Bait & Switch - Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)

Diogenes writes (and a growing number of us concur):

Yes, it's that time of year again. Thanksgiving is coming, and on the Sunday before the feast, Catholic Americans will be asked once more to contribute to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the bishops' project to change the world through citizen activism...

...the bishops have to work hard to keep the funds flowing into the CCHD coffers. This week, out in Portland, Oregon, Archbishop John Vlazny is doing his best. Along the way, the good archbishop acknowledges that there are cynics out there questioning the value of the CCHD approach...

It's one thing to give $5 to a panhandler, hoping that he'll buy himself lunch, and learn with disappointment that he promptly spent the money on booze. It's quite another thing to hand him the money as he stands at the doorway of the tavern.

The list of CCHD recipients is pockmarked with leftist groups whose aspirations clash with the basic principles of Catholic morality. The conflicts are inevitable. But that's not the only problem. Because it was designed to promote social change-- "a relic of early-1970s social activism," as I put it recently, CCHD's activities raise political questions even when there are no clear moral principles at risk...

I quit contributing to the CCHD years ago and will never give it another dime. I don't need leftists and bureaucrats at the USCCB choosing which groups to give my charitibale contributions to...Most people are mature enough to figure out which groups are really deserving of financial assistance and which ones are not - a capability seemingly absent at the CCHD.

Read Diogene's entire commentary here.