Home | Contact Parish Info | Diocese Map | Clergy Assignments | Pastoral Center Offices | Local Catholic Organizations | Jobs | Links Statement on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development Bishops’ Subcommittee on CCHD and the Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops November 16, 2009 The Catholic Campaign for Human Development was created by the Catholic Bishops of the United States to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ to “bring good news to the poor, liberty to captives, new sight to the blind, and set the downtrodden free” (Luke 4:18). Across our nation, CCHD is helping thousands of low- income families improve their lives and communities, to seek justice and to defend their dignity. As we approach the annual CCHD collection, we urge your generous support of the help and hope that CCHD has offered for decades. CCHD is needed now more than ever in these tough economic times when so many families are suffering and poverty is growing. As the Bishops responsible for the oversight of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, we pledge our ongoing efforts to ensure that all CCHD funds are used faithfully, effectively, and in accord with Catholic social and moral teaching. All CCHD grants are carefully reviewed at both the national and diocesan levels and are approved by the local diocesan bishop. No group that opposes Catholic social or moral teaching is eligible for CCHD funding. If any CCHD funded group violates the conditions of a grant and acts in conflict with Catholic teaching, CCHD funding is immediately terminated. For example, in the last year, three groups out of 250 (between 1% and 2%) had CCHD funding ended for these reasons. However, one case is one too many and we are committed to strengthening CCHD’s review and monitoring processes to assure that all CCHD funds are used in accord with Catholic principles. We will continue to review CCHD’s processes and guidelines to ensure that CCHD continues to practice what our Church teaches on the option for the poor, participation, subsidiarity, solidarity and the dignity of all God’s children. We will seek to strengthen CCHD’s unique and essential efforts to practice charity, seek justice and pursue the common good as taught in the social encyclicals of the Church, most recently by our current Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI in God is Love and Charity in Truth. CCHD is a concrete example of what Pope Benedict XVI calls “the institutional path… of charity, no less excellent and effective that the kind of charity which encounters the neighbor directly” (Caritas in Veritate, No. 7). As we approach this season of Thanksgiving, we urge all Catholics to join the Catholic Bishops in giving generously to CCHD’s essential efforts to help the poor help themselves to overcome poverty. Contributing to CCHD is an important way to respond to our Holy Father’s “warm invitation…… to every disciple of Christ… to expand their hearts to meet the needs of the poor and to take whatever practical steps are possible to help them” (Benedict XVI, January 1, 2009). Bishop Roger P. Morin, chairman, Bishop Michael P.Driscoll, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, Bishop Francis J. Kane, Bishop J. Terry Steib SVD and Bishop David A. Zubik, joined by Bishop William Murphy, Chairman, Domestic Justice and Human Development     Diocese of Duluth • 2830 E Fourth St • Duluth Minnesota 55812 • (218) 724- 9111 Copyright 2010 DIOCESE OF DULUTH All Rights Reserved.