Bishop Paprocki explains bid to ‘sunset’ CCHD
June 19, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: After the US bishops voted to continue supporting the troubled Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, explained in his diocesan newspaper why he had argued for closing down the program.
“Just as it is fair to ask if the “War on Poverty” was effective, given the number of people who still live in poverty and have become dependent on the welfare state, it is reasonable to ask if the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has been effective in its mission ‘to break the cycle of poverty,’” Bishop Paprocki argues.
But beyond that point, the bishop questions whether “giving money primarily to community organizers is the best way to lift people out of poverty.”
The CCHD has been plagued by complaints that grants have been given to left-wing groups that are actively at odds with Catholic moral teachings. Bishop Paprocki adds that the program has not addressed the immediate needs of the poor.
The most effective antidote to poverty is education, the bishop observes, concluding with a proposal to spend anti-poverty funds on Catholic schools.
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