BUMPED: from 12/17/17
By Jim Kofalt
If you attend a Catholic Mass this weekend, you might be asked to contribute to something called the “Catholic Campaign for Human Development” (CCHD). The annual collection for CCHD takes place the weekend before Thanksgiving, and it is ostensibly aimed at alleviating poverty. What many Catholics don’t know – and what the leaders of CCHD will never tell you – is that CCHD is an organization with roots deeply embedded in the traditions of Saul Alinsky and radical leftist politics. CCHD funds have been used routinely for purposes that conflict sharply with what most Catholics believe. CCHD is a political organization – not a charitable one. The fact that CCHD continues to collect donations from unwitting Catholics is tantamount to fraud.
ACORN, the left-wing political organization that took credit for helping to get Barack Obama elected in 2008, received over $7.3 million from CCHD over the course of a decade. That organization was discredited in 2009 when undercover video from Project Veritas showed ACORN staff members advising a man posing as a pimp (with a young “prostitute” at his side) on how to successfully run a sex-trafficking business exploiting underage girls from El Salvador. CCHD funding to ACORN was cut off in 2009 after it was revealed that over $1 million had been embezzled by one of the organization’s leaders.
Other recipients of sizable CCHD grants have included the Industrial Areas Foundation (founded by radical activist Saul Alinsky, who dedicated his book Rules for Radicals to Lucifer); the Gamaliel Foundation (where Barack Obama worked as “community organizer” in the late 1980’s); and the Midwest Academy (whose founders are closely affiliated with the radical revolutionary group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)).
Gamaliel Foundation website November 2008
Many of the smaller organizations that receive CCHD funding have similar far-left leanings. In many cases, they are explicitly promoting policies – including abortion – that directly conflict with Catholic teachings. Many of CCHD’s grantees preach radical leftist “community organizing” tactics including personal targeting, character assassination, “direct confrontation,” and intimidation.
While many Catholic parishes are no longer participating in the CCHD collection, the vast majority of them still do. We urge you to share this information with anyone you know who may be attending a Catholic Mass this weekend and to call your local parish to let them know your concerns about CCHD. Ask them to withdraw from the CCHD collection coming up this weekend.
