An explosive letter from Development and Peace partners in the Philippines protesting a year-long review of the Canadian agency’s international partnerships is misguided and unhelpful, said Development and Peace deputy executive director Romain Duguay.

MONTREAL - In a letter addressed to the Canadian bishops and the leaders of Development and Peace, prominent leaders of the Catholic Church in the Philippines and civil organizations criticized a moratorium on at least four Philippine associations suspected of "violating the social teachings of the Church."

Development and Peace is assuring donors a review of the practices of 52 partner agencies will end soon while two archbishops are going the extra mile to support the Catholic development agency.

The status of Development and Peace as a Catholic charity in good standing hangs in limbo with no end in sight to a year-old review of some of the agency’s partnership agreements.

Since Feb. 7, women’s leader Louisiane Nazaire has hardly dared to leave her home in the city of Jérémie in southwestern Haiti. 

Six years after the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), the people of Tacloban, Philippines, are starting a new life thanks to Development and Peace - Caritas Canada. 

Two weeks of violent political unrest in Haiti is wreaking havoc with Development and Peace’s partner organizations.

Twenty-two religious orders have signed a letter questioning the wisdom of withholding funds from Development and Peace and expressing dismay over the extended investigation into 52 of the organization’s 180 partners around the world.

Who really won the election in Congo matters immensely to the Congolese people, but it also matters to Canada’s Catholic development agency, which spent the last three years helping ordinary Congolese get ready to vote.

More than 200 activists and organizations from 56 countries have asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to get a move on and hire the ombudsperson he promised almost one year ago.

With $800,000 from Toronto in their bank account, Canada’s Catholic development agency is looking forward to settling all outstanding questions about whether 52 of its 180 partners are out of step with Catholic teaching before it begins its fund-raising campaign in March.

While strongly endorsing the mission and work of Development and Peace, the Catholic Women’s League is asking its parish councils to hold off on sending funds to the organization as Canada’s bishops continue to investigate D&P’s project partners.

The funding tap is flowing again for Development and Peace, but it remains closed for 52 of 180 partner organizations that continue to be investigated for alleged connections to abortion, artificial conception and other possible conflicts with Catholic teaching.

Live simply so that others may simply live. These words haunt me. These words inspire me. 

Rigid adherence

Re: D&P funding remains in limbo (Oct. 7):

It was reported that 12 Canadian bishops did not remit the annual Lenten collection for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace in order to put pressure on the D&P organization to ensure that its overseas partners do not support abortion and contraception.