SAGINAW, Michigan (LifeSiteNews) — After a report by the Lepanto Institute revealing that a recipient of a grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) was “directly advocating for abortion” this year, Bishop Robert Gruss of the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan, decided to pull his endorsement and funding of the CCHD.
READ: US bishops’ agency is funding radical Marxist, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT groups: new report
Bishop Gruss informed all parishes in his diocese in a weekly Chancery Notes email that he had notified the CCHD of “the Diocese of Saginaw’s disinterest to continue endorsing or providing funds for The Ezekiel Project.” In the email, the bishop also instructed all parishes to “sever their relationship with The Ezekiel Project as well.”
The bishop stated his decision was “based on several issues that have become apparent over the past few months.” He later indicated that the project’s support for abortion was one reason for severing ties with the CCHD.
According to a press release from the Lepanto Institute, the report “provided screenshots of the Ezekiel Project directly promoting the pro-abortion National Organization for Women (NOW) and calling for participation in two specifically pro-abortion events.”
Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute, praised Bishop Gruss’ work to uphold the faith in his diocese and his firm actions opposing the CCHD’s scandalous support of abortion advocacy with Catholic funds.
“Bishop Gruss is clearly working to maintain Catholic moral teaching by safeguarding his flock from the influence of this pro-abortion organization,” Hichborn said. “Sadly, the CCHD does not display the same concern. Ezekiel was identified as a member of the problematic Gamaliel Foundation by the Reform CCHD Now coalition in 2012, which should have served as advance warning that there may be issues later on.
“In 2019, its leadership took public positions in favor of abortion, giving a clear indication of the direction the organization itself would take. And its public support of the contraceptive peddling ‘sistas vans’ in 2020 should have immediately disqualified it from any consideration of funding. That it was defunded this late into 2022, and only after an outside organization reported on its evil actions, shows a breakdown in CCHD’s vetting process.”
Hichborn further explained that The Ezekiel Project was only one of many CCHD-funded groups that violate Catholic moral teaching, calling on the CCHD “to address the solid evidence presented in our full report” detailing the various groups and their violations of Catholic morals. The types of violations identified were support for abortion, LGBT lifestyles, contraception, Marxism, and the occult. A report for each group “provides visual evidence accompanied by a website link to the source.”
Hichborn stated, “The Ezekiel Project is one of sixty-six CCHD-funded organizations we profiled for attacking Catholic moral teaching, and the Diocese of Saginaw did the right thing by severing ties. That leaves sixty-five other CCHD-funded groups to be denied Catholic funds. While the Diocese of Saginaw took our information seriously and acted swiftly, the CCHD has yet to address the solid evidence presented in our full report on its grantees for 2020-2021.”
The Lepanto Institute’s full report on the grantees of the CCHD who violate Catholic moral teaching can be found here.
This is yet another major victory achieved by the Lepanto Institute’s dogged research uncovering Catholic funding of abortion advocates. Earlier in December, after Hichborn reported that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), CLINIC, and five diocesan Catholic charities were named in a list of active partners of a group called Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) — which was shown to support abortion and to have spoken against the overturning of Roe v. Wade — the Catholic groups formally cut ties with PIF.
The Lepanto Institute’s press release on Bishop Gruss and the CCHD also called on other Catholic bishops “to withdraw from the CCHD entirely and push for it to be closed down, permanently.” In comments to LifeSiteNews, Hichborn said he considered Bishop Gruss’ withdrawal of funding and endorsement “a pretty big victory, considering the CCHD does NOT want it out that our information is accurate.”
The full press release may be viewed below.
Diocese of Saginaw Cuts Ties with Pro-Abortion Organization Following Lepanto Institute Report
Saginaw, MI — Bishop Robert Gruss of the Diocese of Saginaw announced in a weekly Chancery Notes email sent to parish leaders that he has informed the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) of “the Diocese of Saginaw’s disinterest to continue endorsing or providing funds for The Ezekiel Project.” Bp. Gruss also requested all parishes in the diocese to “sever their relationship with The Ezekiel Project as well.”
This move comes on the heels of a detailed report from the Lepanto Institute showing that The Ezekiel Project was directly advocating for abortion after the Supreme Court overturned the notorious Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973. Bp. Gruss, without identifying the Lepanto Institute’s report directly, said, “My decision is based on several issues that have become apparent over the past few months,” later identifying Ezekiel’s support for abortion as a factor.
The Lepanto Institute’s report provided screenshots of the Ezekiel project directly promoting the pro-abortion National Organization for Women (NOW), and calling for participation in two specifically pro-abortion events.
Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute reacted by stating: “Bishop Gruss is clearly working to maintain Catholic moral teaching by safeguarding his flock from the influence of this pro-abortion organization. Sadly, the CCHD does not display the same concern. Ezekiel was identified as a member of the problematic Gamaliel Foundation by the Reform CCHD Now coalition in 2012, which should have served as advance warning that there may be issues later on. In 2019, its leadership took public positions in favor of abortion, giving a clear indication of the direction the organization itself would take. And its public support of the contraceptive peddling ‘sistas vans’ in 2020 should have immediately disqualified it from any consideration of funding. That it was defunded this late into 2022, and only after an outside organization reported on its evil actions, shows a breakdown in CCHD’s vetting process.”
Hichborn continued: “The Ezekiel Project is one of sixty-six CCHD-funded organizations we profiled for attacking Catholic moral teaching, and the Diocese of Saginaw did the right thing by severing ties. That leaves sixty-five other CCHD-funded groups to be denied Catholic funds. While the Diocese of Saginaw took our information seriously and acted swiftly, the CCHD has yet to address the solid evidence presented in our full report on its grantees for 2020-2021.”
The fully-detailed report on the sixty-six CCHD-funded organizations can be viewed here.
The Lepanto Institute maintains that the CCHD is either incapable or unwilling to properly investigate and monitor CCHD-funded organizations, and calls on bishops to withdraw from the CCHD entirely and push for it to be closed down, permanently.