Tagle is the new President of Caritas International:And the "pre-Conclave atmosphere" heats up...

As already predicted by some Catholic and secular news agencies in the preceding weeks, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, was elected yesterday as the new President of Caritas International. He succeeds Oscar Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, who is stepping down after serving two terms. Tagle himself was not in Rome yesterday; John Allen notes that he was in Chicago receiving an honorary doctorate from the Catholic Theological Union, one of the Americas' most liberal theological institutes.

Some had raised the possibility that Cardinal Tagle would run unopposed, with the only other candidate standing down. However this did not happen: the other candidate (Maronite Archbishop Joseph Soueif) remained in the race. Catholic News Agency further notes that there was  a very real difference in emphasis between the programs offered by either prelate:

Motu proprio "Intima Ecclesiae natura", on the services of charity of the Church: Charity "in conformity with the demands of the Church's teaching"

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Apostolic Letter 

given “Motu Proprio”

INTIMA ECCLESIAE NATURA

On the Service of Charity

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Introduction

“The Church’s deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia) and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable” (Deus Caritas Est, 25).

The service of charity is also a constitutive element of the Church’s mission and an indispensable expression of her very being (cf. ibid.); all the faithful have the right and duty to devote themselves personally to living the new commandment that Christ left us (cf. Jn 15:12), and to offering our contemporaries not only material assistance, but also refreshment and care for their souls (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 28). The Church is also called as a whole to the exercise of the diakonia of charity, whether in the small communities of particular Churches or on the level of the universal Church. This requires organization “if it is to be an ordered service to the community” (cf. ibid., 20), an organization which entails a variety of institutional expressions.

With regard to this diakonia of charity, in my Encyclical Deus Caritas EstI pointed out that “in conformity with the episcopal structure of the Church, the Bishops, as successors of the Apostles, are charged with primary responsibility for carrying out in the particular Churches” the service of charity (No. 32); at the same time, however, I noted that “theCode of Canon Law, in the canons on the ministry of the Bishop, does not expressly mention charity as a specific sector of episcopal activity” (ibid.). Although “the Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops explored more specifically the duty of charity as a responsibility incumbent upon the whole Church and upon each Bishop in his Diocese” (ibid.), there was still a need to fill the aforementioned lacuna and to give adequate expression in canonical legislation to both the essential nature of the service of charity in the Church and its constitutive relationship with the episcopal ministry, while outlining the legal aspects of this ecclesial service, especially when carried out in an organized way and with the explicit support of the Bishops.

In view of this, with the present Motu Proprio I intend to provide an organic legislative framework for the better overall ordering of the various organized ecclesial forms of the service of charity, which are closely related to the diaconal nature of the Church and the episcopal ministry.

Catholic Relief Services or Abortion Relief Services? Will the Bishops act?

From Shaun Kenney (Red State), after revealing clear ties of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) own official charity, and American chapter of Caritas Internationalis, Catholic Relief Services, with abortion-promoting and abortion-providing organizations (tip: The Curt Jester, in our sidebar):

[A] pattern of aiding some very un-Catholic activities at Catholic Relief Services is beginning to emerge.

– Catholic Relief Services gave a $5.3 million grant to a viciously pro-abortion, pro-contraception organization called CARE;

– Catholic Relief Services is a dues-paying member of the CORE Group, which is highly committed to spreading birth control to poor people in third world countries;

– and Catholic Relief Services is a dues-paying member and on the Executive Committee of MEDiCAM, an organization dedicated to expanding “safe abortions” in Cambodia.

When faithful Catholics put money in the second collection on Sunday morning for Catholic Relief Services believing the money is going to help the poor, why then is Catholic Relief Services giving CORE Group and MEDiCAM the money to help exterminate the poor?  Why is CRS giving any organization supporting the abortion its money, its name, and its leadership?

Mr. Kenney laudably calls his readers to voice their concern to CRS, but he is missing the point. The faithful may complain as loudly as they wish to CRS, but ultimately THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES ARE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for CRS, and they are the ones who must be pressured to immediately intervene and completely overhaul CRS, which has clearly become dedicated to the culture of death, even in a nation so deeply affected by murder in the 20th century, Cambodia. It is the utmost cruelty and immorality to grant even a single dollar to promote a "Catholic"-financed culture of death in the nation that suffered so much under the Khmer Rouge.

And, to make things worse, CRS uses lame excuses to separate the money it gives to these organizations from the use they make of it, as if the resources provided by CRS were not completely fungible in the revenue of each explictly pro-death organization. Even if the revenue sources are "separated", it naturally follows that the receiving organization will reallocate resources from one area in which it does not need the resources provided by a Catholic grant to another area that the Catholic charity is not willing to finance directly - though that is not even an excuse in the Cambodian case, in which CRS has membership in the death-promoting organization's executive committee.

So what will you do, most Reverend Pastors of America?

Posturing while giving $5 million to contraception-providing and abortion-lobbying "Charity"

How about a "Fortnight for Apologizing to the Faithful" now?

From LifeSiteNews:

U.S. bishops’ relief agency gives $5.3 million to major contraception-providing charity

July 17, 2012 - In the epic battle between the American Catholic bishops and the Obama Administration over being forced to pay for contraceptive coverage, the efforts of the bishops have been undermined time and again by individual Catholics and Catholic entities that support contraception. One major example of this is within the Bishops’ own jurisdiction.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS), “the official overseas relief and development agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops” has recently given millions to an organization that doles out contraceptives, including abortifacient ‘emergency contraception.’

The most recent CRS annual returns (2010) indicate that the largest CRS grant — $5.3 million — went to CARE, an international “relief and development organization,” that actively promotes and provides contraceptives for women in developing countries, and supports pro-abortion groups and legislation.

According to the 2010 990s, CRS gave $5,380,466 to CARE, which is noted on page 86 of the filing.

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The HLI [Human Life International] president noted that that CARE has made “‘reproductive health’—which typically includes contraception as well as abortion—a cornerstone of their ‘development’ strategies.” Because the revenues that CARE receives are fungible, he said, any funds given them would automatically support their whole program—including abortion lobbying and contraception. 

Regardless of one's opinion of the present U.S. Administration, do not things like these make the USCCB campaign at least look like mere political posturing, and undermine the positive view many non-Catholics have of it?

[Image from CARE's family planning and "Sexual and Reproductive Health" leaflet. Tip: reader]

The Crisis of the Church is a Crisis of Bishops: Bishop and President of Caritas-Latin America Surfin' Safari

Doctrinal preambles, declarations, professions of faith, discussions without end: it can be quite difficult for a Catholic bishop to prove that he is Catholic.

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Caritas in Rio

That is, not if he is the General Secretary of Caritas for Latin America and the Caribbean and President of Caritas Argentina, Bishop Fernando María Bargalló, of the Diocese of Merlo-Moreno, Argentina, responsible for the general administration of resources donated to the charitable activities of Caritas in a vast region filled with grave problems. He was recently seen in one of those endless useless meetings that characterize the post-Conciliar reality, with nothing to show for them - in this case, a meeting of the Latin-American and Caribbean Secretariat of Caritas Social Pastoral Ministry (Secretariado Latinoamericano y Caribeño de Pastoral Social Caritas - SELACC), preparing for some declaration on a current United Nations environmentalist meeting, in which the Caritas group is also present (image on the right, with Bishop Bargalló marked).

He was also recently in Mexico. Doing what? This is how he appeared today in several Argentine newspapers, joined by a representative of the fairer sex:

Caritas International placed under strict control of the Holy See

Perhaps this will prevent dissenting views in Caritas from now on. From the Bollettino of the Holy See Press Office:

In its 61 years of existence, Caritas Internationalishas always been a privileged instrument of the Church’s charitable activity. Drawing upon its long experience of this worthy institution, and in particular the developments of recent years, the Holy See has sought to update the juridical status of Caritas Internationalis, in order the better to support its activity in the context of the modern world.

History and characteristic features of Caritas Internationalis

During the Audience at which he received the participants in the 19th General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis on 27 May 2011, Pope Benedict XVI outlined the historical profile and ecclesial nature of this institution, which is a privileged setting for the participation of the lay faithful in the apostolate of the hierarchy (cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 27).

On that occasion, the Holy Father recalled that Caritas Internationalis cannot be assimilated into the major Non-Governmental Organizations, even though it carries out with exemplary professionalism and competence roles that they too fulfil, in particular the fight against poverty, the coordination of humanitarian aid and international advocacy.

Charity in obedience

For us Christians, God himself is the source of charity; and charity is understood not merely as generic benevolence but as self-giving, even to the sacrifice of one’s life for others in imitation of the example of Jesus Christ. The Church prolongs Christ’s saving mission in time and space: she wishes to reach out to every human being, moved by a concern that every individual come to know that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (cf. Rom 8:35).

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It should be noted that Caritas Internationalis is basically made up of the various national Caritas agencies. In comparison with many Church institutions and associations devoted to charity, Caritas is distinctive; despite the variety of canonical forms taken by the national agencies, all of them offer an outstanding aid to Bishops in their pastoral exercise of charity. This entails a particular ecclesial responsibility: that of letting oneself be guided by the Church’s Pastors.

"Humanism without God": Silent apostasy major challenge of the ChurchCharity not merely doing good, but theologically-based "works of faith"

From the remarkable address of Cardinal Robert Sarah (pdf), President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", to the General Assembly of Caritas International (the international federation that includes, among many others, American affiliate Catholic Charities, British  affiliate CAFOD, and French affiliate Secours Catholique - see previous post), now taking place in Rome:

For Pope Benedict XVI, the imperative and practice of charity, love of one’s neighbour, are vitally important. The Church cannot renounce her proclamation, even though nowadays, at least in the Western world, a humanism without God seems to have become an integral and lasting part of the prevailing culture. ... This particularly concerns the nations of what is called the First World, where economic wellbeing and the rush to consume inspire and nourish a life lived “as if God didn't exist”. Currently, faced with the serious problems of life, religious indifference and the total lack of meaning that is attributed to God are no less worrying nor deleterious than overt atheism. Together with enormous material, scientific and technological progress, the West is now experiencing a serious moral regression and a gradual “silent apostasy” (cf. Christifideles Laici, no. 34). Undoubtedly, since the beginning of his papacy, Pope Benedict XVI has considered this “religious indifference” and “silent apostasy” as the major challenge the Church has to take up today in her relations with the modern world. Therefore, he is more determined than ever to make our minds more aware and our faith more visible and more active, in order to show the world that the Church’s mission is deeply rooted in faith in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [Image: Pope Pius XII and the founding members of Caritas International, 1951.]

Vatican to Caritas: a Catholic institution must be Catholic

Quite a feud between the Apostolic See (through its Secretariat of State) and the supposedly Catholic international organization known as "Caritas" (its main American affiliate is Catholic Charities, and its main British affiliate is CAFOD). Since the position of Caritas International has been dubiously Catholic in the past few decades, the Holy See has at last intervened in what had become a scandalous situation.

The Tablet reports in horror:

The Vatican has indicated that it blocked Lesley-Anne Knight from a second term at the helm of the Church’s largest development organisation because it wants a new leader who can strengthen its Catholic identity and forge more cordial working relations with the Holy See.

Rome’s reasons for failing to allow the re-appointment of Dr Knight as secretary general of the Rome-based Caritas Internationalis (CI) are given in a letter sent by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB, to all the world’s episcopal conferences and seen this week by The Tablet.

“During the next four years particular attention will have to be given to harmonising the theological dimension of Caritas Internationalis … with its role as an organisation operating on the international stage,” says the three-page letter, dated 15 February. It adds that the next CI secretary general will also need to improve communication with other ecclesial bodies and with the dicasteries of the Roman Curia that have an “interest” in CI activities.

The letter, which was also sent to bishops responsible for the 165 member charities that make up the Caritas confederation, further indicates that the advocacy work that Caritas carries out must be better coordinated “in strict cooperation with the Holy See, which is specifically competent in this regard”.

Mrs. Knight's predecessor as secretary-general of Caritas International, Duncan MacLaren, had already been quite vocal defending his predecessor and attacking the Roman See in an article published in Australian Jesuit (what a shock!) website Eureka Street:

In an extraordinary move, Lesley-Anne Knight, my successor as Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis (CI, the Church's international relief agency), has not been granted the nihil obstat (basically, official approval) by the Vatican's Secretariat of State to stand for another four-year term.

There is outrage in the Confederation.

According to the statutes, a list of candidates must be presented timeously to the Holy See which then rings the secretary of the applicant's bishops' conference to ascertain whether the candidate is 'in good standing' with the Church.

What an outrage! The Roman and Apostolic See wants her main charitable institution to be Catholic and act in a clearly Catholic way? How dare they!?

Too bad for Mrs. Knight because, since the Pope's informal and indirect references to condoms last year, she was aching for some official policy allowing for a "change" in Caritas International regarding condoms... Is it too much to wonder, by the way, if Caritas workers do not already recommend or even distribute contraceptives in some places around the world?...

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Merci au Forum Catholique!