The Argument over Aid, Development and Adherence

Canada and the United States differ in many ways and that includes some clear differences between the Churches in both countries but there has been one strangely similar festering dispute confronting the hierarchy in both nations.

In the U.S. it is the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, here in Canada it is the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and both have been the targets of sustained criticism by Pro-Life groups and for at least two years the atmosphere has been one of acrimony and bitterness. At times, tempers have flared and names have been called. While each story differs in particulars the general themes are the same.

The issues center on the activities of organizations that CCHD supports and partners with at home and with Development and Peace the issues concern the partner organizations abroad. CCHD and D&P are in alliance with groups, their critics charge, that operate contrary to Catholic Teachings. In the U.S. for example there were complaints about an Immigrant Rights Group, that CCHD supported, that campaigned in favour of Same Sex Marriage in California. In Canada, an example of the complaints concerning D&P concerned the funding of 5 groups in Mexico supporting abortion rights and changes to laws regarding abortion.

In both the United States and Canada Critics demanded investigations into the organizations’ activities and reform where needed. In both countries individual Bishops stepped into to regulate parish collections which normally flowed to the organizations.

Now it seems that a resolution is near. In the United States, word of a resolution is emerged with a final proposal due at the annual meeting of the American Bishops in November. Here in Canada the matter of Development and Peace is high on the Agenda of the annual meeting of the Canadian Bishops, as the Catholic Register reports.

In a not unrelated development, a AP wire story from late last week highlighting the efforts of a disparate group of web based organizations intent on calling out Catholic In Name only organizations and individuals has been generating a lot of attention from both liberal and conservative Catholics. The report cites numerous examples of clandestine operations, bloggers and websites determined to bring to heal individuals that the critics have determined are insufficiently `faithful``. The whole issue flows from remarks made by John Allen Jr. on the question of the “Catholic Taliban” and his further suggestion that there is a form of Catholic McCarthyism building in the U.S. It is somewhat reminiscent of the hubbub created last year when Archbishop James Weisgerber went on the defensive in terms of charges being levied against Development and Peace and offered the opinion that "These bloggers who claim to be more Catholic than anyone - I think first of all they're not part of the church, they're not Catholic in the sense that they have no mandate, they have no authority, they have no accountability. And they speak very, very definitively about what it means to be Catholic, and they're followed by so many people."

Odds are this issue is just beginning to heat up.