Catholic Campaign for Human Development funded pro-abortion, pro-LGBT groups: report
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is facing criticism for giving money to groups that promote abortion and LGBT activism, which violate the teachings of the Catholic Church.
According to a report from the Lepanto Institute published last week, the groups Stand Up Nashville, Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope and Nashville Organized for Action hope received grants of $45,000, $50,000 and $60,000, respectively, from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the domestic anti-poverty program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Grant guidelines stress that awardees of funds from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development must “affirm compliance with Catholic social teachings.” The guidelines also make clear that “any organization involved in partisan political activities is ineligible for CCHD funding.”
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A checklist outlining eligibility requirements for organizations seeking CCHD grants specifically states that “your organization, and its affiliates, partners and coalition members must not endorse or advocate policies and issues that are contrary to Catholic Social Teaching — such as favoring abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, same-sex marriage, racism, sexism and other prejudices.”
The Lepanto Institute found that the three aforementioned organizations did not meet those requirements. The group Partnership for Working Families is listed as a member of Stand Up Nashville.
In a document called “For All of Us by All of Us: Challenging State Interference to Advance Gender and Racial Justice,” the group described “a bill requiring Tennessee’s Medicaid provider to report annually on the number of abortions paid for by the medical assistance program” as an example of “legislation that is harmful for women and people of color.”
Additionally, the document repeatedly uses pro-abortion phrases such as “women’s reproductive rights,” indicating that the group has not hesitated to “endorse or advocate policies and issues that are contrary to Catholic Social Teaching.”
A 2015 social media post from the Partnership for Working Families features a link to a New York Times article announcing that “Gay Marriage is Upheld by Supreme Court.” The post was accompanied by the hashtag #LoveWins and a cheer for “#EqualityForAll in and out of the workplace!”
In October 2019, the Partnership for Working Families shared a post affirming that “Lesbian rights are workers’ rights, Gay rights are workers’ rights, Bisexual rights are workers’ rights, Trans rights are workers’ rights, (and) Queer rights are workers’ rights.” A tweet from earlier that year celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots included the hashtag #Pride.
Today is the 50th Anniversary of the #StonewallRiots. We’ve come a long way. But we won’t stop until we all get free. #Pride#Stonewall50https://t.co/70xI1T2j7F
— For Working Families (@P4WF) June 28, 2019
In September 2018, as decades-old sexual assault allegations threatened to derail the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the Partnership for Working Families shared a post from the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance. The post trashed Kavanaugh as “a virulent opponent of reproductive justice, LGBTQ, and Disability Rights,” adding, “These biases alone should discount him from consideration for the highest court of the federal government.”
Another member of Stand Up Nashville, the Central Labor Council of Nashville, has also engaged in LGBT activism. A June 2020 Facebook post by the CLC described the Bostock v. Clayton County Supreme Court decision finding that sexual orientation was a protected class under federal civil rights law as a “good way to celebrate PRIDE month!”
The other two groups singled out by the Lepanto Institute for failing to meet the eligibility requirements for CCHD grants, the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope and Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, are listed as coalition organizations of Power Together, a local chapter of the Women’s March on Washington. The guiding vision and principles of Power Together include support for “open access to safe, legal, and affordable, abortion and birth control for all people, regardless of income, location, or education.”
This is not the first time that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has come under fire for giving money to groups engaged in left-wing activism. A previous report from the Lepanto Institute, published in October, found that the group Faith in Action received $1.5 million from CCHD in 2019-2020.
The Twitter account from Faith in Action’s “Live Free” project features several retweets of posts supportive of Democratic Party politicians and left-wing political causes as well as posts critical of Republican Party politicians and right-wing political causes.
For instance, the group retweeted a call from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., seeking to raise $150,000 for fellow Democratic Sen. Gary Peters as well as a statement made during the first 2020 presidential debate asserting that “You can’t ‘debate’ a piece of s***,” referring to then-President Donald Trump.
In a previous interview with The Christian Post, the Lepanto Institute’s Michael Hichborn explained that “the CCHD was set up as an organization to fund Saul Alinsky’s community organizing groups, and they’ve always been groups that support hard-left socialist Marxist ideologies.”
At the time, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development maintained that “Catholics can be confident that the CCHD does not fund organizations that violate the moral teaching of the church” and that “any departure from this irrevocable commitment would lead to immediate termination of funding support.”
The Christian Post reached out to the CCHD for a comment about the Lepanto Institute’s latest report. A response was not received by press time.
