. The Knights are a fantastic and reputable organizations and I suggest all members and others who may wish to donate to them do so. More Information, and how you can donate to them, will be provided at the end of this email. The Knights do not advocate anyone donating entirely to them and ignoring other appeals.

Several of us have investigated a number of alternatives to CRS and we are providing information on our recommended organization.  This organization does not collect any government funds and  a whopping 97 percent of its income is spent for the purposes intended. It has a top rating by Catholic Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org).  Check it out!

The organization we recommend is the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB). The CMMB appears to be a solid and faithful Catholic group.  Not only are their moneys well spent, but when checking them out under their FAQs they responded very positively to a question on their policy regarding condoms as a means to prevent HIV/AIDS. They stated CMMB does not purchase or receive donations of condoms. They further stated CMMB follows national guidelines established by the ministry of health, and those of the presiding Conference of Catholic Bishops in each country where they have HIV and AIDS programs. I believe we can make the assumption that providing  complete and accurate information about condoms as part of our prevention efforts means they  educate people with the fact condoms are not a fool-proof way of protection against HIV, AIDS, & other STDs.

The response to the immense need in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan CMMB has made shipments of essential meds and hygiene kits of over $2 million earlier this week. They are also preparing additional shipments of medicines at the request of the Philippine Consul General for airlift.

Check them out on their website www.cmmb.org. You can donate online or mail them a check to Catholic Medical Mission Board, PO Box 4715, New York NY 10164-3549.

In regard to donations to the Knights of Columbus, please check out this link to read about their emergency relief fund. http://www.kofc.org/un/en/charities/articles/disasterrelief.html.

Be sure and watch the short video. The K of C is well established with councils in the Philippines so the relief will be provided to the councils and churches in the immediate area. If you have questions you can call the number at the bottom of their web page.

CRS Misquotes John Haas To Deflect Much-Deserved Criticism

On July 18th I first posted about the CRS scandal about its $5.3 million grant to an abortophile organization called CARE.  John Rivera, CRS's Director of Communications, posted a comment.  Someone else showed me a reply that they had received from another CRS representative.  It was Rivera's comment, word for word.  Talk about a "party line"!

Well, it turns out the "party line" is a bit inaccurate.  LifeSiteNews contacted John Haas and interviewed him.  He stated that CRS officials didn't quote him properly and totally misconstrued his stance regarding CARE (surprise!).

This year's second collection for CRS already occurred, but it appears that next May we might be issuing a boycott call for that as well.

Mysterious Cash Flows At Catholic Relief Services

These days it seems that Catholic Relief Services is occupying as much of my blogging time as is its domestic counterpart, the CCHD.  I've written quite a bit about them over the past few months.  Others have too, owing to the revelations of their grants to various pro-abortion organizations overseas.

Last Friday LifeSiteNews published the reactions of some pro-life leaders to these latest revelations of scandal.  A number of other bloggers noticed that buried within is a rather matter-of-fact statement by Steven Mosher that the CRS receives over two-thirds of its funding from USAID.  Yesterday I tried to look up CRS on the Guidestar.  CRS has published none of its 990s thereon (I'm sure we know why!) but it was disclosed that during its 2009-2010 fiscal year, it received almost $920 million in various grants.  So for that year we can estimate that USAID ponied over approximately $610 million.

USAID is a federal agency.  Who funds that?  We the taxpayers do, of course!  From our tax dollars (or national debt) goes about $610 million per year (assuming that the 2009-2010 number is stationary) to the CRS.  One reason why we may not be seeing CRS's 990 is that this form will disclose the salaries and perks received by its officers, directors and other highly-compensated personnel.  Another reason is that we might actually see some details of their program expenses; might they be somewhat embarrassing for a Church organization?  And how about that other $310 million in receipts?  Is that all attributable to donation dollars are might some of that be coming from other, uh, "interesting donors"?

Now here's another puzzling facet to all of this.  I am hearing nary a peep from the "separation of church and state" gang.  Where's the "Freedom From Religion Foundation"?  Anytime a Nativity Scene is found on public property in some obscure town, they are "on the job" demanding its removal.  Why aren't they outraged about millions of tax dollars going towards a Catholic organization?  We can ask the same about "People for the American Way", etc.  Why aren't their undies bunched over this obvious breach of the wall between church and state?  Could it be that they're in "on the secret", that the goals are more about laundering federal dollars for "population control"?  That explains why they don't want to upset that progressive apple-cart.

Of course the mainstream media won't point out that obvious hypocrisy, so we bloggers must do it.  We also urge that no contribution money go towards CCHD, CRS and Catholic Charities when those collection baskets are passed in the pews.

As If We Needed Another Reason To Boycott CRS Collections!

Last month the Catholic Relief Services, ever on the cutting edge of crusading for true justice and charity (Stop that snickering right now!  Shame-shame!), issued a clarion call to the Trump administration to address what it holds to be the most crucial issue of the day.  Is it the murder of babies in the womb?  Is it the ever-encroaching demands that flagrant gays are making on Christians to celebrate their perversions?  Oh, wait - CRS itself has been caught harboring gays.  None of these.  They are clamoring for an end to - climate change!

The CRS, with the USCCB, sent to President Trump a letter to that effect.  They said, "Sadly, environmental issues can be politicized for partisan agendas and used in public discourse to serve different economic, social, political and ideological interests."  They should know for they are the experts in doing precisely that at the bidding of their puppet-masters and sugar-daddies.

With the Catholic Climate Covenant, they are lobbying for support of the Green Climate Fund and Paris agreements, both of which really promise to be huge drains on cash as they further empower the United Nations.  I for one note with pleasure that the President plans to remove us from the Paris agreements and to curtail funding of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Some might remember the Catholic Climate Covenant as promoting a progressive stunt called the Lenten Carbon Fast.  I can no longer find their version of the "carbon fast calendar" online, but other similar calendars exist that feature the same nonsense as did the CCC version.

• This gem from the Global Catholic Climate Movement urges us (see March 19) to "let our dishwashers breathe".  Ladies and gentlemen, if you notice your dishwashers breathing, might I suggest that you call an exorcist?  What these envirowhackos do not consider that it is that "energy-intensive drying cycle" that sterilizes the dishes, helping to prevent the spread of germs.
• Some Catholic envirowhackos from Austrilia have their own calendar, one that has particular focus on their locality.  On March 23rd they suggest the consumption of kangaroo meat as opposed to beef or lamb because, well,..methane!  Need we go into detail?  Bad little cattle!  Bad little sheep!  Killing the planet via flatulence!

So that is one way that the Catholic Relief Services is squandering the donation dollars of faithful Catholics. Pleading with their higher-ups has proven to be an exercise in futility.  The only language they seem to understand is that of "$ ka-ching $".  It is our silence with regard to that language that they need to experience.  

Speaking of "donation dollars", the second collection for the Archdiocese of Washington during the weekend of March 25-26 will be for the CRS.  That is in addition to the lenten Rice Bowl shakedown.  As we are boycotting the rice bowl thing, let's boycott this as well and in the same way.  I suggested what to do with the Rice Bowl two weeks ago.  I'd suggest putting that same note in your envelope and dropping that in the collection basket this weekend.

More Pro-Life Leaders Weigh In On The CRS Scandals

I needn't rehash what they say here.  Rather, I link to the words of Randy Engel of U.S. Coalition for Life and Rob Gaspar of the American Life League.  Ms Engel calls for a boycott of the CRS collection next year.  I'll take it a step further and say that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (that oversees both CRS and CCHD) should be unceremoniously scrapped and its rubble swept into a dung heap.  I suspect that will be in the distant future; for now I'll settle for the boycott.

Catholic Relief Services VP - A Flagrant Sodomite

The Lepanto Institute broke the news that the current Vice President of Overseas Finance for Catholic Relief Services, Rick Estridge, entered into a mockery of marriage with his sodomite accomplice, William Goretsas.  Lepanto has a copy of the Maryland marriage license on their page.  The legal travesty happened over two years ago.  Lepanto also has numerous screen shots from Estridge's Facebook and Linkedin profiles that show Estridge to be, well, "out and proud" regarding his promotion of perversion - and his thumbing of nose at Catholic moral teaching.

The Facebook and Linkedin accounts are deactivated as of today.  Presumably that was done in a lame attempt at damage control.  It appears that he hasn't completely cleaned up his Twitter account. (UPDATE!  That's gone, too!)  We see that he is following both Michelle and Barack Obama as well as Ellen Degeneres.

At any rate, given his rather high-profile flaunting of his mortal sin, no reasonable person can gainsay that Estridge's objectively sinful status wasn't known by the higher-ups inside the Catholic Relief Services.  For over two years, Catholic Relief Services - the same that pretends to uphold Catholic moral teachings - has harbored within its ranks of power a known sodomite.  If the CRS directors have allowed this to fester in their midst for over two years, what does that say about their own loyalty to the Catholic Church and to Jesus Christ Himself?

Will John Rivera (or whoever now occupies the none-too-enviable position of CRS Director of Communications) go all-out into damage control mode as he tried to do three years ago (and miserably flopped)?  What will the leadership of CRS do about this highly-placed official who is flouting Church teaching and contributing to the ongoing lie that is its "mission statement"?  I think we all know the answer to that - zilch, zip, nadda!

I think we also have a glimpse regarding the reason why the upcoming March for Marriage on Saturday the 25th has received so little support from the two Maryland archdiocese.  Yes, a few parishes have heroically promoted this march, but they are few and far between.

It is my opinion that the Catholic Relief Services is jaded beyond repair.  In fact, the same can be said for the entire United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  The whole apparatus needs to be dismantled.  In the meantime, do not drop one red cent into any collection that is held for the benefit of CCHD, CRS, Catholic Charities or anything masterminded by the USCCB.

BREAKING - Catholic Relief Service VP In Same Sex Marriage Resigns

Lepanto Institute posted an announcement released by the Catholic Relief Services this afternoon.  Rick Estridge, the Vice President for Overseas Finance at the CRS - and a sodomite in a "same-sex marriage" has resigned his position.  Lepanto has some worthwhile discussion on the matter, as CRS heaped praise upon Estridge as they announced the retirement.

One might ask if CRS's announcement would have sung Estridge's praise had he been a white supremist or involved in drug trafficking. We think not.  Moreover, this resignation would not have taken over a month to have happened.  It would have happened in mid-April when Lepanto first broke the story, at the latest.  Ideally it would have happened much sooner than that, when CRS officials learned of Estridge's perversion and disregard for God's laws concerning marriage.

Please don't take this as a sign that Catholic Relief Services has finally seen the light.  They're in damage-control mode here.  They must have seen a drop in their donations; perhaps the May in-pew collection suffered as a result of their latest scandal.  The number of scandals at Catholic Relief Services is legion, and that number will increase since it's merely an arm of the likewise ill-begotten United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  These beasts need to be starved; donote not one penny to them.