MEDIA RELEASE
https://www.lepantoin.org/lepanto-institute-responds-to-bishop-chairman-of-catholic-relief-services/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 March 2021
CONTACT: Michael Hichborn
540.847.5501|michael@lepantoin.net

Lepanto Institute Responds to Bishop
Chairman of Catholic Relief Services

Washington, DC – The Lepanto Institute today issued a video response to an internal memo circulated by the chairman of Catholic Relief Services, Bishop Frank Caggiano.  In January, Bp. Caggiano wrote to his brother bishops, warning that the Lepanto Institute could release new revelations concerning Catholic Relief Services in order to harm CRS’ annual rice bowl collection. Bp. Caggiano also alleged that Lepanto’s “allegations are not new and rely on misleading interpretations, inaccurate information, or innuendo.” 

In response to Bp. Caggiano’s memo, the Lepanto Institute took the opportunity to address his false assertions and refusal to explain serious charges of gross immorality contained in CRS projects in Africa.

The video response can be viewed here: www.lepantoin.org/lepanto-institute-responds-to-bishop-chairman-of-catholic-relief-services/

“Last year, we proved that CRS created referral networks that included abortion and contraception providers in both Cameroon and Nigeria,” said Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute. “We also proved that CRS implemented a government-created project called DREAMS that made the increased use of contraception one of its primary objectives, and we proved that CRS purchased and utilized two curriculums that were saturated with the promotion of contraception.  Each of these reports were fully documented with sources from Catholic Relief Services, its project websites, and government documents, and all CRS has to say is that our allegations are ‘misleading and inaccurate.’”

The Lepanto Institute’s video response analyzed Bp. Caggiano’s letter, as well as an explanation he provided to his brother bishops last year regarding reports on CRS’s documents promoting the use of condoms.  It also addresses CRS’s management of an internet-based resource library that contains documents promoting abortion, contraception and condoms.

“Bp. Caggiano’s addendum claimed that the website OVCsupport.org, maintained by CRS, had removed all documents that promote grave immorality,” Hichborn said.  “However, we prove in our video response that the documents he says were removed were still active on the website. What CRS did was change the algorithm for the website’s search tool so that certain documents couldn’t be found through it, giving the appearance that they had been removed.”

The Lepanto Institute is asking bishops to call for a complete, independent audit of CRS’s programs and projects, specifically those detailed in recent reports.

“We’ve met with CRS staff on multiple occasions, seeking answers to the evidences we’ve provided in our reports,” said Hichborn.  “But instead of answers, we only received dismissals.  We would welcome an opportunity to present our information to an independent review board willing to fully audit, analyze, and explain whether or not the concerns in our reports are well founded.”

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The Lepanto Institute for the Restoration of All Things in Christ is a research and education organization dedicated to the defense of the Catholic Church against assaults from without as well as from within. Founded in 2014, the Lepanto Institute has exposed several instances of Catholic or Catholic-affiliated organizations being directly involved in events or other matters directly contrary to Church teaching. www.LepantoIn.org