CHARLESTON—Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone addressed the controversy around this weekend’s collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in a letter sent to parishes in the Diocese of Charleston. The bishop asked priests to make announcements at weekend Masses and include the letter, dated Nov. 19, in bulletins.
Bishop Guglielmone wrote the following:
“My office has been inundated with calls, e-mails, and letters from concerned Catholics in South Carolina
regarding the position of the Diocese of Charleston on the allegation that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) offers grants to organizations whose objectives are hazy and at variance with our core beliefs as Catholics.
“I, therefore, wish to inform all our Catholic faithful that the Diocese of Charleston is aware of this allegation and the concern it has elicited among our parishioners. I am also aware that because of this situation, the Diocese of Charleston channeled all CCHD collections in 2008 to our local Catholic Charities upon discovering that the CCHD had given grants to ACORN. Consequently, the Diocese of Charleston suspended the remittance of funds to CCHD until it complied with the directives of the USCCB to discontinue all financial support given to organizations with questionable objectives that are inconsistent with the Church’s teachings.
“Please note that I was at the Conference of Bishops of the United States this past week and that the CCHD collection was discussed. I am convinced that all association with ACORN and other organization with questionable missions have been purged from the list of recipients of CCHD funds.
“Therefore I suggest that you give generously to support the CCHD collection.”