On March 17, in the midst of the Wuhan Coronavirus crisis, the USCCB’s Executive Committee took time out to issue a statement defending Catholic Relief Services.
“In the name of our Catholic faith, the donors, staff, and volunteers of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) deliver life-saving food, medicine, shelter, and training to the most vulnerable of our sisters and brothers around the world,” they wrote. “CRS stands in firm defense of life. Criticisms to the contrary should not detract from the powerful impact your donations have on the lives of otherwise forgotten suffering populations. . . . We firmly stand with the personnel of Catholic Relief Services in their solidarity to the least among us.”
Three days later the Catholic News Service ran a revealing story.
“[S]lated for March 21-22,” writes Mark Pattison, “the Catholic Relief Services collection helps more than CRS, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency. It also provides funding for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Offices of International Justice and Peace, Migration and Refugee Services, and Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees, the Vatican’s own relief work and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.”
We inquired with the USCCB’s press office, which confirmed Pattison’s story and sent along a flyer describing the programs. The office did not respond to our request for particulars on the funding amounts.
So we are left with a pressing question for the faithful. Are our donations to Catholic Relief Services really going to “the most vulnerable of our sisters and brothers around the world”?
Let’s take a closer look at the beneficiaries that Mr. Pattison enumerates.
Read more at The Wanderer
At least one bishop has called for a full investigation of CRS. No Catholic, in good conscience, can donate money to an organization that supports these intrinsic evils. Donate instead to one of these safe charities.
TAKE ACTION: When you sign the petition an email will be sent to Archbishop José Gomez (President of the USCCB), Archbishop Allen Vigneron (Vice President of the USCCB) and Sean Callahan (President of CRS).