Daily Kos

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  •  Catholic Charities is the largest (none / 1)

    faith-based org. in the US and provides to the needy without regard to religion, age, race, sexuality, or any other factor.

    If they have enough money to provide, they give it to whoever asks.

    In fact, without Catholic Charities, the US govt. would be even further in the hole financially than it is !

    If somebody thinks the money would go to paying sex abuse settlements, think again. These funds are strictly for direct services to the needy.

    Let's get some Democracy for America

    by murphy on Sat Nov 13, 2004 at 12:35:17 PM PDT

    •  Bush admin: CC not faith-based (none / 1)

      Look at their rhetoric:

      Ashcroft (prinary sponsor of 1996 welfare reform law that introduced "Charitable Choice") and Bush argued in 2000 that conservative Protestant (aka "faith-based") groups have been excluded from competing for government contracts for social services.

      Truth is, such groups were only excluded because they don't want to abide by federal nondiscriminitaion statutes.

      Catholic Charities, as well as countless Jewish, black Protestant, and mainline Protestant groups have been doing the Lord's work with Uncle Sam's money for decades, at least since the Internal Revenue Act of 1953 established 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

      One fortunate (for them) byproduct of this whole faith-based debate is that the public is beginning to forget about these vast and effective groups like Catholic Charities, and assume that only the fundie groups are "faith-based."  It's all about semantics and framing, and they've pulled this one over on us.

      Funny thing is, even with the promise of tons of free money, the response of the fundies to the faith-based initiatives was remarkably underwhelming.  Face it: generally speaking these people don't care about providing social services.  "Faith-based organizations," that is.

      -6.88, -6.72. The truth will set you free. But first it will piss you off.

      by Lucky Ducky on Sat Nov 13, 2004 at 12:41:08 PM PDT

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    •  That is garbage (none / 1)

      Money is FUNGIBLE - you can't say that the money does not go to sex abuse settlements.

      DO NOT DONATE TO CATHOLIC CHARITIES.

      "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

      by dataguy on Sat Nov 13, 2004 at 12:43:04 PM PDT

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      •  What? (none / 1)

        Your comment is ridiculous.  Of course you can say that, and if it weren't true, it would be hard to conceal.  There are audits, and in a lot of the lawsuits, the plaintiffs exercise the right of discovery, including the financials of the dioceses.  Maybe they don't send money from the diocese into the charitable funds--my guess is that's largely dried up, as donations in parishes and to dioceses have dropped off dramatically--but there's absolutely NO evidence of them shifting funds from the charitable organizations to the dioceses.  

        The revolution will not be televised, but we'll analyze it to death at The Next Hurrah.

        by DHinMI on Sat Nov 13, 2004 at 12:48:11 PM PDT

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      •  For pity's sake, educate yourself ! (4.00 / 2)

        http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/about/faqs.cfm

        Let's get some Democracy for America

        by murphy on Sat Nov 13, 2004 at 01:40:43 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

    •  Yup (none / 0)

      The Catholic charitable funds are completely separate from the funds that cover operations for the dioceses and archdioceses.  

      In a lot of dioceses people don't give weekly donations and save it until Christmas, because that's the one week of the year that all the money stays in that parish and doesn't go to the diocese.  

      The revolution will not be televised, but we'll analyze it to death at The Next Hurrah.

      by DHinMI on Sat Nov 13, 2004 at 12:44:14 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

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