Catholic Church Cuts Ties With Charity Over LGBT Affiliation
A charitable arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has decided to cut funding to a Colorado organization due to its decision to affiliate with a homosexual advocacy organization.
Catholic Campaign for Human Development opted to cut the thousands of dollars it annually sent to Compañeros, a small nonprofit located in southwestern Colorado. Compañeros decided to affiliate with Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition, which in its words, holds a "belief in equality for all Coloradans, including gay and transgender Coloradans."
Jeff Field, director of Communications for the Catholic League, told The Christian Post that the move on the part of CCHD was their right to do.
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"It is well within CCHD's right to do so and we fully support its decision. CCHD has every right to practice its religious liberty rights," said Field.
"If it saw something in Compañeros that was opposed to the basic teachings of Catholicism, it was well within its rights."
Lourdes Rodriguez-Nogues, president of DignityUSA, a pro-gay Catholic organization, told CP that the group should not have had its funding cut by CCHD since the work they were doing was Christian in nature.
"This group Compañeros is doing the work that is absolutely significant in terms of combating poverty and working on behalf of the poor," said Rodriguez-Nogues. "It seems to me to be sort of a little bit against what the Catholic Church should be advocating for which is that we all do more on behalf of those who have less."
Rodriguez-Nogues also said that the decision might end up harming the image the Catholic Church more than it did Compañeros, at least in regards to public relations.
"There are many different polls out there that show that a large majority of Catholics in the United States support legal protections for same-sex couples. We see Catholics, people of faith moving more towards and inclusion and you see the official Church actually moving exactly in the opposite direction."
Field, meanwhile, commented, "We don't assume that every pro-LGBT rights group is radical, but in this case CCHD must have found something that it couldn't support and decided to cut ties."
"This does not hinder CCHD's efforts to help the less fortunate as it gives to many groups that help the dispossessed and aren't affiliated with groups who are out to undermine Catholicism."
Once finalized, the move by the CCHD will remove half of Compañeros' funding.
Neither the Catholic Campaign for Human Development nor Compañeros returned request for comment by press time.
