Catholic Relief Services

[kyrie eleison]

What does everyone think about this charity?  I've heard numerous negatives for years now and the following just surfaced a few days ago (again).   

http://www.churchmilitant.tv/platform/index.php?vidID=spec-2015-03-03-a&ssnID=324

American Life League also rates them poorly.  However, my diocese/ parish and other organizations that are supposedly "true to the Magisterium" promote giving to them.  Is any of this true?  I don't want to scandalize anyone but I also don't want to give my hard-earned cash to an unworthy and deceptive organization. 

[superblue]

when giving to any charity you have to weigh things out, some charities take a small percentage of donations to cover operational costs an etc, or some might for specific events use 100% of a donation to a specific issue. Contacting said charity be it CRS or any NGO, and asking what part of your donation will go to what ever should be something simple they can answer.

 

The Red Cross was busted one time for gathering large sums of donations for some national disaster I forget which, and not using 100% of that money for the victims or withholding that money for an extended period of time instead of getting it to the victims quickly, I suspect if C.R.S were up to no good, on a major scale that they would have been investigated by now and that any (501c ) standing that they had would have been lost.But there will always be complaints in general when it comes to the words " Catholic and or Christian + Charity "    Mother Teresa  was also bad mouthed about her sincerity towards the poor and it doesn't mean jack nor will it ever.  Usually taking a good look at who is complaining and why also says a lot.

But to take a video from a small website at face value is like watching CBN and taking it to be credible at face value all the time.

 

I would wager the video is more opinion than fact.

 

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=7653#.VPjXopUtGM8

 

[IcePrincessKRS]

What does everyone think about this charity?  I've heard numerous negatives for years now and the following just surfaced a few days ago (again).   

http://www.churchmilitant.tv/platform/index.php?vidID=spec-2015-03-03-a&ssnID=324

American Life League also rates them poorly.  However, my diocese/ parish and other organizations that are supposedly "true to the Magisterium" promote giving to them.  Is any of this true?  I don't want to scandalize anyone but I also don't want to give my hard-earned cash to an unworthy and deceptive organization. 

​I'll be honest and say that I have not watched the Voris video. I do know that there is some shady stuff going on with CRS and if you want to give to a charity that is on the up and up I'd donate to Cross International.

This article is a little long and probably covers much of the same info as the Voris video, but I know the guy quoted throughout this article and he's not the sort to just make baseless accusations. He's done his research and followed the paper trails.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-relief-services-helped-run-explicit-sex-ed-program-pushing-abortif

[kyrie eleison]

​I'll be honest and say that I have not watched the Voris video. I do know that there is some shady stuff going on with CRS and if you want to give to a charity that is on the up and up I'd donate to Cross International.

This article is a little long and probably covers much of the same info as the Voris video, but I know the guy quoted throughout this article and he's not the sort to just make baseless accusations. He's done his research and followed the paper trails.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-relief-services-helped-run-explicit-sex-ed-program-pushing-abortif

 

Yes, those are the kind of things I have heard. It goes beyond misappropriating funds.  Below is from the ALL.org website, with some additional links.

 

Catholic Relief Services

228 W. Lexington Street

 

Baltimore, MD 21201-3413

Phone: 888-277-7575

http://crs.org

 

Aborting Poverty: http://youtu.be/vPeBUWXFPXc?list=PLFAD9131EC38E3A22

Contraception Relief Services: http://youtu.be/cKNgZeryyWQ?list=PLFAD9131EC38E3A22

ALL’s 248 page report on CRS grantees: http://www.all.org/~dcurrier/docs/CRS_Grants_for_FY_2012.pdf

ALL’s Open Letter to CRS: http://www.all.org/pdf/OpenLetterToCRS.pdf

CRS documents promoting condom use: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/caught-red-handed-crs-documents-promote-condoms

CRS’ work with abortion-pushing MEDiCAM: http://www.defendlife.org/newsletters/2012/September-October-2012-Newsletter.pdf

 

[Ash Wednesday]

 

I'm going to post some information that shares both sides of the debate:

 

National Catholic Register article on CRS involvement with CARE http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/catholic-relief-services-emphasizes-faithfulness-to-church-teaching

CRS responding to questions about donations to PSI: http://newswire.crs.org/catholic-relief-services-responds-to-questions-about-funds-to-psi/

American Life League's criticism of CRS: http://www.all.org/article/index/id/MTI1Nzk/

I don't think CRS are purposely looking to masquerade as a Catholic organization that actively wills to support contraception or abortion, at least in principle. I think the problem arises because in theory, the money they give to certain organizations is supposed to be restricted in its allocation -- intended for relief services only, like food or clean water. Does it really pan out that way after the funds leave CRS? And to what extent is it acceptable for CRS to work with agencies that are in opposition to church teaching?

It appears that the stance of CRS in that they feel they need to be pragmatic about certain things when trying to work in a secular world and on foot bringing relief to every corner of the world, and they feel they would rather work with a flawed agency rather than none available at all. But it would be more ideal if the Church's network was strong enough to the point where working with questionable organizations isn't necessary. And that can be done. I don't want to look at CRS and say "well, they're just EVIL!" but they certainly should be held to task and kept an eye on if they want to call themselves Catholic -- same as any other Catholic charity.

If in doubt, I recommend the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. http://www.cnewa.org/

Edited March 6, 2015 by Ash Wednesday

[IcePrincessKRS]

 

I'm going to post some information that shares both sides of the debate:

 

National Catholic Register article on CRS involvement with CARE http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/catholic-relief-services-emphasizes-faithfulness-to-church-teaching

CRS responding to questions about donations to PSI: http://newswire.crs.org/catholic-relief-services-responds-to-questions-about-funds-to-psi/

American Life League's criticism of CRS: http://www.all.org/article/index/id/MTI1Nzk/

I don't think CRS are purposely looking to masquerade as a Catholic organization that actively wills to support contraception or abortion, at least in principle. I think the problem arises because in theory, the money they give to certain organizations is supposed to be restricted in its allocation -- intended for relief services only, like food or clean water. Does it really pan out that way after the funds leave CRS? And to what extent it's acceptable for CRS to work with agencies that are in opposition to church teaching?

It appears that the stance of CRS in that they feel they need to be pragmatic about certain things when trying to work in a secular world and on foot bringing relief to every corner of the world, and they feel they would rather work with a flawed agency rather than none available at all. But it would be more ideal if the Church's network was strong enough to the point where working with questionable organizations isn't necessary. And that can be done. I don't want to look at CRS and say "well, they're just EVIL!" but they certainly should be held to task and kept an eye on if they want to call themselves Catholic -- same as any other Catholic charity.

If in doubt, I recommend the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. http://www.cnewa.org/

​Yes, that's pretty much the impression I got from CRS's explanations as well. I can understand why they think they need to work with those organizations, to a certain extent. I aso understand why Hichborn is so adamant about this issue. We as Catholics are giving money to an organization that is, essentially, Church sanctioned (well, USCCB sanctioned at any rate) and we tend to take it for granted that our money will be going to causes 100% in accord with Church teaching. It does bother me a bit that CRS would enter an arrangement in which funds given to them went into collaborating with the likes of Planned Parenthood. I've donated to CRS in the past but I can't do it in good conscience at this point in time. Especially not when there are charities that do the same sort of work without sharing funds with questionable organizations.

[Ash Wednesday]

I generally have not donated to CRS much, maybe back in the dark ages when I lived in the US.

CNEWA is a papal agency and that's pretty straightforward! In particular, they work a great deal with the Christians in the middle east -- particularly in dire need of help these days.