Phil 4: 4-8

Monday, November 18, 2019

Just Say "NO" to the CCHD Annual Appeal

It's that time of the year again. The annual appeal for the USCCB's Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is set for the next-to-last weekend in the liturgical year. On November 22 and 23, throughout the US, the faithful will hear the appeal for a "second collection" for the CCHD.

But--have we, the faithful, heard about how the CCHD allegedly has been using this second collection?

Over the last few years, reports from journalists investigating the CCHD show some grants to questionable, at best, recipients. By "questionable," I refer to apparent activities of the grantee organizations that run contrary to Church teaching.

What kind of activities, you ask?

Pretty much the range of hot-button issues: abortion, contraception, homosexuality, and the like. Based on what I have seen on sites that seem reputable to me, these issues continue ,while the CCHD seemingly refuses to really discuss them.

So--what should we do?

I guess one question to ask ourselves is whether this is where we want our hard-earned money going. This is especially so when you can find any number of other organizations with more transparency and more prudent decisions about who gets the benefits of their largesse. (As well, some parishes seem to struggle with accounting for second collection receipts, so even if a second collection appeal is made for a good charity, you're probably better off donating directly to the charity, rather than going through a second collection.)

Might we consider other alternatives for helping the poor, and just say "No" to the CCHD?

As for me and my house, that's what we'll do.

Support Life for the Poor and Underprivileged

This last weekend at St. Francis of Assisi, Castle Rock, Sarah Smith, the US Director of Universal Chastity Education, (UCE) appealed to our local parish for support. UCE has been welcomed at St. Francis for several years, and our parish community has generously supported it through a second collection.  

However, this year, there was no second collection taken up for UCE as has been done in past years, unfortunately.

That's why I'm writing this brief post. UCE is a pro-life organization approved by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church and other denominations located in the countries where it operates. This is the 15th anniversary of its founding by a couple of doctors--Catholics from Southern Colorado--of this wonderful organization. 
  
Over the last 15 years, UCE has positively affected the physical and spiritual lives of almost a half a million young people in Africa. You read that right--nearly 500,000 young people have signed abstinence cards, committing to chaste lives. This has resulted in lower incidence rates of HIV/AIDS and lower rates of teen pregnancy in Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania. These young people have been given their lives back through the efforts of UCE, and their commitment to living chastely. 

The organization's mission is to promote, through Christian principles, abstinence and faithful marriage as the healthiest way of life. The goal of UCE is to reach all people with the message of abstinence and faithfulness in marriage while providing them the strength to implement this healthy behavior, working with minimal budgets and some great volunteers. 

My wife, Maggie and I were blessed to visit the Uganda operation some years ago. Having previously served on the board up until this most recent year, I can tell you that the organization and its board, with a handful of paid staff, are all about pro-life Christian principles and living life, in charity, in accord with message of the Gospel. 

Please prayerfully consider donating whatever you can to give UCE a hand

Thank you, and may God bless you abundantly!