Whatever happened to the 1000 points of light?
Remember those?
They were supposed to be the faith-based institutions which would come to the aid of the downtrodden by transforming the personal dysfunction which often is the basis of their miseries.
Among these used to be Catholic Charities USA, which one would have thought would be a model to emulate in emphasizing moral values and ethical conduct.
Sadly, however, Catholic Charities USA has become part of the problem and not the solution.
Helping the poor has become a business. And for Catholic Charities USA, it has become a very, very big business.
With annual budgets (flowing in from taxpayers and contributors) well into the billions of dollars, there is little which Catholic Charities USA does which is explicitly Catholic, or even the slightest bit religious for that matter.
Catholic Charities USA, far from being a model of reforming America’s welfare state has become one of the country’s greatest advocates for the continuing victimization which the worn-out welfare state perpetuates.
Today's credo of Catholic Charities USA is that the individual has no control over the social and economic forces which are responsible for his or her poverty and lack of personal responsibility.
Such was not always the case. Until the dawn of the much heralded “Great Society” of President Lyndon Johnson and the Democratic Party in the 1960s, Catholic charitable institutions were notably successful in serving the poor and bringing the into the mainstream of American life.
One need look no further than the efforts of Catholics like Archbishop John Hughes of New York who, during the second half of the Nineteenth Century, so uplifted the Irish immigrant population that by the tun of the century most of them were mainstream American citizens.
Archbishop Hughes’ message as well as other Catholic social agencies’ call to the poor was to remind them that they were in their condition on account of willful self-destructive behavior or self-imposed limitations.
Back then, the goal of Catholic charity was to help such people change their “sinful behaviors”. The goal was to change their values and beliefs.
And what is more powerful in working such a transformation than religion and Faith, which gives a proper sense of moral order, stresses the importance of personal responsibility and the overcoming of personal failings, offers membership in a meaning-rich community, requires responsibility to family, and forgives past transgressions, if one is willing to make a fresh start.
All this disintegrated in the 1960s.
Catholic Charities USA rejected its long-standing emphasis on personal responsibility and self-reliance and began to blame society rather than individual behavior for poverty and crime.
Now, hope for the future was not to be found in moral values and right conduct. Rather, salvation was to be found in the ample provisions of the welfare state which promised to solve all social problems.
Today, Catholic Charities USA has become, as Father Richard John Neuhaus, Priest and Editor of the esteemed religious journal, First Things, puts it, "a chief apologist for a catastrophically destructive welfare system, and it stands in the way of developing alternatives to help people break out of dependency and take charge of their lives."
The 40-member central headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, assembles a legislative agenda, lobbies Congress and the White House, and, through weekly "Advofaxes," alerts member agencies and subscribers to impending federal and state legislation on social policy.
This isn't charity at all. When you take away dollars that you could spend helping people and spend them on lobbying, you're robbing the poor to give to the lobbyist.
The second big thrust of Catholic Charities USA is so-called “parish social ministry”, which dedicates itself to spurring the members of local parishes to do traditional, and effective, good works: to visit the elderly, say, or take care of neighborhood kids. But, it also involves politically oriented community organizing.
The singular problem with this effort is determining whether getting low-income people to agitate for social change, rather than helping them to get their lives in order to take advantage of the opportunities multiplying around them, is the most effective way to serve the poor.
The result is that the member agencies of Catholic Charities USA never focus on the outcome of their activities. No one knows what they are actually accomplishing and, therefore, there is ultimately no accountability for the billions that are being spent.
Finally, Catholic Charities agencies pay little attention to the power of faith to transform lives.
In Pennsylvania, a Priest began a psychology internship at a Catholic Charities clinic. The clinic supervisor tested him on three hypothetical counseling situations: a depressed pregnant woman who wants to abort her child, two homosexuals seeking advice on their relationship, and a divorcing couple asking for counseling. In keeping with Catholic teachings, the Priest advised against the abortion, refused to endorse homosexual unions, and encouraged the divorcing couple to save their marriage. He failed the test. His supervisor explained: "We get government funds, so we are not Catholic."
Catholic Charities in Albany, New York, has proposed starting a health maintenance organization that would make abortion referrals; Catholic Charities in San Francisco, to keep its city contracts, now complies with the local law extending spousal benefits to unmarried heterosexuals and homosexual live-in partners; Catholic Charities in Oakland, California, recently ran programs that encourage public school social-science instructors to discuss in a favorable light "same-sex marriage," "gays in the military," and "family diversity" starting in the first grade.
The fact is Catholic Charities USA is no longer Catholic since it has been eager and willing to separate its member agenceis from the values that once made the organization distinct from and more effective than a government welfare-state approach to the poor.
Sadly, the vast majority of Catholic faithful are ignorant (and kept so by the Bishops) of these facts and continue their moral and financial support of Catholic Charities USA in the mistaken impression that the institution has remained faithful to its founding principles.
The simple fact is that Catholic Charities USA today turned away from the Gospel and the Catholic Faith and toward the State as the primary solution for society's ills.
I have long since ceased supporting Catholic Charities USA.
I suggest that, unless the organization rediscovers its fundamental duty and purpose, others follow my example in not enabling a so-called charity which has abandoned its mission to truly help the poorest of God’s people to reclaim their lives and self-esteem.
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