SoCon Or Bust

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Concern was expressed at the time of last year’s Share Lent collection that CCODP partners were promoting abortion and contraception.

Because of this, Archbishop Prendergast noted, “the bishops agreed there would be a collection this year while the bishops were working on reflecting with them on the Pope’s latest social justice encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, and addressing the concerns that had surfaced.”

He said the committee must be allowed to do its work and the bishops must not send any mixed signals about their unconditional support for this year’s collection, but the agency must distance itself from any partners whose abortion advocacy “clearly gives mixed witness because we are associated with them.”

CCODP executive director Michael Casey was upbeat about the future of the organization.

A campaign to bring relief to Haiti after that country’s devastating earthquake was highly successful, raising the profile of CCODP across the country, he said. Close to $5 million was raised by the Feb. 12 government deadline for matching funds.

An ad hoc committee of bishops set up to provide oversight to CCODP met for the first time Feb. 8.

“We’re off to a very positive and good start with them,” said CCODP executive director Michael Casey, who reported a “very amicable discussion” in an interview shortly after the meeting.

The agency is in the midst of developing a new five-year plan that has energized membership, he added, and has discussed with overseas groups espousing immoral issues ways to find a common understanding.

“There has to be a very concrete awareness of our Catholic identity,” he said. “Catholic principles have to be central to the relationship.” (Source)

The Archbishop of Ottawa has now officially recognized that Development & Peace “must distance itself” from its pro-abort partners.  It remains to be seen, however, how this directive is actually going to be implemented. There are over 40 groups which Socon or Bust has identified as being anti-family or anti-Catholic. Many of these groups are also pro-abortion to a greater or lesser extent.

The bishops of Canada need to understand that it will not be enough to give general principles and directives.  The lay faithful want to see some CONCRETE ACTION in Development & Peace disassociating from ALL (or nearly ALL) of the groups identified thusfar.

Theoretically speaking, folks, since Development & Peace is essentially a Marxist political organization masquerading as a Catholic relief agency, this should mean a total make-over of the organization.  Why? Because many if not most of Development & Peace’s organizations are Marxist-leaning and are therefore pro-abortion and anti-Catholic.  So if the bishops are serious about purging the pro-abortion influence from D&P’s partners, the organization itself is essentially a dead letter as far as its current constitution goes.   But we’ll see just how serious the bishops are and what kind of intestinal fortitude they have. 

By the way, did you get a kick out of Michael Casey’s last comment in the article about “Catholic principles having to be central to the relationship”?  Well, it’s a wonderful thing indeed that the executive director of Canada’s official Catholic aid agency has finally clued into this minor detail.

However, the question I have is this: 

Just what the hell was it supposed to be before this eureka? 

The Canadian Marxist development bank, perhaps?

 D&P ABORTION SCANDAL VIDEO & INDEX PAGE

PETERBOROUGH, ON, February 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A third Canadian bishop has announced restrictions on funding to the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P). 

Peterborough Bishop Nicola De Angelis has announced that in addition to withholding a nominal amount (10%) from the 2009 Lenten collection from D&P, he has instituted an option on the 2010 collection allowing Catholics to decide against funding D&P.

The Bishop has instructed parishes in the diocese to use Lenten collection envelopes which give parishioners the option to select that their funds go to either “Development & Peace” or “Other Charities.”

Previously the collection was taken up specifically for D&P.

Like Toronto’s Archbishop Collins and Pembroke’s Bishop Mulhall, Bishop De Angelis has undertaken the funding restriction in response to LifeSiteNews’ (LSN) investigative reports which found D&P to be funding pro-abortion groups.

All three bishops noted that they are awaiting the conclusions of an ad hoc committee of bishops studying the matter.  A report from the ad hoc committee is expected to be presented at the Plenary Session of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) in the fall.

Earlier this month the ad hoc committee had their first meeting to discuss the matter with executives from Development and Peace. 

On February 15, LSN made an offer to meet with the Bishops on the ad hoc committee but it was declined, at least for now.  It is the third offer of dialogue LSN has made to Canadian Bishops conferences or committees since the official report of the CCCB Committee of Inquiry recommended in July 2009 that there be a “frank and transparent dialogue between Lifesite and the Bishops of Canada.” The bishops have yet to take up any of the LifeSiteNews offers responding to their request for dialogue.

The four bishops named to the committee are: Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary; Archbishop Pierre-Andre Fournier of Rimouski; Archbishop Andre Gaumond of Sherbrooke; and Bishop John Boissonneau, Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto.

We’ve all heard of the phrase “preferential option for the poor”.  Well now it turns out that Bishop Nicola De Angelis of the diocese of Peterborough has decided to opt for another kind of preference – the option of permitting Catholics in his diocese to decline giving money to the pro-aborts in the Global South. While this is not the best solution, it is a good step in the right direction.  First of all, it means a loss of revenue for Development & Peace.  To what degree is yet to be determined, but even if it was a salutory percentage – say 20% – that is 20% less funds the pro-aborts will be getting from Peterborough. That is a small, but practical victory for us.  Secondly, the Catholic Church is now officially recognizing the thousands of Canadians who have previously refused to give to Development & Peace because of their Marxist slant.  Until Bishop De Angelis’s initiative, faithful, knowledgeable Catholics had no way of officially participating in the Share Lent campaign because all of the money was going to Development & Peace.  Now there is an option – perhaps we can call it a “preferential option of the unborn” – to redirect that money to truly life-saving and life-affirming efforts, perhaps even towards overtly pro-life causes too!  Thirdly, Bishop De Angelis’s action provides us with the critical momentum to keep on moving forward.  He is now the third bishop to take pro-active measures to address the abortion scandal of Development & Peace.  It is my hope that we use this momentum to convince other bishops to move to restrict the management decisions of Development & Peace, an organization which has never admitted to the facts of funding pro-abortion groups in the Global South.

 D&P ABORTION SCANDAL VIDEO & INDEX PAGE

Folks, check out this site which another Catholic blogger has started.  (These damn trouble-making Catholic bloggers are revolutionizing the Church!)

The time is right now to ask your bishop to join the list of bishops restricting the enabling of abortion advocacy in the Global South.  We need to pick up on the recent momentum and finish the job. 

March 21 is the Lenten Collection here in Ottawa. For Ottawa residents, I ask you to write to Archbishop Prendergast and respectfully ask him to follow the lead of Toronto and Pembroke.   Ask for a public statement also.  Catholics have a right to know where their money is going.  So far, the bishops have not been forthcoming with this information despite the overwhelming evidence against Development & Peace.  Frankly, I’m not sure which is a greater scandal:  the fact that Canadian Catholic money is going to pro-abort groups or the fact that the bishops continue to keep Canadian Catholics in the dark about it!

It’s matter of trust.  Stress that fact in your letter to them. Once you break trust in a relationship, it spells a lot of pain and suffering in the future.  If we can’t trust them with something so basic as this issue, what right have we got to trust them on anything at all?

Write the letter. Do it today.