USCCB Criticizes Pew Report on $26.7M Advocacy Effort; Pew Responds

The good news in the following story is that whether they spent 27 cents or $27 billion in advocacy efforts, this corrupt, staff-run, leftist organization has no influence on Capitol Hill or anywhere else in Washington.  Policy makers know this ACORN-supporting bureaucracy represents at best, a portiont of 300 old men, and certainly not the views of the vast majority of church-going Catholics.

The bad news is that there are many Catholic apostolates that are faithful to the Church's Magisterium, do promote Catholic doctrine and social teaching, are making a difference, live the Beatitudes, are changing the culture and building the Kingdom, and they could do a lot with the millions being wasted by the USCCB.

From Catholic World News

The director of media relations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has criticized a report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life that found that the USCCB devoted nearly $27 million to advocacy efforts. But the main researcher for the Pew effort defended the report.

Newspaper: HHS Leadership Overruled Staff in Denying Funding to Bishops’ Agency

The sweet irony in this story is that if one had taken a stroll through the parking lot of the corrupt, liberal, staff-run United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2008, one would have seen many more bumper stickers for Barack Hussein Obama than for John McCain.  Unfortunately, they will be useful idiots in the next election cycle too.

From Catholic World News

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

In declining to renew a grant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services to aid victims of human trafficking, the leadership of the US Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] overruled its own staff, according to The Washington Post.

“Political appointees at HHS stepped in to award the new grants to the bishops’ competitors, overriding an independent review board and career staffers who had recommended that the bishops be funded again, according to federal officials and internal HHS documents,” the Post reported, adding:

The decision not to fund the bishops this time has caused controversy inside HHS. A number of career officials refused to sign documents connected to the grant, feeling that the process was unfair and politicized, individuals familiar with the matter said. Their concerns have been reported to the HHS inspector general’s office … The applications of [two grant winners] were scored significantly below the Catholic bishops by the review panel, the individuals familiar with the matter said …

HHS political appointees this spring became involved in reshaping the request for proposals, adding a “strong preference” for applicants offering referrals for family planning and the “full range” of “gynecological and obstetric care.’’ That would include abortions and birth control …

Some HHS staffers objected to the involvement of the secretary’s office, saying the goal was to exclude the Catholic bishops, individuals familiar with the matter said.

HHS political appointees this spring became involved in reshaping the request for proposals, adding a “strong preference” for applicants offering referrals for family planning and the “full range” of “gynecological and obstetric care.’’ That would include abortions and birth control …

Some HHS staffers objected to the involvement of the secretary’s office, saying the goal was to exclude the Catholic bishops, individuals familiar with the matter said.

“It was so clearly and blatantly trying to come up with a certain outcome,’’ said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak to the media. “That’s very distasteful to people.’’

Additional sources for this story
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• Battle flare between White House, Catholic groups (Washington Post)
• Sister Mary Ann Walsh: HHS Exec Rivals Nixon With Line: 'I am Not Trying to Get Anyone Off the Hook (USCCB Media Blog)
• USCCB spokesman: anti-trafficking grant recipients lack experience (CWN, 10/14)
• HHS won’t renew trafficking-victim grant to US bishops’ agency (CWN, 10/12)