The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been accused of indirectly funding organisations that actively promote abortion, contraception and gender ideology.
A report based on new findings published by the Lepanto Institute claims that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) – the bishops’ domestic anti-poverty agency – has given 16 separate grants to the United Workers Association (UWA) since 2004.
The UWA, a community organisation based in Baltimore, is described by the Lepanto Institute as “solidly pro-LGBT – even to the point of advocating for publicly-funded sex-change surgeries”.
The grants from the CCHD to the UWA reportedly total $760,000. Its most recent award, a $25,000 grant for the 2024-2025 funding year, was published this spring.
The Institute claims that the UWA has created two “proxy organisations” promoting abortion, contraception and radical gender policies. One of these, Healthcare is a Human Right – Maryland, has publicly stated that “abortion rights are human rights” and has campaigned for the inclusion of abortion in Medicare coverage.
The other, Put People First – Pennsylvania, lists UWA as its fiscal sponsor and has participated in pro-abortion demonstrations, supported Planned Parenthood and hosted events affirming transgender ideology.
The Lepanto Institute says tax records show that between 2020 and 2022, UWA transferred more than $584,000 to Put People First – Pennsylvania for what it described as “grassroots organising and outreach”.
The report also notes UWA’s historic advocacy for same-sex "marriage" and its involvement in socialist political activity. It claims that the group continues to align with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Marxist movement under investigation for extremist ties.
In an exclusive statement to the Catholic Herald, Michael Hitchborn, president of the Lepanto Institute, said: “What we find consistently – and what we have found now – is that the CCHD completely ignores its own grant guidelines by providing grants to organisations promoting abortion, contraception, LGBT ideologies and even Socialism.”
Mr Hitchborn said the USCCB “quietly published the CCHD grants lists for the previous three years, which had been withheld during that time to avoid public scrutiny”, adding that it had taken most of this year to review “all 395 grants provided over that three-year period”.
He added: “There’s no mistake here. I personally met with USCCB representatives for the CCHD back in 2011 and showed them proof that the United Workers Association signed on with Equality Maryland to oppose any legislation that would ban same-sex ‘marriage’.”
He said that after he presented this information to the bishops’ representatives, he later discovered board minutes from the UWA confirming a formal decision to partner with Equality Maryland.
“But this is par for the course,” he said, noting that subsequent attempts to meet the current CCHD chairman, Bishop Timothy Senior of Harrisburg, were rejected.
The latest disclosures come amid growing unease within much of the US clergy about what commentators describe as an ideological divide between more conservative younger priests and the country’s liberal episcopal leadership.
According to a National Study of Catholic Priests published by Catholic University and Gallup, just 27 per cent of younger clergy say they trust the US bishops as a whole, while 70 per cent of younger clergy identify as conservative or orthodox in outlook.
Observers note that younger priests are increasingly critical of the bishops’ political stance, seeing it as out of step with Catholic moral teaching.
The CCHD was established in 1969 by the USCCB as the national anti-poverty and social justice arm of the Church in the US.
Administered through the USCCB’s Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, the CCHD has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to local and national groups across the United States.
The Catholic Herald has contacted the USCCB for a response to the Lepanto Institute’s findings and will update this story if and once a statement has been provided.
Photo: US bishops gathered for a USCCB General Assembly (image from www.usccb.org)
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