THERE IS LITTLE "CATHOLIC" ABOUT CATHOLIC CHARITIES

A study conducted by Catholic Charities USA  found that total income for their 177 member agencies was about $4.5 billion, with about $2.8 billion coming from government sources. This would include federal, state and local government support.

President Trumpis proposing to slash the budget of the Department of Health and Human Services by 18 percent, or $15 billion, while the Department of Housing and Urban Development could see cuts of about 13 percent, or about $6 billion.  Both of those federal agencies are big funders of local Catholic Charities agencies.

How Catholic is Catholic Charities?

Because Catholic Charities receives almost two-thirds of its funding from government sources, the agency can do little that is uniquely Catholic.  It has to do what the government dictates, which means that Catholic Charities cannot talk about the Catholic part of the charity.

A number of Catholic politicians have been alarmed to witness firsthand the role of the Catholic lobby — especially Catholic Charities — in scuttling government reform legislation.

Catholic Charities appears to be more interested in maintaining its own status as a benefactor of government grants than in promoting true charity to the underprivileged, much less witnessing to the truths of the Gospel in a way that is “distinctly Catholic.” 

Little wonder that the presence of public money has affected Catholic Charities’ mission.

 Indeed, lobbying legislatures, scrounging for more public dollars and attending to political priorities seems to consume an inordinate amount of the organization’s energies. A casual glance at its national meetings shows that Catholic Charities focuses on politics and political priorities at the expense of actually doing what the layperson on the street might think the organization does: serve the poor directly

What is Catholic about Catholic Charities?

It is difficult to say with any degree of certainty. But this much is evident: Catholic Charities is visibly and aggressively dedicated to keeping the government’s welfare largesse flowing, and, so long as it does flow, to endorsing the priorities of those who sign the checks.

Catholic Charities has become trapped in the same cycle of dependency that afflicts the poor in the presence of a cradle-to-grave welfare state. Cut off from the local population served by area charities, donors who would otherwise feel called upon to make a voluntary financial sacrifice instead come to believe that their charitable obligations are discharged through the tax system. This in turn leads the organization to despair of gaining private donors, which leads to an increased reliance on government.

The late Cardinal John O’Connor, Archbishop of New York, rightly warned Catholic institutions that “dependence on government is fraught with the peril of creeping dependence. I see us going after the money, wherever the money is, to tailor programs accordingly, to fit our charity to the requirements of governmental regulatory procedures.” 

The fact is, government support is not charity or philanthropy, defined as the giving of the proper amount to the most worthy institutions and individuals. Government support is a regulated purchase of goods and services where he who pays the piper calls the tune.

Ultimately, American Bishops need to ask themselves this simple question, “If you are only going to be a more efficient bureaucracy, if you are not going to feed the souls as well as the stomach, then why exist?”

I long ago answered this question for myself as I routinely ignored mentioning or encouraging parishioners to support the annual Catholic Charities Appeal.  Instead, I reminded them that “charity begins at home” and encouraged them to support the parish’s charitable outreach programs which were delivered in the name of Jesus and the local Catholic parish.