Following the annual assembly of the heresy-minded Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP), we continue our series of reports by spotlighting the sponsors and vendors helping to finance the AUSCP’s activities.
The Lepanto Institute has produced several reports on the actions and positions taken by the AUSCP, and links to some of these reports are as follows:
- AUSCP Officially Called for Women’s Ordination to the Priesthood
- AUSCP Gives Venue to Condemned LGBT Organizations
- AUSCP’s Plan for Ordained Women and Priestless parishes
- AUSCP’s Idea for Priestly Formation and Info on Conference speakers
- AUSCP’s Desire to Obtain Funding from Unsuspecting, Pew-sitting Catholics
- AUSCP’s Membership in an International Network of Heretical Organizations
- AUSCP’s Alliance with Heretical, Pro-Sodomy Organizations
- AUSCP’s Keynote Address from Notorious Priest, Fr. Richard Rohr
- AUSCP’s Vision of the Church in Relation to the Vision of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich
In short, this is an organization that can in no way be funded, supported, or endorsed by a faithful Catholic without participating in its agenda. Sadly, no-fewer than 8 active bishops have been identified as participants or members in the AUSCP’s annual assembly. Cdl. Cupich was this year’s keynote speaker at the AUSCP’s annual assembly. Abp. Wester of Santa Fe, NM is the AUSCP’s liaison to the USCCB. Abp. Robert Carlson said Mass for the AUSCP this year, indicating that this was his third time doing so. Abp. Wilton Gregory spoke at the AUSCP assembly in Atlanta, GA, as did Bp. McElroy and Bp. Hartmayer. Bp. Stowe of Lexington, KY is a member of the AUSCP, and a recent AUSCP newsletter indicated that the recently deceased Bp. Blair was a member also.
Upon examining the AUSCP program book, there is a list of 19 sponsors and vendors/exhibitors. We’re posting the pages from the AUSCP program book for proof.
According to the AUSCP’s Vendor/Exhibitor contract for 2018, vendors and exhibitors spend between $100-$6,000.
Each of these identified sponsors, Unbound, Southdown Institute, and Food for the Poor, had full-page ads in the program book, which means their funding level of the AUSCP was $6,000 a piece:
This is the page listing all of the AUSCP assembly vendors and exhibitors, whose contributions ranged from $100-$495, depending upon which package they paid for:
The Lepanto Institute reached out to these sponsors and exhibitors to inform them of the heretical positions taken by the AUSCP and to give them an opportunity to refuse future participation. We did not, however, reach out to New Ways Ministry, Voice of the Faithful, FutureChurch and Care of Creation because it was abundantly clear that their positions were already in line with AUSCP’s.
After providing a summary of our findings regarding the AUSCP and links to our reports, we asked each organization the following three questions:
- Was [your organization] aware of the positions taken by the AUSCP, indicated above?
- Does [your organization] agree with the positions taken by the AUSCP?
- Will [your organization] remain a sponsor of the AUSCP, despite knowing these positions are taken by the organization?
To date, the Lepanto Institute has received responses from only two of these organizations, and spoke personally with the president of a third over the phone.
The two organizations who responded via email were Paulist Press and the Southdown Institute.
Response from Southdown Institute
Listed as a sponsor of the AUSCP event, and not just as a vendor, Southdown Institute’s response was as follows:
Dear Mr. Hichborn,
Thank you for your email and your concern for our beloved Roman Catholic Church community. You are correct about our presence at the AUSCP convention as well as our sponsoring role. We attend every year as it is one of the largest, maybe the largest organization of Roman Catholic priests in the U.S. and we believe it is important to promote the healing ministry that we offer at Southdown to that population.
As a mental health organization, we do this type of exhibiting and sponsoring at many different conferences around the country. We are also present at the LCWR conference, the CMSM conference, the National Vocations Directors Conference, the Conference of Bishops etc… In general, our presence at conferences is not connected to us being in agreement or disagreement with specific content or positions of an organization, but is reflective of us offering a ministry of healing to dedicated men and women religious and clergy. All of the organizations whose conferences we attend are well-established in the Roman Catholic Church and are supported by the Church’s hierarchy, as seen in the presence of Cardinal Cupich as keynote speaker, Archbishop Wester as episcopal advisor, and the celebration of Mass by Archbishop Carlson.
I am grateful that you are looking out for the health and well-being of our Catholic Church community. Those Gospel values are close to our hearts here at Southdown as we do our part in bringing healing and support to the clergy and religious who are in leadership. Please be assured of my prayers, and let me know if there is anything else I can do to be of help.
Blessings on you and your loved ones.
In Christ,
Fr. Stephan Kappler
Rev. Stephan Kappler, PsyD
President & Chief Psychologist
Response from Paulist Press
The initial email we received from Paulist Press simply stated Paulist Press’ vision and mission and failed to address any of the concerns in our initial email. After pointing out this glaring omission, we received the following response from Paulist Press:
Michael,
I am not a spokesperson for Paulist Press. All I know is the AUSCP has never supported the priestly ordination of women, so this statement/observation on your part is untrue. As for your other statements, I have no knowledge of AUSCP positions or affiliations. I am a marketing/sales person for Paulist Press, we bring/display our publications to a variety of potential markets and attend many different exhibitions throughout the United States and have representation overseas. We have been told by AUSCP that all their priest members are in good standing within their diocese and therefore we view the members of AUSCP as potential customers for our publications.
Enjoy the holiday weekend.
Bob Byrns
Paulist Press
We replied with our article detailing AUSCP’s position paper that calls for the ordination of women, and quoted the relevant portion, which states:
“The baptized have a right to enhanced sacramental opportunities. Limiting ordained ministry to males is an act of injustice to the baptized. [emphasis added] Likewise, depriving one half of the human race of the capacity to serve as ordained ministers is an act of injustice.”
This response email to Paulist Press closed by asking for a statement from a spokesman from the organization to the specific question, “Given that AUSCP has made the above statement in direct conflict with the official teaching of the Magisterium, will Paulist Press continue to be a vendor/exhibitor at AUSCP events in the future?”
The one-line response we received nearly two weeks ago simply said, “Thank you for your reply. I will discuss your concerns with the Paulist Fathers who operate the mission of the Paulist Press.”
Response from Cross Catholic Outreach
On July 15, we spoke over the phone with Jim Cavnar, the president of Cross Catholic Outreach. We commended Cross Catholic for its faithfulness in its field of work, letting Mr. Cavnar know that we have often recommended Cross Catholic Outreach as a charitable organization in line with Catholic teaching. Sadly, due to Mr. Cavnar’s decision to continue paying for vending space at the AUSCP’s annual assembly, we can no longer do this.
This is the second year that Cross Catholic had a table at the AUSCP’s event, and while Mr. Cavnar said that they clearly don’t support AUSCP’s positions on women’s ordination or homosexuals in the clergy, Cross Catholic Outreach wants to table there in order to recruit priests to work for them. Mr. Cavnar attempted to compare tabling at an event specifically geared toward spreading heresy throughout the Church with taking an ad out in the New York Times. Of course, recruiting priests from a pool as polluted by heresy as the AUSCP will only ultimately lead to the recruitment of heresy-minded priests.
Mr. Cavnar also indicated that the AUSCP has the support and participation of a number of bishops, which is precisely one of the problems we continue to point out.
In the end, Mr. Cavnar was informed of the AUSCP’s positions, and despite this, he indicated that Cross Catholic Outreach would nonetheless continue to buy a table at its annual events.
Other Sponsors/Vendors
The following other sponsors and vendors identified in AUSCP’s program booklet have not responded to our questions and must be assumed to be in agreement with AUSCP. Clearly, as a result of this sponsorship, the Lepanto Institute recommends withdrawing financial support with a note indicating why you will no longer be supporting them:
Unbound
Food for the Poor
The Catholic Tour
The Cana Institute
Catholic Climate Covenant
Little Books of the Diocese of Saginaw
National Association for Lay Ministers
St. John’s University; School of Theology and Seminary
Guest House
Catholic Labor Network
Sanctuary of Hope, Inc.
I will continue my monthly support of a poor elderly woman in Guatemala, via Unbound. While Unbound would understand my reasons for withdrawing support I am sure Maria would not.
I certainly don’t agree with the heretical stands of the AUSCP, but I willnot abandon Maria.
Completely understood … it is a very difficult problem, and not an easy one to untangle. That said, a phone call or email to Unbound over this issue might go a long way!
Same boat, Ramona! I contacted Unbound here https://www.unbound.org/TopMenu/ContactUs. Maybe enough people calling them on it, even without threatening to quit, will get the message across.
Mr. Hichborn, where is a good place to look for a list of organizations that help people in this life without damaging their prospects in the next?
Jenny,
We are constantly searching for organizations we can endorse. Cross Catholic, until recently, had been on our “safe” list. If you go to our Charity Reports (linked at the top of the page), you can see the organizations we’ve investigated and profiled, marking them as either “safe” or “not safe.”
God bless,
Michael
Thank you! My mother would have said, “If it was a snake, it would have bit me!”
I got a thoughtful reply from Unbound, copied below. I was heartened: they don’t support auscp, and it sounds like they were just there in search of donors; heretics’ money serves the poor as well as anybody’s, right?
Dear Jenny,
Thank you for your email and support of Valeriana. We appreciate your question. We do not support the AUSCP, and we do not engage in doctrinal disagreements as this is beyond the scope of our mission. Deeply rooted in Catholic social teaching, Unbound’s mission is to serve the poor and marginalized of the world. In order to do that we engage with various individuals and groups from across the spectrum of Catholicism. We are always trying to find ways to obtain new sponsors.We continue to keep our sponsored friends and their families our priority in all that we do.
Thank you for your support of Valeriana through Unbound.
Sincerely,
Bekkah H.
Sponsor Services
Sounds like carefully crafted PR to me (I would use two different letters, but this is a family web site)
Jenny that is a standard message you will get from Unbound. You should re-read that message again that Michael Hichborn wrote. We are being duped! Even as I write today they are seeking donations for “Global Change” and or be a “Agent of Change for a new Unbound platform”.
~In His name,
Linda
I sponsored a boy form Unbound through a church in Longview Texas. After a time, something didn’t seem right. The name for one. Anyway we quit.
Mine’s a 13 year old girl named Wanda. I feel the same as you. However, I will make it known to Unbound that my support may be withdrawn in the near future if they don’t stop this material cooperation with the evils of heresy.
How certain can Ramona Weakland Warden be that Unbound is not diverting part of her contributions meant for the poor elderly Guatemalan woman to other dissident groups. I am severing my twenty-two year support of Unbound. And I may demand the return of the contributions I have made this year.
Dear Michael,
Greetings in Christ!
Thank you for this article.
We’ve had priests from Unbound, Cross Catholic and food for the poor visit our Parishes .
All 3 of these priests incidentally manifested narcissistic behavior. I was unfortunately the transportation man assigned to these guys.
A few things they shared in common: they want women ordained, they don’t believe in angels or demons or the devil. They are pro homosexual agenda, and dislike the President of the United States.
Very interesting. It seems they are all recruiting from the same polluted pool.
I appreciate your research. You may want to clarify that this Unbound group is different from the Heart of the Father Ministries that run the Unbound program based on the book by Neal Lozano.
I also work through Unbound to provide living and educational expenses for, at the moment, two women in the Philippines. For years I have been impressed with the quality of their programs and I will continue my support because I have not found another comparable organization and I do not want to abandon the ladies. But I will notify Unbound of my disapproval of their support of the AUSCP.
I have dropped my support to Food for the Poor and cancelled 2 sponsorships through Unbound. I informed both organizations that since they support a dissident Catholic group that I can no longer give money to either of them. I cannot support organizations that do some good but also support evil.
We stopped giving to Food for the Poor earlier this year. My research into FFTP revealed that there is no Catholic representation from the United States on their board, that their directors make hefty salaries and that, in addition to food, they also provide medicines. I wondered how, without Catholic oversight, we could be sure the medicines did not include contraceptives and abortifacients.
I also wrote to Nancy Werner, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, reporting my findings since an envelope for FFTP had been included in an issue of the St Louis Review. The reply I received stated that they would check into it. I never received a follow-up.
I spoke with a representative of Food for the Poor, who informed me that they had sponsored Cupich’s presentation. They also told me that they would continue to support anyone who supports the common good.
Please, anyone who supports Food for the Poor through monthly deductions from a credit card, remember that, while it’s important to let FFTP know you’re unhappy with them by an appropriate e-mail, you must go to their site and deactivate that credit card authorization or FFTP will continue to get your money. At the site, you can again let them know forcefully just why you refuse to have anything more to do with them.
Michael,
We stopped monthly contribution with Cross Catholic Outreach. Seems that in the past year or so, they have added some top VP’s to their administration who are making six-figure salaries! Yet, Cross has always stated that 90+ % of our contributions go directly to the poor children in the Caribbean. Their big emphasis was always on Haiti, but if you go to their website, you can see Haiti is down on the list of those helped. The most money is going to Central America. If all this “help” is going there, why the thousands in caravans making their way to the US? Hmmm…
Michael, you do tough work. May the Lord bless you and fortify you.
I for one, appreciate very much the information you provide us. There is no other way we could know if an organization we support, is truly good for the ones they claim to help.
As a side-note. I was on LifeSite last night and went to post a very short comment, and was told by Disquis that I am banned. Really? Has anyone else mentioned they were banned from posting on Life Site?
How Sad! I always thought that Food for the Poor and Cross Catholic Outreach were safe. I stopped donating to Catholic Relief Services years ago when I found out they were promoting contraception. Now that I found out about these charities, they too will be on my “do not donate” list, and I will let others know why I have taken this action. Thank you for your continued investigation of charities and your commitment to the Church’s magisterial teachings!
This information is very worthwhile. My wife and I have supported Cross Catholic and Unbound for many years. We were recently discussing including both in our will. This certainly puts that action on hold. Coincidentally, I was recently told that one of the top people with Unbound is a member of our parish. I am going to further pursue that information to see if it is factual and if so attempt to make contact with that person.
Dan
Is MISSIO a good organization to donate to?
I spoke with Unbound too but I felt as though the response is similar to saying we don’t support Planned Parenthood’s abortions, just healthcare. As if that amount, no matter how small, is not supporting the teachings. Sorry, as much as I like Unbound I am done with supporting anything directly or indirectly that is not authentically Catholic. Exactly why I stopped giving to CCHD and CRS years ago. Thank you so much Michael for your investigative work. The only way to stop these progressive heretical organizations like AUSPC is to not fund them or their sponsors.
Which UNBOUND group is designated here?
The excuse that a particular charity will go anywhere to recruit priests or donations for its labors signals a divorce between the charity and true Charity. We need to support and multiply charities whose works of mercy are rooted in the authentic faith, moral teachings, and worship of the Church, in the one Lord Jesus Christ without Whom we can do nothing that bears fruit for the Kingdom. Otherwise, as St. Teresa of Calcutta said so well, it’s only social work at best that we’re advancing, sometimes good in itself, but not work in the Lord’s vineyard. And sometimes, even as social work, what we would wind up advancing is downright evil.
My husband and I have been donating to Unbound ( previously called Christian Foundation for Children and Aging) for many, many years and last donated to our sponsored child in April. When Michael posted that this organization sponsored a full page ad in the program for the heretical group of dissident Catholic priests, bishops and other religious, I called them to verify this and the person I spoke with did not deny their involvement in seeking exposure to get more sponsors for the children….that being said, I was emphatic that we could no longer donate if our donation was used in part for this purpose, even when he said that they did not share the views of the AUSCP! At this point, I firmly said that I was sorry they felt it necessary to monetarily support this group and that the end did not justify the means and we would have to part ways. I also shared that there are many Catholic organizations that stay true to the Church and we would continue to help them!!! Sorry to leave but need to stand true to our Church!!
I am looking at the Charity Reports list today. Why is Cross Catholic listed as “Safe”? The above assessment would seem to put it on the “Not Safe” list.
I was wondering the same; please clarify.
My family has supported Samaritan’s Purse and their Operation Christmas Child program the past few years. I only learned of Cross Catholic’s similar program last week and would prefer to support a Catholic organization.
Such a shame it’s SO difficult to find an authentic Catholic charity.