By Moe Wosepka, Executive Director
Montana Catholic Conference

A few years ago, a young woman came into the assistance office of Good Samaritan Ministries in Helena. She hadn’t been in for a while. When I asked how she was doing, she broke down and the tears flowed. A few minutes passed as she squeezed her words in between sobs.

“Every time I think I’m getting back on my feet, I get knocked back down,” she said. “I just got pulled over because my taillights didn’t work, and when they found out I didn’t have insurance, they took my car away. I can’t afford insurance. How will I get to work if I don’t have a car? And how will I pick up my kids after school?”

Her story isn’t unusual. Many people in our state are one incident away from losing all they have. It may be not having car insurance because they can’t afford it, or a sickness or injury to themselves or one of their children that causes them to miss work and eventually lose a job. We might be surprised by how many of us, or those we know, are only one serious illness away from losing it all.

I thought about Jennifer when I read an article about a couple of organizations responsible for mailings that discourage Catholics from contributing to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) during its annual fundraising drive. These organizations say support should be withheld because CCHD grants have gone to organizations not in compliance with Catholic teaching.

Although it is true that CCHD awarded grants to some questionable groups in the past, there have been tremendous strides to evaluate and correct internal processes and avoid further problems. CCHD also made a commitment to investigate every complaint and take corrective action when deficiencies are found. The character of an organization is reflected not in whether it has made mistakes, but in what it has done to correct the problem.

Rather than being a direct provider of services, CCHD funds organizations that work to empower low-income people. Grants go only to organizations formed and governed by those directly affected by the problem identified in the grant. Grant recipients make their neighborhoods safer, schools better and housing more accessible. CCHD helps people help themselves, thereby building value of self and community.

When Jennifer left the office, she felt better about what she had to do. We didn’t solve her problems, but working together, we were able to come up with options. With resolve in her voice she told me, “When I came in here today, I felt that I’d be better off if I just went back on welfare, but that’s not what I want to teach my children.”

I have a real difficulty with those whose first response to correcting deficiencies is to cut off funding for the poor. If there truly is a problem, we should address it, not punish those who depend on us the most in these difficult times.

I don’t think we want to teach our children that it’s OK to disregard our commitment to the poor just because another agency has concerns about CCHD. If you have questions about CCHD, please allow the benefit of the doubt and query CCHD directly before you make a drastic decision about support. Go to the CCHD website at www.usccb.org/cchd/ or contact us at the Montana Catholic Conference.


Moe Wosepka is executive director of the Montana Catholic Conference. He may be reached by phone at 442-5761 or by e-mail to director@montanacc.org.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 25, No. 11, November 20, 2009.