The Instituto Lepanto has published a report in which it denounces that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) —the official anti-poverty program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)— allocated almost a million dollars to an organization directly involved in activities that promote abortion and “sex change” surgeries.
According to the report, the United Workers Association (UWA) has received $760,000 in grants from the CCHD since 2004. However, the organization finances and directs two projects that openly defend public funding for Planned Parenthood and the inclusion of abortions and sex reassignment surgeries within Medicaid programs.
“I myself informed high-ranking USCCB officials in 2011 that the UWA supported same-sex marriage alongside Equality Maryland,” explained Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute.
“They assured me it was a mistake, but after providing the UWA meeting minutes, my concerns were ignored. Now we see that the funding continued and that the organization promotes very serious moral evils,” he added.
Two projects under the umbrella of the UWA
The report details that, according to the UWA’s tax documents, the organization is the founder and legal sponsor of two activist groups:
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Put People First – PA! (PPF-PA),
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and Healthcare is a Human Right – Maryland (HCHR-MD).
Both promote abortion as a “human right” and demand state funding for abortions and “gender transition” procedures.
The PPF-PA Facebook profile itself is managed by the UWA, which evidences —according to the Lepanto Institute— its direct control over the group’s ideological content. In demonstrations and public statements, PPF-PA has demanded “federal funds for Planned Parenthood” and has defended abortion as a constitutional right.
Similarly, HCHR-MD conducts campaigns in favor of the “right to abortion” and so-called “gender-affirming medical care,” using the language typical of ideological movements contrary to Catholic morality.
A Questioned Grant Policy
Hichborn warned that this case is not isolated:
“In just the last three years, we have identified 66 problematic organizations receiving funds from the CCHD. That represents 31% of the 211 entities benefited in that period.”
The researcher denounced that the episcopal campaign has been repeatedly complicit in causes contrary to the Gospel:
“Since its first year of existence, the CCHD has repeatedly funded the enemies of the Cross of Christ. After 50 years, it is time to end this program.”
The Lepanto Institute maintains its call to the US bishops to withdraw their dioceses from the CCHD and demand its definitive and permanent closure.
Every dollar delivered to these entities stains the moral credibility of the Church and questions its witness before the faithful. The money intended for the poor cannot end up supporting structures of sin that destroy innocent lives.
The call from the Lepanto Institute is, in reality, a call for purification: a demand for transparency and evangelical fidelity in the administration of the Church’s resources.