Update: More proof we need to de-fund the CCHD

Last week I wrote at length about why I believe it is time to de-fund the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. I recommended that Catholics not contribute to their annual second collection at Sunday Masses which is coming up near Thanksgiving.

A week and a half later, I still think this is the best prudential move, as more evidence surfaces.

A report by LifeSiteNews:

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the U.S. bishops' domestic social justice arm, says it has taken "decisive action" on a new report that reveals they have been funding groups that support abortion, contraception, same-sex "marriage," and legalized prostitution.

The organization's funding practices have been the subject of growing scrutiny in the last several years, especially after it was revealed that CCHD had funded the scandal-plagued ACORN organization to the tune of millions of dollars.

The report about CCHD's problematic funding practices was prepared by the new Bellarmine Veritas Ministry (BVM), which has launched a national campaign aimed at addressing the problems with the organization. The group's founder, Rob Gasper, said he is "pleased" with the CCHD's response, but insisted that the organization is in need of further reform before the problems can be said to have been dealt with.

... The report lists four groups from the 2009-2010 grantee list that actively support policies or practices contrary to Church teaching. In total, these groups have been allocated $125,000 this year. The report also lists seven groups that have pushed for the current version of Obama's health care reform.

The Catholic Media Coalition (an organization I cannot personally vouch for) has a whole page on the CCHD, and wrote an open letter to the US bishops (PDF) about a year ago asking that they de-fund the CCHD. The actions they suggest the US bishops take, I find myself in agreement with:

• That the CCHD grant process be frozen and 2008 grants be suspended until a complete review and overhaul of the campaign can be conducted
• That all donations be placed in safe interest‐bearing accounts during the process
• That the grant application process be thoroughly studied and new policies developed that ensure only organizations that follow Catholic moral principles, i.e., pro-life, pro-family, pro-marriage, and pro-biblical morality be eligible for grants
• That the principle of subsidiarity be honored in the grant process
• That ACORN, the Industrial Areas Foundation and other Alinsky-style community organizations that follow immoral principles of action be permanently banned from receiving grants {this has already happened in the case of ACORN}
• That groups networking and interfacing with groups that advance pro-abortion, pro-homosexual policies be permanently banned from funding
• That whenever possible Catholic organizations be given preference over secular groups

That seems reasonable to me.