THE WORLD AT AN END #189 -- American Church's service to poor contrary to gospel

Here is a report of the Lepanto Institute about the USCCB (Conference of Catholic Bishops), particularly its department on Justice, Peace and Human Development (CCHD). The USCCB is dominated by liberals and modernists. This report, for those who still do not know, exposes the social thrust of the American Church (which is the same thrust of the Vatican), which is not in accordance with the gospel.

The CCHD has a long history of funding organizations that openly promote abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, contraception, Marxism, and even the occult. 

Your Catholic Week in Review (Mission of the Church Edition!)

In the ongoing saga regarding the positional cuts being made at the USCCB’s department of Justice Peace, and Human Development, Abp. John Wester of Santa Fe, NM published a piece in America Magazine, crying about the changes.  In a 743-word essay, Abp. Wester manages to mangle the Gospel message regarding service to the poor and advocate on behalf of an agency devoted to funding the enemies of the Church, while turning a blind eye to his own intimate work with subversive elements.

In the opening of his essay, Abp. Wester states:

“When Jesus ‘goes public’ with his ministry in Luke’s Chapter 4, his first words are about his social mission. Jesus stands before the crowd and announces that he has been anointed to ‘bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, and to set free the oppressed.’ He reinforces this mission again and again in the Gospels and makes it clear: This is our mission, too. In Matthew’s Chapter 25, Jesus not only commands us to care for ‘the least of these’ but states the criteria for inheriting the kingdom of God is feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and welcoming the stranger.”

He's right, of course, that our Blessed Lord did come to do these things, but not in the manner in which the Pharisees and Scribes had hoped.  The Messiah they were looking for was a political liberator, a military leader who would drive the Romans out of Israel and establish Israel as a new and everlasting empire.  Our Blessed Lord, however, was far more interested in leading souls to His everlasting Kingdom in Heaven through conversion.  “Bring[ing] the good news to the poor,” means going to the impoverished communities and telling the people there that they possess immortal souls with infinite worth, deeply desired by God.  “Proclaim[ing] liberty to the captives” means telling the poor who are enslaved to sin that they are called to a higher life, free from the bondage and wages of sin.  Giving “sight to the blind” means bringing the light of Christ to those who are blinded by falsehood, idolatry, and sin.  It means opening their eyes to the Truth of the Gospel, the love of Christ, and the strength they receive by practicing virtue.  And “set[ting] free the oppressed” means drawing those surrounded by lives of sin and bad companions out of evil and tempting circumstances to lives of virtue.

But Abp. Wester suggests that what Our Lord was advocating was something else.  Through his article, he asserts that what the Church (through agencies like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development) is called to do is finance secular agencies which have no interest in the salvation of souls, actually promote grave immorality, and claim to champion the cause of the poor through social agitation.  He wrote:

“This has been the church’s mission for 2,000 years, so we ought to take any diminishment of it very seriously. The recent announcement of major layoffs at the department of the U.S. bishops dedicated to the social witness of the church undermines that mission. ...

I believe the U.S.C.C.B. is quietly taking extraordinary actions that curtail our sacred social mission. My purpose in writing this column is not to attack anyone, but to assure Catholics that many, many bishops are advocating for robust justice and peace work within the conference. …

[W]e learned in the media that the U.S.C.C.B. terminated at least seven program staff from the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development. We know that additional positions were eliminated through resignations and transfers. This department oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, but its reach extends far beyond it into the areas of education, outreach and advocacy for the church’s social mission.”

Let’s not forget that the CCHD has nothing to do with the Church’s mission to draw souls to Christ for the purpose of salvation, as Abp. Wester claims.  As I mentioned, the CCHD has a long history of funding organizations that openly promote abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, contraception, Marxism, and even the occult.  Here are a few examples:

• ABLE NH – has received nearly $200,000 from the CCHD since 2011 and it has openly collaborated with Planned Parenthood, promoted masturbation and graphic sex education to disabled kids, and promotes the LGBT agenda.

• Faith in Florida – has received over $100,000 from the CCHD since 2018, and in response to the overturning of Roe V. Wade in 2022, Faith in Florida formally and publicly denounced the decision and vowed to “stand against” pro-life legislation.

• Latino Union – has received over half-a-million dollars from the CCHD since 2009.  Its executive director is a member of the Chicago branch of the Communist/terrorist organization called MST.

• Ostara Initiative – which received three grants totaling $190,000 from the CCHD since 2019, has a logo reflective of the Wiccan “Triple Goddess,” derived its name from a Wiccan holiday, and was originally named after the pagan goddess Isis.  Furthermore, the organization is directly involved in assisting incarcerated women obtain abortions.

When Abp. Wester decries cuts to the CCHD, he is likewise crying over the lack of future funding to organizations like the ones I just listed.  But this is a pattern with Abp. Wester.

For instance, in 2011, Abp. Wester (then head of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, UT) appointed Jean Welch Hill as the head of the CCHD for the diocese.  Prior to her appointment, Hill ran as a Democrat for state attorney general backed with campaign funds from Planned Parenthood and the homosexual lobby group Equality Utah, with contributions from each.  She campaigned on allowing the promotion of contraception in schools, opposed the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and supported same-sex "marriage" and homosexual adoption of children.  Despite all of this, then Bishop Wester elevated her to a post that would oversee the distribution of CCHD funds. 

In March of this year, Abp. Wester defended Catholic Relief Services (CRS) against the highly detailed investigative report we put together with Population Research Institute.  In the face of physical evidence showing that CRS directly promoted masturbation to children as a form of “safe sex,” funded and sent girls to RENATA – an abortion-facilitating organization whose logo is an icon for abortion, and led the implementation of a contraception promoting program called DREAMS, Abp. Wester claimed (without even a shred of counter-evidence) that our findings “on the ethical actions of CRS are in error.” 

Currently, Abp. Wester is the episcopal moderator for the heretical Association of US Catholic Priests (AUSCP), which has been working since 2011 to promote women’s ordination, priestless parishes, LGBT ideologies, and Modernist ideas regarding the Eucharist and the priesthood.  I have personally witnessed his participation at AUSCP events for the past 7 years, and not once has he opposed the heretical and morally subversive views of the AUSCP.

More after the jump...

The bottom line here is that Abp. Wester simply represents a host of other bishops in the United States who are doing very similar things.  The moral rot within the Church is merely the symptom of a much deeper problem.  Abp. Wester’s piece began with a false understanding of the Gospels, as if the worldly version of “social justice” is the beginning and end of the Church’s mission.  Once faithful Catholics see this, it can’t be unseen, as it taints nearly everything that comes from the USCCB.  The push for open borders, federal funding for international aid programs, universal healthcare and the like are all part and parcel to the Pharisaical desire to see a political solution to a theological problem.  And the end result is always the same – the selling of Christ for a few pieces of silver.

As always, please pray for the Church, for our bishops, priests, deacons, and for Lepanto's mission as we continue to unearth the truth and "restore all things to Christ." (Col. 1:20)

Christus Vincit!

Michael Hichborn

President

Lepanto Insititute