Chicago archdiocese challenges Obama, once an ally in community organizing there

CWN - July 10, 2012

William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal sees the irony as Catholic Charities of Chicago joins in a lawsuit against the Obama administration. After all it was the Chicago archdiocese that helped launch Barack Obama on his early career as a community organizer.

McGurn concedes that since Catholic Charities receives most of its funding from government, there are legitimate questions about the degree to which the government should control the agency's policies. But he suggests that in addition to questions about religious freedom, there are also questions to be asked about the efficacy of charitable efforts:

Does anyone really believe we would be better off turning over the work of Catholic Charities to states or the feds—with their higher costs, greater bureaucracy, and loss in efficiency?

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  • Posted by: unum - Jul. 11, 2012 8:02 AM ET USA

    Journalist64 has a valid point, which reminds me that the government can't help telling the recipients of its funds how to spend them. The USCCB should be mindful of this truth as they lobby for federal money and then complain about the loss of freedom of religion that results from those grants. "Those who lie down with dogs get up with fleas!"

  • Posted by: Wolf of Gubbio - Jul. 10, 2012 6:02 PM ET USA

    Reminds me of Bin Laden and the CIA.

  • Posted by: TheJournalist64 - Jul. 10, 2012 5:50 PM ET USA

    Remember that when the frog crossing the river with the scorpion on its back asked the scorpion why he stung him, the scorpion answered "after all, I'm a scorpion." Obama can't help it. He and his mentors are anti-Catholic to the core.

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