Next Sunday we will have another second collection. Now second collections come and go and most pay little attention to them. The upcoming special collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) seems to have caught it's fair share of interest. First of all we should acknowledge that this is a 40 year program designed to help the poor. One of the organizations that the CCHD funded in the past is ACORN. At the time, ACORN was acknowledged as a national organization that assisted the poor and the homeless. We all know that it has also been involved in partisan politics. Under the leadership of Biloxi Bishop Roger Morin, the previous auxiliary of New Orleans, ACORN has been left out of all current and future funding. I beleive all people of goodwill can acknowledge mistakes within the CCHD program. What can't be debated is the intent. The intent has always been to lift the poor.
This year's collection comes under the theme: families are struggling; faith is calling. Catholics are asked to help bring glad tidings to the poor. The program is designed where 25% of the collection stays in the local diocese and the remaining 75% is used for national programs under the direction of the USCCB. The Bishops of this country know that nearly 40 million Americans live in poverty. This is a tragic reality of the world's "richest" nation. And the Bishops know that while unemployment in America has reached 10%, the effective unemployment rate, which includes those who have stopped looking for work, is closer to 25%. This in America.
Therefore, the Bishops have sought to partner with organizations that create affordable housing, obtain fair wages, provide job training and self help community projects. The more specific goal is to identify those programs that will give a hand up, not a hand out. As with goals, sometimes all you can say is the best laid plans...Not all of this has gone the way of the intention. The Bishops are acknowledging this and making changes to the program. The main problem is that many of these organizations that DO help the poor, the homeless and the marginalized tend to be politically left. That makes many distrust the programs.
To that end, an untra conservative movement has grown in the church to boycott this collection. These protesters are encouraging people to drop acorns in the collection plate to punish the Bishops, if you will. Some within this movement have gone so far as to promote scurilous inaccuracies and outright lies to strengthen the cause. Simply put, what hogwash; what disobedience; what sinfulness. I am not defending poor choices and decisions within the program, but I will defend any thought of efforts, on an organized level, of the USCCB promoting abortions, left wing policies or worse. And please do not bring acorns into church. Bishops, and Priests for that matter, get nowhere close to a collection plate. And all those who want to bring acorns into the church usually fall on the side of a need for more sacredness and holy introduced to the church. What hypocrisy.
This all falls under the "throw the baby out with the bathwater" defense. A few suggestions. If you can't give to the collection, then YOU have a moral obligation to give to something that assists the poor. If you can't give to the collection, YOU have a moral obligation to work a soup kitchen, foodbank or other program to assist the needy. If you believe everything you are told or read, YOU have a moral obligation to research ALL the facts, find balance and make a decision based on an informed conscience. Any of you heard that before? Do you know anyone personally who has benefitted from CCHD via the Jeremiah Group, the Latino Farmers Coop of Louisiana, Woman's New Life Center or the CCANO Pro-life services. These are some of the groups who benefit from this collection.
Yes, the CCHD has been far from perfect. But it does a lot of good. Maybe if we Catholics who sit in the pews practiced real charity, subsidiarity (look that one up) and solidarity, there would be no need for a second collection of this sort. Ultimately, it is our responsibility.
Acorns in the collection = sinful disobedience. You make the call.
Mike, I can't make up my mind about the CCHD. It seems that in other areas thay have, indeed, been supporting abortion providers. I've tried to research the two organizations that the local CCHD supports, but haven't found out much. I am leaning toward giving them the benefit of the doubt in this case. Still, there are plenty of other Catholic organizations who don't come with the sort of baggage that CCHD is packing. You make some good points, though, and I thank you for taking on this topic.
ReplyDeleteYour brother in Christ - Dean