Over the years, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has provided grants to the organization called Congregations United to Serve Humanity (CUSH). From 2012–2018, the CCHD provided a total of $202,000 to CUSH, after which time it hadn’t received a grant again until the 2021–2022 grants cycle. The recently published CCHD grants list for 2021–2022 shows that CUSH received a grant of $45,000 for that year.
On Sept. 29 of this year, [Wisconsin’s] Kenosha News reported that CUSH was planning to hold a book drive to collect “banned books” to “help stock [a] proposed LGBTQ youth center.” The books are said to be intended for “a library at a proposed Kenosha-based LGBTQ center for middle and high school youth.” In the article, CUSH organizer Lori Hawkins said:
The reason we’re doing this is really to raise awareness. There’s a lot of books that are on the banned books list and have been in the past that we think people will be surprised to learn about. But we’re really looking at getting books that we can put into this library for the LGBTQ youth center.
On Oct. 5, 2023, Kenosha News interviewed Lori Hawkins, CUSH’s executive director and community organizer about the “banned books” drive.
At 2:29 in the Kenosha News segment, Gender Queer is being held by a CUSH volunteer alongside The LGBTQ+ History Book, All Boys Aren’t Blue, and This Book is Gay, all of which are aimed at grooming children and young adolescents.
Banned books drive
To emphasize this point, CUSH even posted an image on its own Facebook page showing a more complete collection of such books.
Explicit Material
Gender Queer, collected by CUSH for the drive, is a graphic novel that includes a pornographic depiction of a sexually confused male teenager performing oral sex on another male teenager. This censored image from Gender Queer is indicative of just how grossly immoral this book is.
This Book is Gay, also collected by CUSH with the intention of providing it to minors, contains graphic descriptions of sex acts as an instructional manual. A review of the book reveals that, beginning on page 156, the reader is instructed on the use of homosexual hookup apps. Beginning on page 171 is a section on erogenous zones, including a male diagram with tips on sexual pleasure. Beginning on page 173 are instructions on mutual masturbation, oral sex and anal sex. On March 28, 2023, the Florida Standard posted a couple of offensive pages from the book.
Bp. Timothy Senior
(Photo: Philadelphia archdiocese)
Also collected by CUSH is the book All Boys Aren’t Blue. The book contains multiple scenes of homosexual oral sex and anal sex. The graphic scenes can be read about here at Parents Defending Education.
Bishop: ‘Unfounded’ Concerns
Given the absolutely blatant intention to sexually groom young children, one has to wonder how this kind of organization could possibly have received funding from the Catholic Church.
Responding to a recent mailing from the Lepanto Institute containing reports on CCHD grantees which went to all Catholic bishops of the United States, Bp. Timothy Senior, current chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee for the CCHD, sent a letter to all U.S. bishops claiming, “The staff of CCHD have confirmed that the concerns expressed by the Lepanto Institute regarding these groups are unfounded.”
He continued:
Individuals and groups such as the Lepanto Institute have used inflammatory language and imagery which mislead. These groups have sown seeds of doubt about the great work of CCHD and incite fear and uncertainty in the minds of faithful Catholics. …
As you receive inquiries from faithful Catholics, priests, deacons, religious, or seminarians in your diocese, I encourage you to assure them that these organizations misrepresent CCHD.
All of the initiatives that are supported with CCHD funding have undergone a thorough application process, which includes the approval by the local bishop, and the national subcommittee of bishops, and are closely monitored throughout the length of their grant to ensure that the terms of the grant agreement are strictly followed. Catholics can be confident that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development does not fund organizations that violate the moral or social teaching of the Church. (emphasis added)
Despite the platitudes and assurances from Bp. Senior, groups like CUSH continue to receive CCHD funds. And this isn’t entirely surprising, considering CUSH’s relationship with two Catholic parishes in the Milwaukee archdiocese. According to CUSH’s member congregation page, St. Mary Catholic Church and St. Mark Catholic Church are both members.
Read the rest at Lepanto Institute.
