No Cash for Evil

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TRANSCRIPT

A Michigan Catholic bishop is breaking ties with a so-called charity that promotes leftist ideology, but will it matter?

In tonight's In-Depth Report, Church Militant's Rodney Pelletier highlights how the Saginaw diocese is turning off the cash spigot for an anti-Catholic organization — while the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops continues to support it.

In a Dec. 20 email that was sent out to diocesan employees, Saginaw Bp. Robert Gruss declared, "I have written to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) informing them of the Diocese of Saginaw's disinterest to continue endorsing or providing funds for The Ezekiel Project. My decision is based on several issues that have become apparent over the past few months."

The Ezekiel Project is a Saginaw-based organization that describes itself as a "community organizing collective."

Gruss continued in his email, "They have also become at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church specifically on the abortion issue. Therefore, I am requesting all parishes in our diocese also sever their relationship with The Ezekiel Project as well."

The Lepanto Institute, which obtained a copy of the bishop's email, had published a detailed report on The Ezekiel Project in November, revealing the organization's promotion of so-called reproductive health, including emergency contraception, condoms and Plan B.

Michael Hichborn, president, The Lepanto Institute: "Annual reports from 2017–2018 and 2019–2020 from the diocese of Saginaw show that they've been giving several thousand dollars a year to The Ezekiel Project."

The bishop's decision came just over a month after Lepanto's report was released.

Gruss noted that if the group stopped opposing Church teaching, "I would be willing to reconsider the state of our relationship with them; however, it would only be in accordance with CCHD national requirements."

But it seems the CCHD's criteria is a big part of the problem.

By comparison, the diocese of Saginaw's contributions amounted to only about 13% of the CCHD's yearly contribution to the Ezekiel Project.

Hichborn: "From the diocesan level, it means cutting about five or six thousand dollars a year, but from the CCHD standpoint, it actually means cutting an average of $45,000 a year."

According to The Lepanto Institute, since 2010, the CCHD has given $255,000 to The Ezekiel Project, and it's just one of the many anti-Catholic causes bankrolled by Catholics in the pews.

Hichborn: "The report that we put out just last month about the Catholic Campaign for Human Development shows that [funding for] 66 out of 214 organizations — that's roughly one-third of all the Catholic Campaign for Human Development funds — went to organizations that are actively involved in the promotion of abortion, contraception, homosexuality, Marxism and even the occult."

With Catholics in the pews getting older and finances getting tighter for everyone, many bishops are still just throwing cash away with no accountability as to how they're spending it.

The Lepanto Institute is continuing to call on the USCCB to completely shut down the CCHD, observing that it's either unwilling or incapable of actually doing the vetting it claims to be doing.

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