The Acorn/CHD post

I've had lots of people asking me about ACORN and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CHD). Both are certainly in the news alot these days:

The CCHD has donated more than $7.3 million to ACORN-related projects over the past decade, including $40,000 to an ACORN chapter in Las Vegas, Nevada, that was raided before the election in an investigation into fraudulent voter registration forms. Among other questionable documents, the ACORN chapter submitted registration forms for members of the Dallas Cowboys football team.

Earlier this week I blogged about the US bishops' decision to stop funding ACORN.

Now many folks are saying that the CHD should be axed as well. Diane at Te Deum has a good post on this subject. Joseph Lawler was reporting on this back in October for the American Spectator:

The CCHD, which is run by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has funded far-left organizations with missions diametrically opposed to that of the Catholic Church for years, including, in the '90s, the pro-abortion group National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Richard John Neuhaus has also tackled the topic. Tom McFeely at the National Catholic Register picks up his trail - and the last paragraph is particularly important:

Father Neuhaus notes in this article that since its creation “in the ideological climate of the 1960s,” CHD has never directly supported Catholic charitable activities that aid the poor. It has concentrated instead on funding politically active groups such as ACORN that often support agendas like abortion rights that are in conflict with basic Church teachings.

Said Father Neuhaus, “What most Catholics don’t know, and what would likely astonish them, is that CHD very explicitly does not fund Catholic institutions and apostolates that work with the poor.”

And all of this attention couldn’t come at a worse time for CHD, with its annual collection in Catholic parishes scheduled for later this month. Under these circumstances, lay Catholics can scarcely be faulted for asking themselves whether they should place any money on this year’s CHD collection plate.

That's right, November 23rd CHD will be asking for your money, as you can see on the USCCB website.

There are so many good organizations strapped for cash these days - why take a risk on CHD?