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The Catholic Conference Bureaucracy The Politics Of The Left On Being Politically CorrectLaurene Conner |
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In the preface of his book, TURNING POINT FOR EUROPE? Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith, recounts the history of the first half of the twentieth century wherein liberalism and Marxism denied religion "the right and the capacity" to influence public affairs. Following the demise of Marxism "religion has been discovered anew as an reducible force of individual and social living." "It has become clear," the Cardinal observed, "one cannot plan for the future of mankind while prescinding religion." Although "this process gives comfort to faith" there are dangers inherent in it for the temptation is obvious on all sides, to take in religion as an instrument to serve political ideas. "In this situation," he cautions, "it is an absolute obligation for the theologian and the pastor of the church to enter the dispute about the correct understanding of the present time . . . in order to clarify faith's own proper sphere and to fulfill his own share of responsibility at this hour." (p. 8) The hook is a compilation of addresses the Cardinal was invited to give concerning the relationship of the church and the world. Published originally in German, 1991, it was translated in 1994. Ignatius Press, the U.S. publisher said, "since there is also a great spiritual emptiness growing in the West with the increase of secularization, consumerism and hedonism, Ratzinger's comments apply as much, if not more to the United States as well." The American Catholic Church There has been a growing awareness of an alignment of religion and politics between the political Beltway and the ecclesial bureaucracy centered in Washington, D.C. In the April 1979 Homiletic & Pastoral Review, Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., editorialized: "For some time now I have been concerned about the growing political involvement of the Catholic Church in the United States. For many years our bishops at their annual meetings in Washington have debated various socio-political questions at length. They have taken positions (usually liberal-chic) on the Vietnam War, boycott of lettuce-grapes and Farah slacks, capital punishment and the Panama Canal. "The growing politicization of the Catholic Church has been accompanied by political lobbying by bishops, priests and nuns. In effect, our spiritual leaders urged on by left-leaning social activists among Catholic intellectuals, have moved the Church, in my opinion. from a primary emphasis on evangelization to a primary emphasis on socio-politics." (p. 80) Father Baker addressed this matter again in the Aug. -Sept. i981 issue: "The United States Catholic Conference (USCC) has lobbied for the Panama Canal Treaty, for Salt II and recently against the Reagan budget. Bishop Thomas C. Kelly, General Secretary of the USCC (presently Archbishop, Louisville, KY - ed.) wrote a letter to U.S. Senators urging them to vote against the Reagan budget and for the alternative Democratic budget. . . . In principal I think it is wrong for clerics to meddle in partisan politics - which is power politics . . . It bodes ill for the future of the Church. . . ." "The USCC is a civil agency of the Catholic bishops of the U.S. (Bylaws Art 11). Its purposes include to 'carry on all Catholic activities in the U.S.', 'to organize and conduct religious, charitable and social work at home and abroad' and 'to care for immigrants'." The Bylaws say nothing about lobbying Congress or supporting political parties. "Christ did not bequeath to the Church a mission in the political, economic or social order; the purpose he assigned to it was a religious one." (Vatican II. Church in the Modem World, #421). Would that the USCC would concentrate on the religious problems facing the Church, like the massive toss of faith among parents and children and leave the social, economic and political tasks to those responsible for them, namely the laity. "According to its statues the USCC is a purely secular nonprofit corporation - . . totally independent of the Holy See and is regulated solely by American law . . . it does not exist by canonical right. Therefore the USCC has no canonical jurisdiction over Catholics in the United States. It seems to me that the USCC is a classic example of bureaucracy run wild, of the tail wagging the dog. Its inept political meddling is a scandal to the faithful and invites ridicule from others. . . - It seems to me that the political scheming of our clerical bureaucracy in Washington renders the true witness of the Church to its faith in the Crucified and Resurrected Lord incredible. (emphasis in original) "Every Catholic in the U.S. is taxed 10g per year to support the USCC, that comes to about $5 million annually" (this Figure is for the year 1981 - ed.) Fr. Baker concludes: ''. . . the USCC gives the impression of being the Catholic arm of the Democratic Party. This means that Catholic Republicans through the subsidy their bishops pay each year to support lobbying efforts of the USCC arc in fact subsidizing their political opposition." (p. 96) This issue has been raised again by Ralph McInerny suggesting the U.S. Catholic Conference would better serve the Catholic laity by transferring its headquarter: to the Midwest away from the D.C. environs. (Crisis Magazine Dec. 1994) A New Venture The Quarterly published by The Wanderer Forum Foundation has on occasion documented USCC's political tendencies. This issue charts the influence certain radical political groups have on Catholic organizations beginning with "Economic Justice For All," the NCCB/USCC pastoral letter on "Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy" published in 1986. The bishops' committee that drew this pastoral over a period of five years was chaired by Archbishop Rernbert Weakland, Milwaukee. "The founders of our nation," the bishops wrote. "launched an experiment in the protection of civil and political rights that has prospered through the efforts of those who came after them. We believe the lime has come for a similar experiment in securing economic rights. . - . By drawing on the resources of the Catholic moral-religious tradition we hope to make a contribution to such a new 'American Experiment:' a new venture to secure economic justice for ail." (#95) However, "securing economic rights" did not appear in the original draft; there the expression used was "economic democracy." And those words reflect the influence the radical-left think-tank Institute for Policy Studies exerted on the bishops pastoral. Extensive consultations were held between 1981 and 1984 with persons from Washington. D.C. to California - IPS associates among them. On two separate occasions IPS associate Gar Alperovitz addressed the Ad Hoc committee preparing the pastoral and he was among a small group selected to present papers at a symposium convened at Notre Dame specifically for the bishops in charge of the pastoral. He co-authored the book. Rebuilding America: A Blueprint for the New Economy where there are repeated references to government management of the economy using such euphemisms as "community sustaining economics" and "national economic planning." Alperovitz maintains:
His book has two references in the End Notes for Chapter IV and is listed among the resources for the pastoral. At the Notre Dame symposium he presented a paper "Planning for Sustained Economy" a definite call for government planning for the economy. An article about this meeting published in the June 11-17, 1984 issue of In These Times, a socialist-leaning newspaper described as an independent project of IPS carried the caption "The Inside Story: Conservatives Fear Socialist Manifesto From U.S. Bishops." It reported that "the preponderance of views seemed to he in the direction of social planning as against laissez faire economics." And it noted that the bishops "appeared somewhat more sympathetic to Gar Alperovitz of the National Center for Economic Alternatives as he insisted that a planned economy is absolutely essential." (ret. Building A New American Experiment, Laurene Conner, 1989) In 1984 IPS associate Martin Carnoy, professor of education and economics appeared before the committee. In the seminal book Covert Cadre, the author S. Steven Powell, documents Carnoy's IPS connections along with Gar Alperovitz and Derek Shearer. Carnoy and Shearer co-authored two books: Economic Democracy and A New Social Contract. "Economic Democracy advises readers to work as a 'party within the Democratic Party'." In A New Social Contract "government spending is a positive force 'not for its economic efficiency hut for the democratic vision that it embodies'." (p. 202) Derek Shearer and Gar Alperovitz are considered "key theorists in the economic-democracy movement." (p. 190) Shearer, a professor of urban planning at UCLA and a leader in left-wing political organizations in California. "served on the board of Jane Fonda/Tom Hayden's Campaign for Economic Democracy." He "frankly says 'Socialism has a bad name in America. and no amount of wishful thinking on the part of the left is going to change that in our lifetimes. . . . The words economic democracy are an adequate and effective replacement'." (p. 200) The Shearer/Carnoy book A New Social Contract is referenced in the End Notes for Chapter IV of the pastoral. March 1985 IPS cosponsored along with Harvard University Divinity School a conference on the First draft of the pastoral. This too is referenced in the same End Notes. (Parenthetically. President Clinton in 1984 nominated and the Senate confirmed his longtime friend Derek Shearer as the U.S. Ambassador to Finland.) IPS Catholic Connections After NCCB approved the pastoral November 1986 it was the subject of a debate before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee between a panel comprised of Archbishop Weakland, USCC's Fr. Bryan Hehir, secretary Department of Social Development and World Peace, and Fr. David Hollenbach, S.J., professor at Weston School of Theology. The opposing group was critical of the bishops "over-reliance on government to strengthen the economy and serve the poor." National Catholic Reporter Jan. 8, 1987 noted "it was highly unusual for any congressional committee to gather solely to discuss a policy statement by a religious organization." However, it did make note of a congressional observer's comment that the pastoral would be "an important resource" when the budget debate occurs at the next session of Congress. Fr. Hehir's presence on the panel is noteworthy as is his association with IFS. In 1984 as secretary of the LLSCC Department of Social Development and World Peace he was a staff member involved in structuring the pastoral. That same year TPS recognized him as one of the "cornerstones" of its Washington School where he taught a course on liberation theology titled "Matthew, Marx, Luke and John" which focused on Nicaragua. This educational center for IPS also offered a course on "Catholic Social Thought and the American Economy." It featured Gar Alperovitz and Msgr. George Higgins, a consultant for the bishops' pastoral. In 1983 Hehir had conducted an IPS seminar on the bishops' peace pastoral. He was a recipient of the annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award named for an IPS associate who was a Chilean Marxist killed along with Moffitt by a bomb explosion in the car he was driving. Another staff member, Thomas Quigley, a specialist on Latin American Affairs, Office of International Peace and Justice USCC had served on the IPS selection committee for the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award. The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) was founded in 1974 with the help of Quigley. "Its mission was to monitor human rights to help church organizations lobby for political change in Latin American countries. . . . Tom Quigley had traveled to Cuba and was enthusiastic about Fidel Castro's Marxist Christianity" (op. cit. p. 231-32) Participation For The Public Good Chapter IV "A New American Experiment: Participation for the Public Good" is the pivotal chapter where the pervasive influence of IPS, Alperovitz and Shearer is evidenced. And where USCC's position on the American economy is set forth:
Having said that in para. 316; in para. 318 USCC's political liberalism is pronounced:
The use of the word "public" in ''Participation for the Public Good" warrants comment. Public good by its nature has a political connotation, whereas common good conveys the charitable gentility associated with Catholic social teachings. While the Index for the pastoral lists 22 references for common goods and only one for public good, it is apparent the political connotation is more in line with USCC's liberalism than the social teachings emphasis on common good. The pastoral does not sidestep the principle of subsidiarity - the basic structure of Pius Xl's encyclical on the social order. Rather, it links it to "securing economic rights" (see above A New Venture) and thus to a "New American Experiment." Moreover, the pastoral defines subsidiarity as "good government intervention which truly 'helps' other social groups contribute to the common good by directing, urging, restraining and regulating economic activity as the occasion requires and necessity demands." (para 124) On the contrary the encyclical does not speak of "good government intervention" nor does it include "regulating economic activity" as part of government's tasks. Pius XI describes subsidiarity as a "fundamental principle of social philosophy, unshaken and unchangeable and it retains its full truth today." (para 79) It becomes increasingly evident the social teachings were used as an instrument to serve political ambitions as Cardinal Ratzinger has observed. "Focusing On Symptoms" Dr. J. Brian Benestad, professor University of Scranton, PA argued persuasively against the direction the pastoral was taking in an article published in The Wall Street Journal Nov. 20, 1983 titled "Focusing on Symptoms:"
Dr. Benestad is the author of The Pursuit of a Just Social Order - Policy Statements of the U.S. Catholic Bishops 1968-80. Flagship Of The New American Experiment Extensive media coverage accompanied the bishops' approval of the economic pastoral November 1986. The USCC Office of Social Development sent a memorandum to Diocesan Communications Directors and Diocesan Social Action Directors announcing special events and projects in the promotion package. These included a PBS presentation "God and Money:" "PSA Radio Spots;" and a Press Conference with Archbishop Weakland. The NCCB had allocated $525,000 to "publicize the letter and lobby for legislation on behalf of the poor." (The Washington Times November 14, 1986) While the economic pastoral as such was short-lived, its message is preserved in the Campaign for Human Development that emerged as the flagship of "The New American Experiment." In fact, "Building the New American Experiment" was adopted by CHD as the title of its 1987 Annual Report. The following year the bishops at their annual meeting awarded CHD a permanent status in the USCC, thus giving full approval to its radical left agenda. In the pastoral the bishops had praised CHD: "Our experience with the Campaign for Human Development confirms our judgment about the validity of self-help and empowerment of the poor. The Campaign provides a model that we think sets a high standard for similar efforts." (#357) Capitol Research Center, Washington. D.C., (a resource we have quoted in previous newsletters) has compiled uncontroversial evidence that "in fact CHD is in the business of funding the radical left in the United States." It offers further proof that religion is being used to foster secular aims, the subject of this documentation. The Campaign for Human Development; Christian Charity or Political Activism? Studies in Organizational Trends published by Capital Research Center lists in Appendix I "Amounts Remitted to National Office" (3/4th of the special November collections): Appendix 11 lists the "Nationally Funded Projects in Annual Reports 1978-1983, 1985-1987." "CHD's 'largest grants' have been awarded to 'community-organizing projects of the Alinsky school: the largest single recipient has been the Industrial Areas Foundation, founded by Saul Alinsky'." From coast to coast "organizing projects" dominate CHD's nationally funded projects. Another recipient of CHD grants is the radical Association of Community Organizations for Reform NOV/ (ACORN). "CHD has funneled over 1 million dollars to various ACORN projects around the United Stales since 1987." When Fr. Marvin Mottet was executive director of C'HD in 19S2. he boasted "the Campaign is organized for institutional change." Fr. Mottet "was himself an ACORN member before, his appointment to CHD." (Forum Quarterly CHD, Networking for Radical Change) Capitol Research Center in its October 1990 Organizational Trends, "The Campaign for Human Development vs. Authentic Development' states "CHD does not exist to fund traditional charitable organizations, but rather, in the words of its (then) executive director, Fr. Alfred Lo Pinto, to aid 'organized groups of whites and minority poor' so they can 'develop economic strength and political power'." "Most alarming though is that CHD seems simply to be the institutionalization of what has gone very badly wrong with American social thought. Representatives of CHD claim they are merely applying principles of Catholic social thought to the U.S. economy. In reality, though they are applying principles of a modern secular impulse away from historic Catholic thought and thus away from tile rich and noble heritage of political philosophy which Catholicism has nurtured for many centuries" (emphasis added) The October 1991 Organization Trends gives an analysis of CHD in the light of John Paul 11's encyclical Centesimus Annus. This encyclical is an explicit endorsement of the free-market economy and as such "offers a hold and needed correction to the leftward economic drift of those who speak in the name of the NCCB and whose words the bishops endorse with their signatures: much of the document speaks directly to the philosophy of the Champaign for Human Development." The Holy Father also speaks directly to the "principle of subsidiarity" attacking the modern welfare slate, for its several violations of the proper order of the social system. Centesimus Annus para 48 states:
Obviously as Organizational Trends makes clear "the Holy Father does see a need to reaffirm the proper limits of the state's involvement in social and economic issues." The bishops' pastoral, on the other hand, inverts the principle of subsidiarity giving primacy to the role of government. (as noted above) Politics As Usual The Campaign for Human Development was established by NCCB in 1969 "to raise funds to support organized groups of whiles and minority poor to develop economic strength and political power." CHD's continued support of ACORN (mentioned above) is indicative of this commitment. ACORN "is a product of the 1960's radical activism that engages in community organizing to win the maximum amount of political power possible...." Its goal is "for low to moderate income people to take back what's rightfully theirs," which to ACORN means "everything." (Organizational Trends 1991) In August 1995, The While House threatened to veto Appropriation bills citing how "much is to be gained when private organizations and charities work in partnership with government to implement social policies." In rebuttal a Wall Street Journal editorial recalled a March incident where 500 shouting protesters organized by the left-wing advocacy group ACORN prevented Speaker Gingrich and others from addressing the National Association of Counties meeting in Washington. They invaded the hotel ballroom and used megaphones to call for higher school-lunch funding. Many had been bused from out of town. ACORN was disclosed as "a frequent recipient of federal and state funds." (The Wall Street Journal, March-8-95, Aug.-3-95). Catholics could hope this recent publicity might raise questions about the one million dollar funding CHD has given ACORN over the years. However, its mind-set does not offer much encouragement. Questions raised about CHD's funding of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) is a case. in point: Since 1992 CHD has granted $100,000 to NCRP, an organization that "promotes funding for advocacy groups favoring abortion. It has also published a report critical of the pro-life movement. In particular she report lashed out at pro-life groups for urging corporations to slop funding groups such as Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States." "Bishop James H. Garland, chairman of the USCC committee that supervised CHD, acknowledged that it contributed to NCRP, but justified the grant on the grounds it was designed for a special project: making community foundations more responsive to concerns of low-income people. . . . No aspect of this work is related to abortion." Having made that statement Bishop Garland "cryptically informed the bishops that CHD 'funding policies' preclude further funding beyond this year for the NCR?" He assured the bishops that CHD's projects "are fully in accord with our Church's moral teaching...." "Rebutting this defense Capital Research Center insisted all of NCRP's activities are designed to further support for a radical social agenda including pro-abortion. Some of the pro-abortion organizations NCRP has listed in its literature include Planned Parenthood - World Population, Planned Parenthood of Missoula, the NARAL (National Abortion Rights League Foundation) and NOW Legal Defense and Education Funds. . . ." In response to Bishop Garland's unconcern about the pro-abortion orientation of the NCRP, Capital Research Center stated "CHD's support for NCRP implies tacit support for these activities." (The Catholic World Report May 1994) Last fall (1994) Catholic News Service carried a report on 0rganizational Trends annual October issue on CHD. It quoted Fr. Joseph Hacala, S.J., the current CHD director who said these attacks "have been shown to be false." He added, "these people are corning at reality from a vertical structure - the wealthy knows best what is good for poor people. They represent the power structure and they don't want that to change." (The Wanderer 12-1-94) The remarks of both Bishop Garland and Fr. Hacala reflect a politician's approach: summarily dismiss an accusation or inject a distinction based on money (rich or poor). In line with being politically correct they have succumbed to the atmosphere that pervades the Beltway. CHD Guidelines In the October 1994 Organizational Trends that apparently prompted Fr. Hacala's remark, a box item "School Choice and Poor People" included the following: CHD's deputy executive director Timothy Collins "told us that CHD does not support programs promoting school choice because it is not a 'poor people's issue.' CHD considers school choice a 'middle class' issue and grant proposals to encourage school choice would never get past CHD's guidelines." This is a revealing statement, and brings to mind questions raised by Crisis, a Journal of Lay Opinion in its December 1986 issue. These questions raised almost ten years ago are still relevant today:
The same October 1994 Organizational Trends boxed a partial listing of "1994 CHD Funded Projects" which include the following grants to ACORN: New York ACORN $75,000-, Michigan ACORN $30,000; D.C. ACORN $30,000; Maryland ACORN $25,000; Chicago ACORN $50,000; Minnesota ACORN $40,000; Kansas City ACORN $20,000. 1994's total CHD grants to 14 ACORN Projects is $436,000. IAF To Organize ChicagoChurches Crain's Chicago Business reported (February 20-26, 1995 issue) the Industrial Areas Foundation received a $2 million pledge from the Archdiocese of Chicago and other churches to organize Chicago neighborhoods and "boost the political and economic clout of tower income residents." It also reported that "last year after Joseph Cardinal Bernardin announced he would give the IAF $1 million in Church funds to 'organize' Chicago, representatives of neighborhood groups met with the Cardinal with the hope of persuading him not to Finance lAF's return." To no avail. (The Wanderer 3-9-95) At a news conference March 6, 1995 Cardinal Bernardin along with leaders of other denominations announced the formation of Chicago Metropolitan Sponsors. "This umbrella group will pay the IAF $2.6 million over the next six years to organize Chicago churches." Chicago Catholics "charged that the donation is a misappropriation of Church funds" since their charitable contributions were not intended for political action. Neither does the published fact that the Archdiocese is running at a deficit appear to have been a mailer of concern. As one Prominent Catholic Chicagoan said, "it is strange the Archdiocese has a million dollars to give the IAF at the same time it is closing churches and schools for lack of money." (The Wanderer 3-16-95) Authors Erich and Rael Isaac, in their authoritative book, The Coercive Utopians, pointed to the Catholic Church's Campaign for Human Development as a major contributor to the left. "The largest grants have gone to community organizing projects of the Alinsky school. The largest single recipient has been the Industrial Areas Foundation founded by Saul Alinsky with ACORN the second." (p. 210) 'All community organizers base their campaigns on Alinsky's book Rules for Radicals" (p. 168) "Saul Alinsky Training Institute is among the chief training centers for community organizers." (p. 169) An examination of CHD's grants published in its annual reports show the preponderance go to "organizing projects." It stands to reason you don't have an organizing project without having an organizer and IAF is a principal training center. Questions come to mind: who pays the organizers for all the organizing projects? Is this what CHD's extensive funding of the Industrial Areas Foundation covers? In fact, one of lAF's chief organizers spoke at the CHD anniversary celebration August 24-28 held fittingly enough in Chicago, the original base of both IAF and CHD. This event attracted approximately 1600 people. Forty five bishops including three cardinals and three archbishops were present. CHD's 25th: Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, in his opening address "was greeted with applause whenever he decried current political efforts to control the federal deficit and cut taxes." Today, he said, "there appears to he a great desire to address one dimension of poverty, namely, welfare reform. Unfortunately," He added, "the debate about such reform seems to spring not so much from an authentic concern for the poor as from pragmatic concerns about the federal deficit and taxpayers' pocketbooks." The Cardinal's opinion stands in sharp contrast to the explicit teaching in Centesimus Annus, para 48 (quoted above) which addresses "the role of the State in the economic sector." The Holy Father's thoughts arc pertinent and excerpts bear repeating in light of Bernardin's statement: "The range of stale intervention has vastly increased to the point of creating . . . the so-called Welfare Stale . . . deficits in the (Welfare State) are the result of an inadequate understanding of the tasks proper to the State . . . the (Welfare State) leads to an inordinate increase of public agencies . . . bureaucratic. ways of thinking . . . which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending." The CHD Chicago conference was in effect a gathering of community organizers to rally opposition to welfare reform as proposed by the Republican Congress. The Alinsky school was well represented. "Ernesto Cortes, the director of the CHD-funded IA.F for Texas and the entire southwest quadrant of the United States and a member of its national hoard" conducted a seminar on political organizing. "He described programs in Texas to 'develop a powerful political constituency' by signing up 750,000 new voters (new immigrants) to push for an agenda for 'economic and political development'." Another speaker described IAF methods in Los Angeles where the "register to vote ritual" was held in churches. "In such a ritual new voters come up to the altar in the sanctuary, register to vote on the altar and arc then commissioned to become involved in running a precinct." During another seminar on "statewide organizing" a nun, chief organizer for the Texas IAF "sneered when pronouncing the word 'Republican'." (The Wanderer Sept. 7, 1995) A politically correct message was inserted when Saturday's keynote speaker, Dr. Cornel West, a Harvard professor of religion and African studies and an "honorary chair" of the Democratic Socialists of America, exhorted his audience to "come to grips with white supremacy In order to change the. "social predicament and America's cultural decay" he urged "community activists to lake over the "decrepit school systems" and make the schools "training groups for citizens." He called on the audience "to identify the white, male, homophobic oppressors of society in order to improve the lives of blacks, browns, reds: workers, women, gays and lesbians." He had been invited to speak on the recommendation of Cardinal Bernardin who had invited him to address his clergy the previous year. The Cardinal's recommendation was unanimously approved by CHD's hoard of bishops. His appearance was funded by an "anonymous donor" CHD's executive director, Fr. Hacala. informed The Wanderer. (September 7, 1995) "The New York Times describes him as 'a progressive socialist in the age of triumphant capitalism' and notes that he was introduced to Marxism through his involvement with the Black Panthers, the sixties black-power group." (Organization Trends Sept. 1995) Another scheduled speaker. Delores Huerta "like West an 'honorary chair' of the Democratic Socialists of America is cofounder and vice-president of Cesar Chavez, United Farm Workers of America. A committed abortion rights activist "she was a featured speaker at the National Organization for Women's pro-abortion rally in Washington in April." She was however, not the only abortion rights activist on the CHD program. Another was Si Kahn, founder of the group Grassroots Leadership to which CHD contributed $25,000 in 1994. Its mission is to train activists working to promote abortion rights, gay and lesbian rights. . . . Promoting abortion rights is central to its mission and Organization Trends "eagerly await CHD's explanation." (0.T. Sept. 1995 ) CHD's 25th featured representatives of the principal operators in the funding apparatus for advocacy groups. In addition to IAF Ernesto Cortes and ACORN'S Bertha Lewis, a significant third was the executive director of the Washington-based Center for Community Change. The mission of the tax-exempt Center (CCC) is to promote Community-Based Organizations (CBO's) that "build support for a broad progressive agenda calling for a massive expansion of government as a redistributor of wealth." "These community organizations are primarily political machines." "As a national clearing house for these CBO's working on housing and economic development issues" the Center follows the Saul Alinsky model. It controls a large national network that can be called into action "pressuring banks to make more loans to its favorites in tow-income neighborhoods or lobbying for legislation." As head of CCC Pablo Eisenberg has influenced "the direction of non-profit and corporate donations toward liberal social programs and organizations. And the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Henry Cisneros, is helping with a S7.6 million pot of money for community development corporations in 23 cities." This offers an explanation of why in speaking to the community organizers at CHD's 25th Eisenberg vehemently opposed the Republican Congress' proposed cuts in HUD's budget. Interconnected, Eisenberg, a former deputy director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and since 1975, executive director of the Center for Community Change, has been recognized as "one of philanthropies most. successful fundraisers." Foundation News described him as CCC's "chief theorist, administrator, promoter and financial savior it has a $5 million budget and a $6 million endowment fund, and is the parent organization of the progressively leftist Youth Project. This YP ''exists specifically to provide financial support and to facilitate 'organizational building' and 'networking' on the political left, on a national scale - similar to the efforts of the Campaign for Human Development" (Christian Charity or Political Activism? p. 23) In the area of funding this is informative. YP Annual Reports show CHD contributions during fiscal year 1982-83 of $194,705: fiscal year 1983-84 of $191,302; fiscal year 1984-85 of $193,403 -- total of $579,455. (ibid. p. 149 footnote 15) These figures show how deeply enmeshed CHD is in the machinations of the radical left. "CHD's support for the Youth Project translates into support for a broad range of radical activities , . . the Project operates as a funnel for tax-exempt money to go to radical groups many of them not tax-exempt. . . . Although the Youth Project supposedly funds only 'grass roots' organizations, in 1983 it provided over $50,000 for the Institute for Policy Studies." "Aided by the CHD the Youth Project has maintained a pattern of consistent support for IPS since 1979. This pattern includes the "nationwide network of groups created by TPS." This includes the Exploratory Project for Economic Alternatives founded by Gar Alperovitz and Jeff Faux. (ibid. pp. 26-27) IPS and Alperovitz influence on the LJSCC Economic Pastoral has been documented in the early pages of this report under A New Venture. CHD is listed among the 1985-86 donors to the Youth Project as is CCC without specific amounts given. However, Youth Project grants are itemized. There is an over lap of some YP and CHD grants to identical projects as found in CHD's Nationally Funded Projects, Annual Reports 1978-1987. While YP grants arc not germane to this documentation CHD's are most relevant.
The president of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (shown above) Willie Velasquez, was listed in 1987 as a member of the board of directors of the Youth Project. As of 1994 the Center for Community Change lists among its board of directors Andrew Hernandez, executive director of Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project to which CHD gave grants totaling $100,000 for years 1979-1980. Other CCC board members include representation from American Friends Service Committee, League of Women Voters, National Organization of Women. Pablo Eisenberg is executive chairman and Peter B. Edelman, vice-chairman. His wife Marian Wright Edelman is president of Children's' Defense Fund. The Center for Community Change, a promoter of "progressive philanthropy" is a sponsor of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and CCC's Executive director, Pablo Eisenberg is a cochairman. This NCRP "has become an influential player in the non-profit and philanthropic sectors . . . to replace grants to traditional charities - those that provide services to the needy" - with grants to "liberal advocacy groups like the Children's' Defense Fund." CHD had contributed $100,000 to NCRP and when confronted with evidence of NCRP's pro-abortion stance, it hedged staling the grant was to he terminated, without however, admitting NCRP's pro-abortion connection, (see above "Politics As Usual") Two other advocacy groups merit consideration in this interconnected, interlocked, networking apparatus: Project Vote! and Citizen Action. Both have received grants from Catholic parishioners contributing to CHD,
Project. Vote! "was created in 1982 'to pioneer the strategy of registering citizens to vote as they waited in long lines to collect unemployment, food stamps and social services' ."While it "claims not to 'help any candidate or party" its registration and educational efforts . . . evince a decidedly pro-welfare stance and its literature indicates that it has specific political and electoral outcomes in mind." For example:
Project Vote! board of advisors includes representatives of organized labor and among the advocacy groups listed, several names that have appeared in this documentation: Marian Wright Edelman, Children's Defense Fund: Pablo Eisenberg, Center for Community Change; Steve Kest, ACORN; Ira Artook, Citizen Action. Planned Parenthood and National Organization of Women are also on Project Vote!'s advisory board. (Organizational Trends, Nov. 1991) CHD has made substantial grants of SI 90,000 to Project Vote! as itemized above. Citizen Action, founded in 1979 is a "radical apparatus focused singe-mindedly on gaining political power." It is national in scope with a "network of 3,000,000 'members' in 32 states." It and its affiliates have been "supported generously over the years by two consistent founders of leftist community organizing groups: the USCC Campaign for Human Development and the. Youth Project." CHD grants have totaled $153,000 for the years 1981-82-83. It lobbied against the nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court; cosponsoring a strategy meeting for organizers of some 25 civil rights . . . feminist . . . groups opposed to Bork's nomination." Of the five groups involved in creating Citizen Action in 1979, two had been recipients of CHD grants: Ohio Public Interest Campaign, 1948 - $40.000; Oregon Fair Share, 1978 - $60.000; 1979 - $37,000. (Organizational Trends, Nov. 1993) The executive director of Citizen Action, Ira Artook, is on the board of advisors of Project Vote! Entanglements - U.S. Catholic Conference Each year a Social Ministry Gathering meets in Washington for a conference that includes lobbying Congress. It is cosponsored by the USCC Department of Social Development and World Peace, the CHD. Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services and Round Table a Catholic social justice forum. The agenda for the Feb. 28 -o Mar. 3, 1993 meeting discussed legislative matters concerning children and families. John Carr, secretary of the USCC Dept. of SDWP spoke to the leaders as they prepared to lobby Congress. He "commended President Clinton's new initiative to help poor and vulnerable children and families. 'The president's plan,' Carr said, 'appears to offer priorities and directions consistent with Catholic activists' concerns for poor children and families'." The Children's Defense Fund 20th anniversary national conference held m Washington the following week, March 11-13 had as its theme "Leave No Child Behind." It included lobbying Congress for the CDF agenda "which closely mirrored the president's who had asked for an immediate increase in funding for Head Start and child-immunization programs." Marian Wright Edelman, president of CDF said, "the president's initiative will go a long way toward insuring that no child will be left behind." (National Catholic Reporter Mar. 12, 1993) Sharon Daly, director of government and community affairs for the Children's Defense Fund, said "we now have a president and a Congress who believe that government can and should be an active player in making changes for children." Daly. who recently moved to the advocacy group from the USCC where she was director of domestic social development, identified children as one of the most vulnerable groups in society. She was reported as saying "what Edelman wants is not just a government signing to the children's issues but a national movement rooted deeply in community groups and churches." (ibid.) The previous year Edelman had addressed the USCC sponsored Social Ministry Gathering. In describing the goals of the U.S. bishops' statement "Putting Children and Families First" she curried favor with flattery: "I don't know of very many forces as effective as the Catholic Church when you decide to honker down and work on something." (Catholic News Service -- CNS - March 12,1993) In contrast to the NCR and CNS laudatory approval and Edelman's overtures to the Catholic Church, Fr. Paul Marx, O.S.B., the founder of Human Life International, had written an objective report on the 1989 CDI" conference and its claim to "provide a strong and effective voice for the children of America." (a quotation from CDF's book, A Vision of America's Future.) Fr. Marx's assessment stated: CDF "launched a major legislative program designed to destroy Judeo-Christian values and the integrity of the American family.'" It presented an agenda of "government control over health care. day care, housing, job training and education among the nation's children." "This radical political strategy with its totalitarian implications is the major fait accompli of the government exponents and on this foundation, all political strategies of CDF and their fellow manipulators are based," Father continued.. "the establishment of school-based clinics or community health centers adjacent to schools is to be assisted by the formation of task forces at the slate and community levels." Fitting into this pattern is the acknowledgment in CDF's Annual Report that it has received funding from the population control organizations epitomized by Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation. "A deliberate involvement of right-to-life groups and the Catholic Conference was recommended as a means of neutralizing their opposition and guaranteeing agreement when hills reach the legislature" is illustrative of how CDF uses the Catholic Church to further its goals and ambitions. (The Wanderer April 20, 1989) Portrayed as a reliable research center CDF publishes an annual updated policy report "A Children's Defense Budget" numbering some 2000 pages. It is considered and used as a "ready source of factoids" by the media and members of Congress. However, there are questions of reliability: The editor of Reason in an article "Children's Crusade" June 1992 charged that "CDF's publications constantly fudge the difference between true cost-benefit studies and informal, invalid comparisons." (CRC Alternatives in Philanthropy, Feb. 1993) This evaluation should be kept in mind in evaluating CDF's statement quoted in the bishops' Economic Pastoral: "Very many poor families with children receive no government assistance, have no health insurance and cannot pay medical bills. Less than half are immunized against preventable diseases such as diphtheria and polio." (para 177 End Note 32) Clinton Administration Connections Edelman and her husband Peter, were on the advisory hoard of Citizens Transition Project that prepared a report for the incoming Clinton Administration. "Changing America: Blueprints for the New Administration" The section on abortion supported the so-called Freedom of Choice Act and favored taxpayer funding of abortions. (Human Events, Feb. 27. 1993) While for publicity purposes CDF does not take a position on abortion, its president Marian Wright Edelman contributed to this "blueprint." Edelman has strong tics to the Clinton While House through her longtime association with Hillary Roman Clinton, a CDF board member since 1978. She succeeded her friend as CDF president in 1986 and resigned in 1991 because of the Clinton election campaign. Donna Shalala, also a CDF hoard member then became president and then in turn resigned when appointed to the Clinton Cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Thus. CDF influence in the Clinton White House is substantial: it includes Janet Reno, U.S. Attorney General who designated her 1993 Sara Lee Corporation Award of $25,000 to the Children's Defense Fund. Edelman's credentials among advocacy groups is also well established. She had been an attorney for the NACCP Legal Defense and Education Fund and founded the Children's Defense Fund in 1973. She is on the board of directors of Project Vote! a recipient of generous grants ($190,000) from the CHD. Her husband Peter, is vice-chairman of the board of the Center for Community Change, the parent organization of Project Vote! The president of CCC, Pablo Eisenberg spoke at CHD's 25th celebration. Looming on the horizon is the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which enjoys fulsome support of the Clinton White House, the Children's Defense Fund, the network of radical advocacy groups outlined in this documentation and Dolores R. Leckey, the executive director of the NCCB Secretariat for Laity and Family Life. An advisor to the U.S. bishops' delegation to the 1980 and 1987 Roman Synod, she is a "civic activist committed to affordable housing in local communities." (Women and Creativity, by Dolores R. Leckey, Paulist Press 1991) In this book Leckey credits the executive director of UNICEF, James Grant, with the motivation behind the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, "which now must be passed by the UN member nations. The United States government, sadly, has made little effort to ratify." (ibid. p. 55) Signed by heads of state of more than 70 nations September 1990, the Clinton Administration has stated its support for the document. Now the Administration has formally sent the Treaty to the Senate for ratification. So far. Senator Jesse Helms has been able to keep it bottled up in committee but the pressure is mounting. It has the full support of the radical (and influential) Children's Defense Fund, the chief lobbyists for the Treaty. Once ratified it becomes part of the supreme law of the land. This treaty is diametrically opposed to the U.S. Constitution - it would jeopardize the rights of American citizens. It purports to give the child the right to express his own views freely in all matters, the right to receive information of all kinds through "media of the child's choice," the right to choose his own religion, the right to use his "own language" and the right to enjoy "rest and leisure." The Treaty arbitrarily restricts the scope of a child's God-given rights and gives government the power to define them, and government lawyers stand ready to help them assert these new "rights." (Excerpts from America's Future, Si. Louis, MO.) This Treaty has had top priority on the Children's Defense Fund agenda after the Senate failed to pass its ABC Child Care bill in 1990. The Children's Defense Fund, the Clinton's and the UN Treaty all hold the opinion that government not parents should have the primary responsibility in raising children. This UN Convention should be considered a Trojan horse intended to extend the reach of government into the home. under the pretense of concern for children. Letters opposing this dangerous UN Convention on the Rights of the Child should be written to both Senators of the slate in which each reader resides. The address is: Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A statement made by Cardinal Ratzinger, quoted in the opening paragraph of this documentation, prompted this research: "Religion, an instrument to serve political ideas." The following which appeared in National Catholic Reporter April 16, 1993, this writer considers the epitome of political posturing:
The implications are quite clear: religion is being used to serve political purposes, as Cardinal Ratzinger has forewarned. A bound copy of this text can be obtained from the Wanderer Forum Foundation, Forum Focus, P.O. Box 542, Hudson, WI 54016-0542 or telephone 651-276-1429. Please enclose $3.00. A year subscription to the Forum Focus Quarterly is $10.00 and can be obtained from the same address. |