In recent podcasts with Dr. Taylor Marshall and U.S. Grace Force, Michael Hichborn, the president of the Lepanto Institute, blew the whistle on the corruption of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). This post will paraphrase Hichborn’s comments from both of these podcasts.
For years, the Lepanto Institute has extensively researched various Catholic charitable organizations and analyzed whether or not they are worthy of the faithful’s donations. Criteria include the promotion of abortion, birth control, LGBT activism, Marxism, and heresy. In the case of CRS and the USCCB, the answer is a definitive NO.
According to Forbes, CRS is the largest non-profit recipient of funding from USAID. From 2013 – 2022, CRS received a whopping $4.6 billion in grants. In addition, USAID is the largest purveyor of contraception and condoms throughout the world, so it goes without saying that CRS willingly participates in activities diametrically opposed to the faith under the guise of helping the poor.
The USCCB and the bishops frequently visit legislators on Capitol Hill to lobby for more money to be allocated to USAID. Most people think the funds are going to food for starving children, to provide mosquito nets in areas with malaria, or to drill freshwater wells in the desert. But this is far from true. There is a lengthy process by which the money is allocated, and here’s how it works.
A grant becomes a large regional project run by bureaucrats, including various components like health care, family planning (contraceptives and abortifacients), food, and infrastructure. Then, individual non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) like CRS bid for a portion of the project. Because the grants CRS bids for are encapsulated within a larger project, CRS is beholden to the entire project, including all the parameters established, and must contractually uphold these whether or not they are in keeping with Catholic teaching.
In addition, CRS may not pray with the recipients, hand out Bibles, use scripture verses in promotional materials, or even talk about the faith. By accepting the funding, CRS makes a deal with the devil, and that deal must be upheld. Hichborn describes this as “feeding bellies but starving souls.”
Here is just one example of a “humanitarian” project CRS participated in. In Cameroon, CRS partnered with an organization called Renata. Their logo featured a pregnant woman with a big X on her tummy. Renata was known to have taken young girls to get abortions, provided contraceptives, and lobbied the government to change the laws on abortion. While it is unfortunate that many of the girls in Cameroon may have been raped or sexually abused, aborting the baby is morally unacceptable. Instead of partnering with a pro-abortion group, CRS should have provided safe houses for these girls while they brought their babies to term and offered them love, support, and life skills after the birth.
It is no wonder that contraceptives and abortions are part of the grants, as USAID was initially established as a population control organization. The original charter of USAID was the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. In section 102, paragraph 4 (C) it states: “In order to make possible consistent and informed judgments in this respect, the president shall assess the commitment and progress of countries in moving toward the objective and purposes of this chapter by utilizing criteria included but not limited to the following: control of population growth.”
To this day, USAID requires the country to receive any monetary awards to provide written reports showing measures to curtail population growth. USAID is nothing more than a racist globalist socialist system, similar to the United Nations, that looks down upon third-world countries and tries to dictate what they deem to be appropriate cultural norms.
A total of 52% of CRS funds come directly from the federal government through USAID. Despite this massive amount of money, the bishops take up a Lenten collection for CRS annually in the form of the Rice Bowl. You may have seen this at your parish or even donated to it.
On the cardboard rice bowl are pathetic pictures of starving, dirty children. CRS uses these pictures to manipulate the faithful by pulling at our heartstrings, and their promotional materials make one feel that they are feeding the hungry, as Jesus commanded. The rice bowls are often given out in Catholic Schools and Religious Education programs, and little kids are encouraged to donate their allowance. Struggling families and the elderly on fixed incomes make considerable sacrifices to help those they think are less fortunate. Little did we know that these funds may be paying for exorbitant administrative salaries.
The Rice Bowl program generates anywhere from $7 to 8 million a year, and a little less than half of that goes to administrative salaries. The CEO of CRS, Sean Callahan, makes $640,000 annually, and only seven people in executive positions who work at their headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, account for almost $3 million. It is obvious that corporate charity has now become a big and lucrative business.
Hichborn has also uncovered that $129 million was given to USCCB for immigrant resettlement programs in 2021 when the Biden administration took over. The USCCB received an average of $50 million yearly from the federal government before this. No wonder no one from the USCCB or any prominent diocese ever condemned Biden for his stance on abortion, transgender surgeries for minors, or the 300,000 missing migrant children. These massive funds also insulate a diocese against the wrath of their congregations who may oppose their overly progressive ideals. Bishops no longer care if you give on Sunday at Mass as the federal government is now their new and improved benefactor.
U.S. Catholics find themselves in a terrible dilemma. If we donate money to CRS, Catholic Charities, or the USCCB, we are knowingly promoting anti-Catholic values. Instead, Hichborn advocates that charity should be conducted on a personal level and we should not delegate our responsibility to a governmental organization with ulterior motives and anti-Catholic beliefs.
The Lepanto Institute provides comprehensive Charity Reports that rate various charitable organizations. This report will tell you if your donation is deemed Safe because it does not promote anti-Catholic teachings. You can also consider local contributions to food pantries, crisis pregnancy centers, or parish outreach that will ensure that you are still helping those in need without compromising your faith.
Although this information about so-called Catholic institutions is very disheartening, we are still called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and uplift the human spirit. Don’t let the corruption turn you away from helping those in need. Just be more particular about where your donations wind up.