Homily

In Tuesday's newspaper, we learned that Catholic Community Services of Lane County had notified the United Way campaign that they were withdrawing from the UW, and their request for $71,000 to provide food, rental assistance and other helps for needy people. Why did they pull out of UW funding?

#1 Every agency that receives money must agree to promote donations to UW.

#2 UW of Lane County also gives money to Planned Parenthood here, where their clinics distribute the so called "morning after" abortion pill and also refer patients to their surgical abortion clinic in Salem.

#3 Archbishop Vlazny of the Roman Archdiocese of Portland informed the local Catholic Community Services that they could not promote or advertise for fund raising for UW, since PP would also receive funds from UW's program. CCS would have to cut their ties to UW, or the Archbishop would be forced to cut the Archdiocese's ties to CCS. The local CCS was not happy about pulling out of UW, but finally the board voted to pull out.

Now, what about the moral issues involved? In my opinion, I think you could make a case for CCS to stay involved with United Way, since they fund a lot of other agencies, not just PP, and promoting UW doesn't mean necessarily, that you are also promoting every other group that gets funds from UW. So, I do think you can make the argument that there is nothing immoral about receiving these funds. On the other hand, the taking of human life is one of the most horrible of sins a person can commit, and while most people are against abortion, they have become resigned to accepting it as a fact of life here in the U.S.

Human life--moral values do not find a more important subject. I see the Archbishop here taking a firm stand, in a very public way, as a witness to the sanctity of human life, and that Catholic organizations will not be associated with abortion providers in any way--including United Way. I think he's right, and I applaud his decision. And, although CCS's board of directors was divided over this issue, they did vote to drop out of UW. I commend them for that.

There's so many things I'd like to say about this whole situation, but I only have a few minutes here, so I've really got to limit it. Darn!

What makes a charitable organization Catholic? Is it just the name, or an official tie to the Catholic Church in some kind of way? Is there a requirement to, in some way, promote the faith of the Church, to uphold the teachings of Christ, to foster Christian charity in the hearts of those who help, and to let people you are helping know that you help in the name of Christ? For example, some supporters of St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County have told me, "We don't ask people what religion they are, and we don't force our religion on people we help."

I think it's great that Catholic groups help people no matter what their own faith might be. And certainly, it is not our job to force faith on people. But it's quite a different thing to believe that you have to keep totally silent about your faith--that you cannot even invite those you help to check out what our faith is about, or to learn more about Christ, or to put a prayer card in a food basket, or a schedule of Mass times with a welcoming message. It's as though if you try to convey any aspect of the love of Christ for the poor, in any way whatsoever, you are forcing religion on people. How ridiculous. I can imagine the apostles wrestling with this one: "We want to help poor people but we must never let them know why we are doing it. And whatever you do, don't ever bring up anything about Jesus or faith, because poor people hate that, and they won't come back." You may think that is amusing, but not too many years ago CCS board members had a hard time deciding whether or not to mention the name of Christ in their mission statement because it might turn people off and they wouldn't come for help. Imagine! The only thing that can prevent us Atheist Charities of Lane County from helping the poor is lack of money and Jesus.

What makes a charity Catholic? In an opinion piece written for the newspaper, two CCS board members wrote about the events surrounding the decision they made: "As board members we side with the poor and vulnerable people who want food and not theology." Ah. The condescension! Theology has nothing to do with CCS, and poor people believe that man does live by bread alone, because they have no interest in faith. (Angels in Bethlehem)

And they continue in their article: "But we also remain respectful of those who are grounded in theological arguments." I don't see how. "They" stand on the side of the poor, obviously implying the people who want to talk theology, like the Archbishop, do not. "They" are grounded in the poor people, while Church authority is only concerned about heady, academic stuff--oh, you know, like standing up for human life. (Materialism)

So again, what makes a charity Catholic? And even more, what are our obligations as individual Catholics towards helping the poor? And I can't even get into that today. But I will soon!

So some CCS board members need some help in understanding Catholic moral attitudes, but I still commend them for doing the right thing, and obeying the Archbishop who is, in fact, their authority, their boss. So much else to cover!--I'm told there's an article in today's Sunday paper.--St Vincent dePaul--haven't seen it--Could the agency be Buddhist and still...?