Do the Wisconsin Bishops fund groups promoting abortion?

Several problems have been raised recently about the USCCB's "Catholic Campaign for Human Development."  Findings by Bellarmine Veritas Ministry & American Life League have found several cases where the CCHD has been directly funding groups that promote abortion and same sex "marriage."  The group has funded ACORN, among other groups.  CCHD money is never used to help the poor or homeless, it is specifically targeted at funding "social concerns."

Here is an excerpt:

In early 2009, the WCRP received a grant totaling $16,400 from the Philadelphia based organization Women’s Way. (Source: Women’s Way web-site)  Women’s Way, like many organizations which give grants, has a strict policy in place as to what manner of organizations are eligible for grants.
This policy includes the following:

What WOMEN’S WAY is NOT Interested in Funding
WOMEN’S WAY seeks applications that support our mission. The following types of organizations and projects conflict with our values and funding philosophy and would not be considered.

• Organizations that consider themselves to be pro-life
• Organizations and projects that do not support a woman’s full range of reproductive choices
• Organizations and projects promoting abstinence-only sex education
• Organizations and projects opposing same sex relationships or marriage (Emphasis present in original.  Source: Women’s Way web-site)

Obviously this is extremely embarrassing for the US Bishops and I'm sure at some point corrective action will be taken.  But with a bureaucratic culture at the USCCB, and a lack in oversight, it is clear the CCHD needs to go.

So that's bad news, but what groups does the CCHD fund in Wisconsin?  I searched the USCCB document for 2009 and found these groups on the list:

Diocese & Name of Organization	Description of Organization	Granted Amount
AREA B Wisconsin Green Bay ESTHER	ESTHER (Equality, Solidarity, Truth, Hope, Empowerment, Reform) is an interfaith social justice advocacy organization that includes Catholic and Protestant congregations as well as the Fox Valley Islamic Society. We work to link communities of faith, to build relationships that will bridge divisions and to act collectively in pursuit of the common good. Though our membership is rooted in religious congregations, its mission is civic in nature. ESTHER members do not seek to proselytize, but work to find common ground on which to build a more compassionate and sustainable community. ESTHER focuses on the root causes of needs and injustices, organizing people to bring about action that will lead to systemic change. Our current focus is on five key issues: criminal justice reform, improved public education, comprehensive immigration reform, affordable healthcare and workforce housing. Action reflecting core values based in our faith gives voice to the powerless, emboldens people, and brings hope that change can happen for the greater good.	$32,000
AREA B Wisconsin Green Bay Justice Organization Sharing Hope & United for Action	JOSHUA is a congregation based community organization with 17 institutional members, including religious congregation from Catholic, ELCA Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, UCC, Unitarian, Moravian, and non-denominational congregations. More denominations are expected to join, including Presbyterians, before the grant year. JOSHUA is dedicated to being an effective power organization. We organize our members and others to form a community that can have a positive impact on decisions made in the public arena. JOSHUA works through: Intentional relationship building among members of our own congregations, public officials and others; Leadership development and training - providing tools to individuals promoting better leadership, while fostering both collaboration and accountability; Education and Action - We organize committees, public events, and other actions for change in public policy and accountability of both government and private officials. Current issue concerns include: health care, housing, immigrant rights, and, treatment alternatives to incarceration.	$25,000
AREA B Wisconsin LaCrosse Joining Our Neighbors Advancing Hope	We are a congregation-based organization that works for social justice. We are a member of the statewide WISDOM network and the international Gamaliel Foundation. Our primary goals are embedded in our name -- Joining Our Neighbors (building community that crosses economic, religious, social and geographic boundaries), Advancing Hope (developing new leaders, and cutting issues that can make a tangible difference in our community -- especially for the most needy and marginalized). JONAH is a new organization; our initial "covenanting" celebration was in November 2007. JONAH is an interfaith coalition. At the moment, our member congregations are Roman Catholic, Unitarian Universalist, Friends Meeting (Quakers), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), United Church of Christ (UCC), Episcopalian, and the Unity Christ Center. We are in conversation with the Jewish Synagogue in Eau ClaireAltoona about their joining us. and the Islamic Society in	$25,000
AREA B Wisconsin LaCrosse AMOS, Inc	AMOS is a powerful coalition of faith communities working to deepen relationships within and among congregations and empower people to act together to build a more just and healthy society. We seek to: Deepen relationships by promoting "one-on-one" interviews through which people discover their talents, resources and motivations to act for the good of the community; Empower people by teaching communication and organizing skills that will enable people to be agents of change; Build cooperation and trust between congregations by working together to listen to the broader community, identify issues of common concern, analyze causes of poverty and injustice, and develop strategies for positive change; Work with leaders in government, business and other community organizations to impact decisions regarding the political, social, economic, and environmental issues for the purpose of promoting a more just and healthy society.	$25,000
AREA B Wisconsin Milwaukee Common Ground Inc.	The mission of the organization will be non-partisan political power for social justice and social change. Initial issues for action identified to date include health care for the uninsured, gun violence, job training, water distribution, racial tensions and school reform. These key issues greatly impact the lives of the poor and most vulnerable in our community.	$40,000
AREA B Wisconsin Milwaukee Voces de la Frontera Workers' Center	Voces de la Frontera (VF) is a workers' center that educates low-wage and immigrant workers about their employment rights, promotes youth leadership, and promotes community organizing as a means to win changes that will benefit the immigrant community and the workforce at large. In order to win policy changes we build alliances at the local, state, national, and international level. VF started as a bilingual newsletter which covered the struggles of workers in the maquiladora industry to improve working and living conditions. It evolved into a workers center in Milwaukee in 2001 and has steadily grown in numbers and chapters. It is a community run organization; primarily composed of low-income Latino workers and youth.	$50,000
AREA B Wisconsin Milwaukee Racine Interfaith Coalition	The Racine Interfaith Coalition (RIC) is a congregation-based community organization. Our history began in 1993. Our mission is to address the root causes of social problems and lead to new ways of thinking and acting. We accomplish that by focusing on identifying the most marginalized members of Racine. We train them to run their own meetings and lead others to understand the policies and procedures at the source of their pain. We do extensive research, and plan community forums and print publications as a result of our findings. We recruit people to formulate solutions through focus groups committees Our issue committees set goals to reduce the problem little by little Currently RIC includes 17 congregation members with two newly recruited in December of 2007.  Our total membership is 10,000.	$25,000
AREA B Wisconsin Superior Comunidad Hispana	Comunidad Hispana works to provide local Hispanics with community solidarity helping them to enjoy the rights to which they are entitled so they can begin to become empowered to overcome some of the root causes of poverty. Comunidad Hispana has evolved appropriately under the control of low-income Hispanics. Non-Hispanics who played a major role in launching the organization currently serve on the board and/or provide technical assistance. The focus of the organization is to continue to provide a place for local Hispanics to have a dominant voice in shaping the policies and activities of Comunidad Hispana. Through Comunidad Hispana, local Hispanics are taking the lead affecting institutional changes that will improve their living conditions within the community.	$25,000

Now these groups seem to have a social-concern type flavor.  The descriptions are vague enough that they could possibly be taken either way.

The Diocese of Green Bay has come out with a statement  indicating no diocesan money had been spent opposing Church teaching despite the umbrella group WISDOM promoting abortion. A bit of a cop out, I must say......

Another from Milwaukee has some more bad news:

Voces de la Frontera – Wisconsin - $50,000

• Promoted homosexual campaign “Gayneighbor.org” for ally group Equality Wisconsin in Oct. 2009 newsletter
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  Listed as member of “Health Care for America Now”
  
  Health Care for America Now firmly stated:
  
  
  
  
  • 
    
    “When we say health care for all, we also mean preserving the reproductive health care coverage women currently have.”
    
    (Richard Kirsche) “Unfortunately, the House legislation included a provision that will deny some women access to abortion services, a standard benefit now available on the insurance market. We will work to see that women have access to comprehensive health coverage in the final bill that passes.”
    
    A central promise of health care reform is that if you like the health care coverage you have, you can keep it. Today in America, millions of women who buy health care on their own or who get it through the small business employer have abortion care coverage. Congressman Stupak's amendment would strip them of that coverage, breaking that central promise.
    
    Stupak wants to outlaw abortion coverage in the new health insurance Exchange, where individuals and small businesses will purchase their coverage. Instead, women would only be able to purchase abortion coverage in a "abortion rider" plan - a single-service plan that covers abortion only. Such an "abortion rider" is discriminatory and illogical. Women do not plan to have unintended pregnancies (or pregnancies in which a complication will arise that will require ending the pregnancy). In fact, about half of all pregnancies are unintended. Abortion is simply not something that women plan to insure against.
    

Wisconsin bishops appear to have been supporting at least one group promoting abortion, same-sex "marriage" and contraception among other things.  How can we expect the state of Wisconsin to respect our freedom of religion in life matters(ie, forcing dioceses to fund contraception) if we do not even practice what we preach?  Let's pray for our bishops and spread the word so these kinds of errors are corrected!