Justice Denied
“…laymen are not only bound to penetrate the world with a Christian spirit, but are also called to be witnesses to Christ in all things in the midst of human society.” Gaudium et Spes: The Church in the Modern World (43)
One of the central themes of Catholic Social Teaching is a call to family, community, and participation. It is the foundation for any work for peace and justice and it is everywhere. The prophets railed about it. Jesus preached it. Paul’s letters are filled with it. It runs through church literature in papal encyclicals, the catechism, and episcopal documents. Go to the web site for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and you will be inundated with it.
Today it is under assault from of all places inside the church, particularly that last bit, participation. More and more Catholics and even a few bishops are finding more and more reasons to withdraw from the world, to refuse to cooperate with more and more groups they find objectionable. They can find fault with almost anybody of course, and they appear willing to let the common good go wanting rather than work with them. I think it’s a threat to the faith. We are called to work for justice and I fail to see how we can do that without rubbing elbows with a few sinners now and then. I don’t want to spill any secrets here but I have sinned myself a time or two.
If I go to a crowded meeting on say, immigration reform, I can be reasonably sure there will be abortion supporters in the room. Do I just not go? I can’t go to Mass and be sure the person kneeling next to me doesn’t oppose school vouchers. Do I refuse them the sign of peace? The Texas Department of State Health Services funds breast and cervical cancer screening for low income women in every county. In my county it is offered through three clinics, all of them run by Planned Parenthood. Do I stop paying taxes?
OK, maybe these aren’t the best examples. Try this. Several US bishops have recently announced that on moral grounds they will no longer support the anti-poverty Catholic Campaign for Human Development. CCHD is an agency of the USCCB, is overseen by one of its subcommittees, its grants must be approved by the local bishop where the recipient is located, and recipients are required to certify that they do not engage in activities contrary to Catholic moral teaching. Some grants have been defunded when USCCB determined that the recipient was indeed engaged in such activities. It’s not enough. Altogether about 5% of the 195 US dioceses don’t contribute to CCHD, mostly for financial reasons, the recession has hit everyone pretty hard. But a small number objecting on moral grounds represents an alarming trend. CCHD represents one of our most effective means for addressing one of our most central missions, helping people, and not just Catholics, out of poverty.
The argument is that CCHD cooperates with other agencies engaged in illicit activities and is therefore complicit, no matter how just the cause or remote the banned activity. The problem here is that any non-Catholic organization will include members who disagree with us, often on important matters. To restrict ourselves to working only with Catholics, and only those who themselves work only with Catholics, and only those Catholics of whom we approve, and that is pretty much what some are calling for, is hardly the message from Gaudium et Spes. It called for us to get out there and be involved with society, to work for justice. Working for justice is by definition a political activity. We can’t do politics without getting our hands dirty. No politics, no justice.
One of the central themes of Catholic Social Teaching is a call to family, community, and participation. It is the foundation for any work for peace and justice and it is everywhere. The prophets railed about it. Jesus preached it. Paul’s letters are filled with it. It runs through church literature in papal encyclicals, the catechism, and episcopal documents. Go to the web site for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and you will be inundated with it.
Today it is under assault from of all places inside the church, particularly that last bit, participation. More and more Catholics and even a few bishops are finding more and more reasons to withdraw from the world, to refuse to cooperate with more and more groups they find objectionable. They can find fault with almost anybody of course, and they appear willing to let the common good go wanting rather than work with them. I think it’s a threat to the faith. We are called to work for justice and I fail to see how we can do that without rubbing elbows with a few sinners now and then. I don’t want to spill any secrets here but I have sinned myself a time or two.
If I go to a crowded meeting on say, immigration reform, I can be reasonably sure there will be abortion supporters in the room. Do I just not go? I can’t go to Mass and be sure the person kneeling next to me doesn’t oppose school vouchers. Do I refuse them the sign of peace? The Texas Department of State Health Services funds breast and cervical cancer screening for low income women in every county. In my county it is offered through three clinics, all of them run by Planned Parenthood. Do I stop paying taxes?
OK, maybe these aren’t the best examples. Try this. Several US bishops have recently announced that on moral grounds they will no longer support the anti-poverty Catholic Campaign for Human Development. CCHD is an agency of the USCCB, is overseen by one of its subcommittees, its grants must be approved by the local bishop where the recipient is located, and recipients are required to certify that they do not engage in activities contrary to Catholic moral teaching. Some grants have been defunded when USCCB determined that the recipient was indeed engaged in such activities. It’s not enough. Altogether about 5% of the 195 US dioceses don’t contribute to CCHD, mostly for financial reasons, the recession has hit everyone pretty hard. But a small number objecting on moral grounds represents an alarming trend. CCHD represents one of our most effective means for addressing one of our most central missions, helping people, and not just Catholics, out of poverty.
The argument is that CCHD cooperates with other agencies engaged in illicit activities and is therefore complicit, no matter how just the cause or remote the banned activity. The problem here is that any non-Catholic organization will include members who disagree with us, often on important matters. To restrict ourselves to working only with Catholics, and only those who themselves work only with Catholics, and only those Catholics of whom we approve, and that is pretty much what some are calling for, is hardly the message from Gaudium et Spes. It called for us to get out there and be involved with society, to work for justice. Working for justice is by definition a political activity. We can’t do politics without getting our hands dirty. No politics, no justice.
posted by Onfoot at 7:36 AM
1 Comments:
This is a fairly lengthy article. One would think you'd have addressed the reasons many are concerned about CCHD. Try looking up their support for the Gamaliel Foundation among others. David Horowitz's Discover the Networks website should be informative.
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