US Catholic Agency Lies to Bishops About Network’s Partisan Political Activities

WASHINGTON, DC – Responding to an internal memo circulated among the Catholic bishops of the United States, the Lepanto Institute published a highly detailed video report exposing “bold lies” and “wild inaccuracies” contained in the memo.

In October, the Lepanto Institute published a report showing that a network of organizations receiving funds from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the official anti-poverty program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), was actively involved in calls for the election of Joe Biden and the defeat of Donald Trump.  Two weeks after the report was published, the CCHD issued a memo claiming that the Lepanto Report was “false and rooted in a hostile reaction to the call for transformative justice.”

“The CCHD routinely issues blanket denials of our reports without ever providing a shred of information to counter the documented evidence,” said Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute.  “Because CCHD’s vetting process is about as competent as a Facebook fact-checker, we produced a highly-detailed video report to place the CCHD’s lies and denials on full display.”

The Lepanto Institute’s 19-minute video report provides detailed responses to false claims made by CCHD regarding its support of Faith in Action (FIA), such as:

• CCHD does not fund organizations that participate in partisan activities
• FIA is fighting racism
• “FIA and its local affiliates are working to build bridges that help move us toward Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community”
• FIA had a few “blurred lines” in a relationship with a Democrat-endorsing political Action Committee
• FIA “swiftly responded and has acted to address these few instances and to prevent similar missteps in the future.”
• “Catholics can be confident that the [CCHD] does not fund organizations that violate the moral or social teaching of the Church.”

“Every single one of these claims is proved false with direct statements from Faith in Action, its affiliates, its leadership, and its national projects,” said Hichborn.  “Not only is Faith in Action guilty of racism, the promotion of abortion, the promotion of sexual perversion, and the promotion of violence, but the ‘blurred lines’ FIA is said to have with a political action committee are far more direct.”

The Lepanto Institute’s report can be viewed here:

“Our report proves that the CCHD is lying to the bishops and to the faithful about the nature of the organizations with which it partners,” said Hichborn.  “This egregious breech of trust with the bishops and the faithful MUST be addressed in full detail by the CCHD.”

The Lepanto Institute is continuing its call for Catholic bishops of the United States to withdraw all support for the CCHD.