Coalition Calls on Fellow Catholics to Help REFORM the CCHD now

by Martin Barillas Thursday, October 29, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Stephen Phelan 540-622-5270
SPhelan@hli.org

October 28, 2009 Coalition Calls on Fellow Catholics to Help REFORM the CCHD NOW

FRONT ROYAL, VA — A coalition of Catholic organizations has formed to ask faithful Catholics to boycott this year’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection, scheduled for Sunday, November 22 in many dioceses, and place a specially-designed coupon in the collection basket instead of money. The group has also launched a website dedicated to informing Catholics and tracking the progress of the campaign at www.reformcchdnow.com. The coupon may be downloaded and shared directly from the Web site’s home page.

The coalition has formed in response to the continuing scandal of the CCHD, and is calling the CCHD to a major reform, focused on ensuring grantees’ fidelity to Church teaching on social justice, family and life issues.

“It is said that ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant’, and we are trying to shed some light not only on the CCHD, but also on some wonderful organizations that actually serve the poor and disenfranchised in a way that is consistent with Catholic teaching” said Rob Gasper, president of Bellarmine Veritas Ministry, one of the groups calling for a reform of the CCHD. “We just think that faithful Catholics in the pews should be able to trust that the money they give to the CCHD is going to reputable organizations that in no way work against the Church.”

WWW.REFORMCCHDNOW.COM was launched today with four goals:

1) To call the CCHD to greater transparency in its grants process, and to revisit its criteria for choosing grantees,

2) To encourage faithful Catholics to download, share and place the REFORM CCHD NOW coupon in this year’s annual special CCHD collection, held in many parishes on November 22, 2009,

3) To suggest reputable alternative organizations that faithful Catholics can be sure perform great service to the poor but do not oppose the Church in any way, and

4) To create a clearing house for information on the campaign to reform the CCHD going forward.

“We support without qualification our Catholic bishops,” said Stephen Phelan, Communications Manager for Human Life International. “We are confident that many of them will support this call for greater transparency in the CCHD, and to a deep reform in the organization. In this campaign we are asking that the CCHD reconsider its philosophy and practices."

"We respectfully call the CCHD to respond to Pope Benedict’s call in his recent encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, when he challenged development professionals to work towards an authentic, integral human development based on a Catholic view of the human person and in the Love and Truth of Jesus Christ,” said Phelan.

###