A reader provided us this important information. We encourage all of our readers to consider the following:
One of the most important things we can do to make our voice heard in the Church today is to write letters.
For example, if one is withholding CSA funding because of how such funds have been used in the past (i.e., without regard to Church teaching on abortion, contraception, and more), or because there is not enough transparency regarding, even, how funds are used locally (e.g. with respect to Fr. Matthew Cowan), please write a respectful letter to Bishop Raica and inform him of your reasons.
Similarly, if you are able to write a respectful letter in support of Fr. Matthew Cowan addressed to Bishop Raica in Gaylord, please also send a copy to the Apostolic Nuncio in Washington, DC.
Addresses for Bishop Raica and the Apostolic Nuncio are reprinted below, with instructions on how to greet each recipient.
We have been advised that such letters ought to be sent via registered mail (signature required) so that the sender has evidence of receipt. Under canon law, we are told, such letters cannot be ignored, but rather, must receive a response from the bishop or archbishop to whom they are addressed.
LETTER TO BISHOP RAICA
Such a letter should be addressed as follows:
VIA REGISTERED MAIL
Most Reverend Steven J. Raica,
Bishop of Gaylord
611 W. North Street
Gaylord, MI 49735
The salutation of such a letter should read as follows:
Your Excellency: OR
Dear Bishop Raica:**
**Use the second form only if you know the Bishop rather well.
Your closing can read as follows:
“Respectfully yours in Christ,”
LETTER TO THE APOSTOLIC NUNCIO
Such a letter should be addressed as follows:
VIA REGISTERED MAIL
His Excellency, The Most Reverend Christophe Pierre
Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America
3339 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008-3610
The salutation of such a letter should read as follows:
Your Excellency: OR
Dear Archbishop Pierre:**
**Use the second form only if you know the Archbishop rather well.
Your closing can read as follows:
“Respectfully yours in Christ,”
Some reasons to withhold funding may be learned from Michael Hitchborn’s research regarding the US bishops’ grants to ISN and a Rwandan contraception project. Also, take a look at Christine Niles’ excellent article (linked below) summarizing the Saul-Alinsky-linked genesis of the US bishops’ original “poverty-fighting” organization known as CCHD (“Catholic Campaign for Human Development”), which is now using other names, and whose activities are funded by your CSA donations. For evidence of this, please look at the Gaylord CSA pie chart linked here, and be sure to open and review the “PDF” supporting documents such as the “Collections Calendar” and “Budget” documents. Further issues with church donations are well documented by Elizabeth Yore (link below).
To read Christine Niles’ article, copy this into your browser: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/the-radical-beginnings-of-the-cchd
To read Elizabeth Yore’s article, copy this into your browser:
https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4449-peter-s-pence-soros-pence-pope-to-give-1-million-to-illegal-immigrants
To read Rey Flores’s historical critique of CCHD from 2011, copy this into your browser.
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2011/the-catholic-campaign-for-human-development-reform-or-bust