Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Pro-lifers Threaten Campaign for the Poor
Below there's a link to an article I wrote for the July issue of US Catholic magazine. It reports on the history of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and discusses the siege the Campaign is under from a coalition of right-wing groups. During the past 40 years the Campaign, through a yearly collection in every parish in the country, has raised some $400 million to support community organizations at work in poor and minority towns and neighborhoods. The coalition, called Reform CCHD Now, is gravely concerned that some of the community organizations in some of their projects (not supported by the Campaign) endorse birth control, abortion or homosexual rights. They also resent the fact that some recipients of Campaign funds were originally founded by the late organizer Saul Alinsky, a non-Catholic with Socialist tendencies. It is of course a fact that Alinsky worked hand-in-glove with many activist priests, including Chicago's Fr. jack Egan, to battle systemic racism and poverty. You can find the article here.
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I did not know about this. I have a hard time comprehending the motivation of a group like Reform CCHD. Is this a group that would have existing in earlier decades or has the world become more polarized?
ReplyDeleteFor a few years, I served the "Campaign for Human Development" by evaluating and recommending grantees. As structured under Cardinal Bernardin, the selection committee was entirely lay. It was a terrific structure. After George became cardinal, the word "Catholic" was added to the beginning of the group's name and all grant decisions were taken in house by the archdiocese. So, the centralization and increasing focus on the strict enforcement of Catholic doctrine has been going on for several years. Going in the wrong direction, in my opinion.