CRS does NOT evangelize?

[ANNE_2]

I did not say there was no association, I said the CRS was not part of the USCCB’s bloated bureaucracy. And I said any oversite provided by the USCCB was quite small. What on that web page contradicted what I said? It just talks about a partnership. Maybe I missed something. Better documentation please.

usccb.org/sdwp/globalpoverty/background.shtml
" Catholic Relief Services (CRS) of the **United States Conference of Catholic Bishops **…"

The bold print is mine. The USCCB words are specific and are not mine.

Further the Bishops appointments to the CRS take place annually at the USCCB Annual Conference.
This is part of their mandate goals for the Committee -
" This mandate includes the following areas of responsibility:
Church in Central and Eastern Europe; Church in Africa; Church in Latin America; Catholic
Home Missions. For promotional/fund raising efforts: Catholic Campaign for Human
Development; The Catholic Relief Services Collection; Catholic Communication Campaign; and Economic Concerns of Holy See. Also, liaison with the National Religious Retirement Office." (bold print is mine.
usccb.org/priorities/old/USCCBApprovedStrategicPlan.pdf #14.

 

[Siochan_Leat]

To proselytise in a Muslim country could endanger the lives of the very people CRS is trying to help. It should come as no surprise that CRS would have a policy against that.

So VERY true. Although, it’s not just Muslim nations that aren’t always so open to the Catholic faith.

 

[graceandglory]

I do not believe that CRS has made this mistake. I do not see the CRS as even close to entirely secular identity. Its just that they are not a missionary religious order.

.

All of us are called to preach the gospel at all times, (and if necessary use words), not just missionary orders.

THe poor (sic) are hungry for God, not just for bread and freedom. (JP2)

Even atheists take care of the needs of the poor. That’s part of being human.

 

[Corki]

So VERY true. Although, it’s not just Muslim nations that aren’t always so open to the Catholic faith.

Also very true. I only mentioned Muslim because the original linked article was about an issue in the Sudan and an accusation that the CRS workers were trying to convert Muslims.

 

[Carlan]

Please help me with this. I’m afraid to donate anything to any committee/organization of the USCCB for the following reasons:

1. Their position in support of (fake) global warming/climate change has nothing to do with Church Doctrine…

Just to mention one of your rants:
What does climate change have to do with Catholic Relief in the world and the Propagation of the Faith in the misson fields of the world /the help for those desperate in need?
If you don’t believe pollution causes climate change you can rant about it in a different forum.
Just ponder this, a Biblical law: You cannot do on your own property what harms your
neighbor’s property. Peace, Carlan

 

[ANNE_2]

Just to mention one of your rants:
What does climate change have to do with Catholic Relief in the world and the Propagation of the Faith in the misson fields of the world /the help for those desperate in need?
If you don’t believe pollution causes climate change you can rant about it in a different forum.
Just ponder this, a Biblical law: You cannot do on your own property what harms your
neighbor’s property. Peace, Carlan

You are taking it out of context, its the entire list of the USCCB is merely part of their decision making. The USCCB’s judgment is in question.
It’s not a rant, and for you to jump to conclusions is quite sad in the discussion process. Putting out a sticking your tongue out sign is immature.
There are several things that the USCCB should not funding with Catholic donation dollars.

Climate change/global warming is false, yet it is still on the USCCB web site.
See on interent: “Global Warming Unmasked: The Hidden Agenda” by RealCatholicTV.
It includes written documentation for your perusal.
Global warming is not Church Doctrine (Dogma).

The USCCB and their Staff need to get back to the Doctrine of the Faith in the CCC, including their restriction on political involvement except as permitted in # 2245 & 2246 - fundamental rights of all men or the Saving of Souls.

 

[Carlan]

You are taking it out of context, its the entire list of the USCCB is merely part of their decision making. The USCCB’s judgment is in question.
It’s not a rant, and for you to jump to conclusions is quite sad in the discussion process. Putting out a sticking your tongue out sign is immature.
There are several things that the USCCB should not funding with Catholic donation dollars.

Climate change/global warming is false, yet it is still on the USCCB web site.
See on interent: “Global Warming Unmasked: The Hidden Agenda” by RealCatholicTV.
It includes written documentation for your perusal.
Global warming is not Church Doctrine (Dogma).

The USCCB and their Staff need to get back to the Doctrine of the Faith in the CCC, including their restriction on political involvement except as permitted in # 2245 & 2246 - fundamental rights of all men or the Saving of Souls.

Well, we are getting off topic here now and it would be best to take your compaints and opinions about the USCCB into another thread.Peace, Carlan

 

[TMC]

Please help me with this. I’m afraid to donate anything to any committee/organization of the USCCB for the following reasons:

1. Some of their public/political policies have nothing to do with Church Doctrine (as stated in the CCC);
2. The USCCB has a bloated 300+ employees who are expensive to support including benefits (High administration costs that must come out of donation dollars);
3. Their recommendations that we give up plastic bags and change our light bulbs for Lent is not going to Save Souls including my own - and this is the role of government not the Bishops
4. Their position in support of (fake) global warming/climate change has nothing to do with Church Doctrine.
5. Their support of the DREAM Act is not Church Dogma (Doctrine).
6. This is the first year that the USCCB has set up a Committee to try not to give our Dollars to pro-abortion, pro gay-marriage, and contraceptive social groups, against the complaints of Faithful Catholics for years.
7. In the US the CRS financially supports CLINIC - Catholic Legal Immigration Network for illegal aliens in the USA.
8. There is little evidence that those in the CRS overseas wear any kind of uniform or garb that identifies them as Christians. So how will they “know” them?
9. And since my income is limited, there are other Catholic Charities such as “Missionaires of the Poor” founded by Father Richard Ho Lung; Mother Teresa’s “Missionaires of Charity”, St. Vincent de Paul (local), and others that give directly to the poor without the additional administrative cut taken by the USCCB.
   Lastly with use of the internet, we can send donation dollars directly to Bishops who have Diocese in need such as “Catholic diocese of Sendai” (Japan), etc.

Thanks for helpful comments in advance.
Unless I get some new insight, I think we can make the USCCB limit ALL of their works to those of the Gospel by withholding our money. They seem to understand that.

I am not sure what your point is. Are you saying that the bishops should not speak out on moral and ethical issues, or is your complaint that their judgment is not always the same as your own?

 

[ANNE_2]

I am not sure what your point is. Are you saying that the bishops should not speak out on moral and ethical issues, or is your complaint that their judgment is not always the same as your own?

Good question. My personal opinons mean nothing, and neither do Bishops’ personal opinions.
We must follow Bishops when they teach the Doctrine of the Faith as stated in the CCC.
Bishops (and their paid Staff) should follow the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” in all their public statements and writings as required to avoid misunderstandings and Scandal.
When they stray, we should not financially support them. Unfortunately money talks louder than words in many instances. Likewise, we must support faithful Bishops.
All RELIGIOUS should only be involved in politics that have to do with SAVING SOULS, and/or the FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS of ALL MEN according to the GOSPEL.

There is a section in the CCC called: “the political community and the Church”.

CCC " 2245 The Church, because of her commission and competence, is not to be confused in any way with the political community. She is both the sign and the safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person. The Church respects and encourages the political freedom and responsibility of the citizen."

CCC " 2246 It is a part of the Church’s mission “to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances.”

 

[TMC]

Good question. My personal opinons mean nothing, and neither do Bishops’ personal opinions.
We must follow Bishops when they teach the Doctrine of the Faith as stated in the CCC.
Bishops (and their paid Staff) should follow the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” in all their public statements and writings as required to avoid misunderstandings and Scandal.
When they stray, we should not financially support them. Unfortunately money talks louder than words in many instances. Likewise, we must support faithful Bishops.
All RELIGIOUS should only be involved in politics that have to do with SAVING SOULS, and/or the FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS of ALL MEN according to the GOSPEL.

There is a section in the CCC called: “the political community and the Church”.

CCC " 2245 The Church, because of her commission and competence, is not to be confused in any way with the political community. She is both the sign and the safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person. The Church respects and encourages the political freedom and responsibility of the citizen."

CCC " 2246 It is a part of the Church’s mission “to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances.”

I am sure that the bishops firmly believe they are following the Catechism. You seem to think they are not, so perhaps the problem is that you are reading the Catechism differently than the bishops.

 

[DCNBILL]

From Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est

1. c) Charity, furthermore, cannot be used as a means of engaging in what is nowadays considered proselytism. Love is free; it is not practiced as a way of achieving other ends. But this does not mean that charitable activity must somehow leave God and Christ aside. For it is always concerned with the whole man. Often the deepest cause of suffering is the very absence of God. Those who practice charity in the Church’s name will never seek to impose the Church’s faith upon others. They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak. He knows that God is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8) and that God’s presence is felt at the very time when the only thing we do is to love. He knows—to return to the questions raised earlier—that disdain for love is disdain for God and man alike; it is an attempt to do without God. Consequently, the best defense of God and man consists precisely in love. It is the responsibility of the Church’s charitable organizations to reinforce this awareness in their members, so that by their activity—as well as their words, their silence, their example—they may be credible witnesses to Christ.

 

[tafan]

I am sure that the bishops firmly believe they are following the Catechism. You seem to think they are not, so perhaps the problem is that you are reading the Catechism differently than the bishops.

TMC, you just don’t understand. Unless the Bishops are reading, verbatum, something that comes directly from the Vatican, they don’t matter. What else does a teacher need to do but read to us the official teachings? That is what I am learning on this forum.

And to think, I am considered a very conservative Catholic among all of my friends, yet somehow I missed out on this key point until joining this website. I have learned a lot.

 

[ANNE_2]

TMC, you just don’t understand. Unless the Bishops are reading, verbatum, something that comes directly from the Vatican, they don’t matter. What else does a teacher need to do but read to us the official teachings? That is what I am learning on this forum.

And to think, I am considered a very conservative Catholic among all of my friends, yet somehow I missed out on this key point until joining this website. I have learned a lot.

Catholics must follow the teachings of the Magisterium. The Magisterium must include the Pope, not just an individual Bishop, or Conference of Bishops.
However, we must do everything in our power to insure we follow Bishops when they are teaching according to the Doctrine of the Faith which is from the Magisterium.

The best way to do this is read and do our best to adhere to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church Second Edition” which was first printed in the USA in March 2000, (dark green cover).

" The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I have approved…and the publication of which I order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church’s faith and of Catholic Doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition, and the Church’s Magisterium. I declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the Faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion. " - Pope John Paul II, with Imprimi Potest by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. (CCC page 5, #3)

 

[hxcCatholic413]

CRS is one of the best Catholic charities…I really wonder who wrote that article…and what their agenda is

 

[didymus]

I agree with this author.
Why promote a “Catholic” organization that doesn’t share their faith?
I don’t see any difference between CRS and others. Now I think I would rather promote a more evangelical organization like Compassion, Intl, or World Vision.
What do you say?

catholicculture.org/commentary/otn.cfm?id=787

Didn’t Pope John Paul II speak to this when he said,
"The missionary Church is certainly involved on these fronts but her primary task lies elsewhere: the poor are hungry for God, not just for bread and freedom."

First of all, take anything Catholic Culture with a huge grain of salt.

Second, CRS’s mission is to provide aid, which they do very well. As Catholics they witness by the work they do among the poor. But they are careful in places like Darfur where evangelising would endanger not only themselves but those they are trying to serve.

 

[Beth_Cecilia]

The discussion of the perceived flaws in the USCCB should be opened elsewhere. I cannot begin to see its relevance here.

The CRS Mission statement is as follows:
"Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We are motivated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to cherish, preserve and uphold the sacredness and dignity of all human life, foster charity and justice, and embody Catholic social and moral teaching as we act to:

Promote human development by responding to major emergencies, fighting disease and poverty, and nurturing peaceful and just societies; and,
Serve Catholics in the United States as they live their faith in solidarity with their brothers and sisters around the world.
As part of the universal mission of the Catholic Church, we work with local, national and international Catholic institutions and structures, as well as other organizations, to assist people on the basis of need, not creed, race or nationality."

They sound Catholic to me. Also, the first link, if you follow the “ACT NOW” heading, is pray. That is to say, they ask for prayer before they ask for other support. Evangelizing does not always mean getting on a soap box. Sometimes it means living your life in service and love. Some are called to be more vocally missionary, but not all. Each of us should consult our conscience as to how we are called to evangelize, but I do not perceive the gap that is addressed by the article in CRS. How do you evangelize in your life? Do you preach to everyone you meet, or do you wear your faith on your sleeve and try to model Catholicism?

 

[Tigg]

Please help me with this. I’m afraid to donate anything to any committee/organization of the USCCB for the following reasons:

1. Some of their public/political policies have nothing to do with Church Doctrine (as stated in the CCC);
2. The USCCB has a bloated 300+ employees who are expensive to support including benefits (High administration costs that must come out of donation dollars);
3. Their recommendations that we give up plastic bags and change our light bulbs for Lent is not going to Save Souls including my own - and this is the role of government not the Bishops
4. Their position in support of (fake) global warming/climate change has nothing to do with Church Doctrine.
5. Their support of the DREAM Act is not Church Dogma (Doctrine).
6. This is the first year that the USCCB has set up a Committee to try not to give our Dollars to pro-abortion, pro gay-marriage, and contraceptive social groups, against the complaints of Faithful Catholics for years.
7. In the US the CRS financially supports CLINIC - Catholic Legal Immigration Network for illegal aliens in the USA.
8. There is little evidence that those in the CRS overseas wear any kind of uniform or garb that identifies them as Christians. So how will they “know” them?
9. And since my income is limited, there are other Catholic Charities such as “Missionaires of the Poor” founded by Father Richard Ho Lung; Mother Teresa’s “Missionaires of Charity”, St. Vincent de Paul (local), and others that give directly to the poor without the additional administrative cut taken by the USCCB.
   Lastly with use of the internet, we can send donation dollars directly to Bishops who have Diocese in need such as “Catholic diocese of Sendai” (Japan), etc.

Thanks for helpful comments in advance.
Unless I get some new insight, I think we can make the USCCB limit ALL of their works to those of the Gospel by withholding our money. They seem to understand that.

I applaud your discernment. We stopped giving to CRS a couple of years ago when they issued the statement that they had formed a partnership with two of the most anti-life organizations possible - Warren Buffet and Bill Gates Foundations.

We did not even give money to our Diocesen Ministry Fund this year because they are supporting questionable social justice groups who: a.) Are only political in nature, and b.) lobby Congress for abortion funding and contraception for the poor, and c.) distort Catholic Social Justice teaching with texts written by evangelical leftist political activists.

Sadly, our answer has been to only donate to smaller groups whom we know will truly feed the hungry and not be so politically correct that they cannot meet the larger and more important mission of the church - to save souls!

 

[Jakesmom]

I think DCNBill’s post says it all, answers it all and is fabulous! God Bless!

 

[Rom_8_35]

From Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est

1. c) Charity, furthermore, cannot be used as a means of engaging in what is nowadays considered proselytism. Love is free; it is not practiced as a way of achieving other ends. But this does not mean that charitable activity must somehow leave God and Christ aside. For it is always concerned with the whole man. Often the deepest cause of suffering is the very absence of God. Those who practice charity in the Church’s name will never seek to impose the Church’s faith upon others. They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak. He knows that God is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8) and that God’s presence is felt at the very time when the only thing we do is to love. He knows—to return to the questions raised earlier—that disdain for love is disdain for God and man alike; it is an attempt to do without God. Consequently, the best defense of God and man consists precisely in love. It is the responsibility of the Church’s charitable organizations to reinforce this awareness in their members, so that by their activity—as well as their words, their silence, their example—they may be credible witnesses to Christ.

Posted by Jake(name removed by moderator): I think DCNBill’s post says it all, answers it all and is fabulous! God Bless!

Yes I agree. DCNBILL’s post was spot on. I remember hearing that Mother Teresa was often criticized for not evangelizing or converting many of the sick and dying people that were under her care. Her response to one of her critics was something along these lines – She told him her job was to care for the poorest of the poor, show them love and to help them regain their human dignity. Once they were well, the critic could then handle the rest. For me, her statement made it clear that evangelization is useless unless a person can see/feel God (love) in action. Her statement also reinforced the teachings in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that states there is a time for everything. Some people are called to be sowers and others harvesters. One is not better than the other, just different.

I remember this one very wealthy lady from a 3rd world country proudly telling me how she would evangelize the people in her city. She stated that she would buy prayer cards, scapulars, crosses and other small religious items and would hand them out to the beggars that would approach her. Now, if I was a non-Christian who was starving, sick or homeless and the person I approached for help gave me a prayer card instead of a piece of bread, I would not think very well of that person’s religious beliefs. However, if I were to witness a Christian lovingly giving aid without demanding anything in return, I would want to know more about that person and what motivated them to act the way they did. A Christian teaches first by example then by words.

.