Catholic Relief Services distributes abortifacients in Madagascar: on-the-ground investigation
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LisaA
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The Population Research Institute report insinuated that CRS’ hiring of a regional manager with past employment in family planning with the United Nations’ Population Fund was intended to broadcast the Catholic agency’s seriousness in carrying out a “family planning / population control program.”
What??? CRS is carrying out a family planning and poulation control program???
I think this is confusing at best. Again if CRS is giving money to an agency that DOES violate Catholic teachings even if they claim THEIR money goes only for water projects, it is simply fun with numbers. As when taxpayer money goes to Planned Parenthood but “not for abortion or contraception” the reality that the money is fungible and cannot be traced makes it absolutely impossible to prove that taxpayers are not funding abortions. They are
Lisa
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april32010
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Lisa ,this whole thing has me :whacky: :hypno: :bighanky: :whackadoo: :egyptian: :bluelite::choocho::takeoff:
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pnewton
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In the interest of fairness, I followed the links in the LSN article and found that their source was themselves in another article. So I went checking other article sources and found this.
newswire.crs.org/the-relationship-between-crs-and-the-church-in-madagascar/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CRSNewswire+%28Catholic+Relief+Services+Newswire%29
One of the father complained about that CRS spent money on themselves and gave them crumbs. Checking into that, I found that they are rated A+ as a charity for having a 2% administrative cost, and a 93% level of aid provided.
newswire.crs.org/the-relationship-between-crs-and-the-church-in-madagascar/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CRSNewswire+%28Catholic+Relief+Services+Newswire%29
If there is any truth to this complaint, then it is a serious shortcoming that needs to be addressed. I have found in the past though that LSN is not particular impartial to Catholics, so I guess I will wait and see what comes through the Church on this. I know the old saw that where there is smoke there is fire, but that fire can also be arson.
One of the father complained about that CRS spent money on themselves and gave them crumbs. Checking into that, I found that they are rated A+ as a charity for having a 2% administrative cost, and a 93% level of aid provided.
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pnewton
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To quote further:
I am all for keel-hauling those who commit blatant hypocricy by spending monies from Catholic charites on things which are contrary to Catholic teaching, but it is important not to start reeling out the rope the second someone makes an accusation. There are people out there that do not like Catholics very much.
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april32010
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its Catholics that have uncovered this
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Julian_Bashir
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Freeing up funds for a group that performs immoral activities even if those funds are used for moral activities is still a no go.
Basically, they specifics need to be accounted for. So far, we have seen “you did this.” “Relax, no we didn’t” “Yes, you did.” “Everything we do is in line with catholic teaching.”
How about addressing point by point the claims raised, and confirm or refute them, and we can put the debate to rest.
Simply saying “everything we do is legit” does not assuage me when specific allegations should be easy to refute or confirm.
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LisaA
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Yes exactly my point. Even though the source seems to be suspect to some, the CRS’ response indicates that someone hit a nerve. So far it’s the same song and dance we get about “no tax dollars funding abortion” when half a billion goes to Planned Parenthood…oh supposedly for “healthcare” but we all know the truth.
Lisa
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bsroufek
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OK, I did some research, beginning by searching on “search.yahoo.com” for “catholic relief services abortion”.
Pages of articles were returned, spanning years. But one caught my attention, claiming that CRS “has a history” of hiring pro-abortion activists.
They name a number of people who are “Regional Directors” or higher in CRS who were hired “directly” from pro-abortion organizations. These people represent/command activities for CRS for large international regions.
Now, why would CRS hire this way? Actually, the CRS website sites US Employment Law/Policy saying it"considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, national origin, religious beliefs, gender, age, marital status or physical or mental disability.”
So, for one thing, it must be true that CRS hires non-Catholics to direct its affairs. Worse yet, though, these people sited above have “merit” on their resumes as pro-abortion activities. Now, believing that the above is true and according to CRS hiring policy though against Catholic teaching,** is the CRS required by US Employment Law to hire non-Catholics and non-believers, even pro-abortion activists for its charitable works?**
Now, Catholic Churches must be exempt because we don’t have any non-Catholic priests, but CRS seems to be required to hire these people. What an evil! I guess/hope CRS tells these new hirees, these pro-abortion people to follow Catholic teaching in their work, but nothing binds them to it.
Considering these things to be a natural result of hiring non-Catholics, why do the bishops and CRS deny that these people are doing this, in the face of eye-witness accounts?
Pages of articles were returned, spanning years. But one caught my attention, claiming that CRS “has a history” of hiring pro-abortion activists.
They name a number of people who are “Regional Directors” or higher in CRS who were hired “directly” from pro-abortion organizations. These people represent/command activities for CRS for large international regions.
Now, why would CRS hire this way? Actually, the CRS website sites US Employment Law/Policy saying it"considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, national origin, religious beliefs, gender, age, marital status or physical or mental disability.”
So, for one thing, it must be true that CRS hires non-Catholics to direct its affairs. Worse yet, though, these people sited above have “merit” on their resumes as pro-abortion activities. Now, believing that the above is true and according to CRS hiring policy though against Catholic teaching,** is the CRS required by US Employment Law to hire non-Catholics and non-believers, even pro-abortion activists for its charitable works?**
Now, Catholic Churches must be exempt because we don’t have any non-Catholic priests, but CRS seems to be required to hire these people. What an evil! I guess/hope CRS tells these new hirees, these pro-abortion people to follow Catholic teaching in their work, but nothing binds them to it.
Considering these things to be a natural result of hiring non-Catholics, why do the bishops and CRS deny that these people are doing this, in the face of eye-witness accounts?
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LisaA
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But wouldn’t Hosanna Tabor (SCOTUS) mean they could restrict hiring to those who hold Catholic beliefs? We’ve seen numerous threads about teachers or other school employees in Catholic schools who must sign a contract with a morals clause. I believe I’ve also seen where a proabort employee of a Catholic organization was terminated when her beliefs were made public.
I think CRS COULD restrict hiring if it made this a policy.
Lisa
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bcuster
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I am getting two different takes on this issue. Let’s help clear it up before we trash a Catholic charitable organization.
catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1303371.htm and catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20130806.htm
catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1303371.htm and catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20130806.htm
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bsroufek
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Even the Pope (Benedict XVI) and the Vatican ordered these Catholic Agencies, which include Catholic Relief Services, to stop doing this.
The Bishops’ denying this are opposing Papal/Vatican decree on this matter three years ago.
Apparently, Pope Benedict said the Bishops need to “keep a closer watch” over the people and activities of these charities.
Now, Cardinal Dolan and the CRS President (a Bishop) called the African Archbishop on this matter, so they at least were trying to verify this. But the African Archbishop recanted what he was quoted as saying earlier, noting “confusion”.
It seems to me that whatever the Bishops might do, as long as their people keep hiring these pro-abortion activists as Regional Directors at CRS, they’re going to continue to have these problems.
The Bishops’ denying this are opposing Papal/Vatican decree on this matter three years ago.
Apparently, Pope Benedict said the Bishops need to “keep a closer watch” over the people and activities of these charities.
Now, Cardinal Dolan and the CRS President (a Bishop) called the African Archbishop on this matter, so they at least were trying to verify this. But the African Archbishop recanted what he was quoted as saying earlier, noting “confusion”.
It seems to me that whatever the Bishops might do, as long as their people keep hiring these pro-abortion activists as Regional Directors at CRS, they’re going to continue to have these problems.
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LisaA
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Not necessarily trashing but just questioning as CRS and CHD have both partnered with organizations that DID violate Catholic teaching. The Archbishop seems to be stating that CRS didn’t DIRECTLY provide contraceptives which I think goes without saying. If CRS were directly participating in this endeavor it would truly be a reason to withhold contributions. What I fear is that these extremely large organizations lose the mission of bringing the love of Christ and focus instead on getting bang for the buck. So they partner with organizations that violate Catholic teaching on the theory that the greater good is served…but we all know that is not correct.
Lisa
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bsroufek
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To follow up on posts just above, an article from Catholic News Agency notes the same issues I brought up above. Interestingly, in addition, when directly challenged about funding being provided to a particular pro-abortion/contraception agency (CARE), which CRS couldn’t obviously deny, they gave this lame answer:
"Catholic Relief Services said the funding was carefully restricted to morally acceptable purposes and was reviewed by a Catholic bioethicist."
So, “we’re giving you the money but don’t use it for non-Catholic purposes [like Planned Parenthood not using Fed money for abortions]” and a “Catholic bioethicist said it’s OK”.
The US Bishops responsible for charities, at the very least, are deluding themselves and excusing their complicity in the Death Culture.
Pray for them, brothers and sisters.
"Catholic Relief Services said the funding was carefully restricted to morally acceptable purposes and was reviewed by a Catholic bioethicist."
So, “we’re giving you the money but don’t use it for non-Catholic purposes [like Planned Parenthood not using Fed money for abortions]” and a “Catholic bioethicist said it’s OK”.
The US Bishops responsible for charities, at the very least, are deluding themselves and excusing their complicity in the Death Culture.
Pray for them, brothers and sisters.
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pnewton
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Is it really? I see LSN and the Population Research Institute. The Catholic links do not support this allegation.
Can you give a Catholic link that has uncovered this?
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pnewton
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How do you get this from the article? How can you accuse bishops so easily without evidence? From the article:
I think we need a Catechism refresher.
I am all for constant monitoring and calling Catholic charities into account, but I have noticed all too often LSN engages in posting as truth allegations that have not been investigated by the Church. In case some of you do not know this, news media have bias, either grounded in ideology or in finance. I am satisfied that the local Church authority and those over the CRS have reviewed this case. I know that this will always be a struggle. Money has a way of obscuring truth, both in the CRS and in its detractors.
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pnewton
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FYI - I think that it is a noble goal to want to donate directly. However, I seriously doubt that it would prove less abuse free to do so. If the CRS is held to a standard of accountablity, it will still fail from time to time. Donating directly will also fail from time to time. After all, how would we know who needs the money? Is the Red Cross a better form of relief? If we just start doling out to individual groups, do we really think that they will all turn out to be noble at all times? Money has a way of attracting wolves to the feed barn. Anyone who has dealt much with charity or social work knows that for some, enough to cause problems, there are always those in it for money and control.
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LisaA
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Absolutely do not disagree with you. Every organization has its flaws. I was involved with an organization that was totally volunteer based and did some AMAZING things. But which projects were funded depended on whether the founder approved and sometimes I’d wonder what in heck the particular project had to do with their mission. So although there were no bloated salaries or overpaid executives, there were still problems.
That being said, I know there are many CATHOLIC charities that CRS could fund and make a huge difference without compromising Church teaching. That they choose to partner with somewhat un-Catholic groups bothers me to a great extent. The massive funds they have could make such a huge difference to these small projects but they seem to focus on huge efforts rather than tailoring their grants to faithful Catholics who are directly serving the poor.
Lisa
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bsroufek
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The Pope himself (cited in post #31 above) wrote an Apostolic Letter, which I linked in an earlier post, describing these failures in detail, telling the Bishops to be more diligent in overseeing the activities of their charities.
You can accuse me of being judgemental, but I cited the Pope himself, so the other stories are probably true also. I am not detracting in the least.
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LisaA
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BTW just listened to a past podcast of Catholic Connection where Teresa Tomio interviewed a Polish bishop who had been a long time volunteer in Africa. He spoke specifically about this organization “passing around contraception…” and that they would ingratiate themselves with the locals by passing out mosquito nets and then when they had a relationship with the villagers would then promote “population control…” I was trying to get a name for his organization as it works directly with the street children. But his accent was thick and I couldn’t understand him well. At any rate, he there on the ground, felt that organization that is partnering with CRS is clearly focused on reducing the population.
Lisa
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