Catholic World News News Feature

Catholic Charity Revokes Grants To Pro-Homosexual Group December 30, 1998

WASHINGTON (CWNews.com) - After consistently rejecting complaints that it had funded organizations that oppose Church teaching, the US bishops' charitable agency has quietly rescinded grants to a California group which had been active in campaigns to promote homosexuality.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has canceled grants of over $30,000 to the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO), after CTWO sponsored a program that included the distribution of condoms to teenagers in Oregon. CTWO has also been on record in support of homosexual marriage, and has joined in public condemnation of both the "Christian Right" and the "nuclear family."

Until the latest grant was revoked, the CTWO had enjoyed funding from the CCHD for nearly 20 years. The CCHD grants were allegedly made in support of programs helping low-income people to build effective political organizations.

For several years, the CCHD has been criticized for making grants to organizations which oppose Catholic teachings on issues such as homosexuality, feminism, and abortion. The Washington-based Capital Research Center, a non-profit organization which studies philanthropical giving, has repeatedly called for tighter scrutiny of the CCHD, and has issued several reports listing the grants made by the bishops' agency to groups engaged in abortion advocacy. To date, the CCHD has always rejected the critics' charges, insisting that they are completely without foundation.