I hit the floor when I read this, so in all fairness please sit down before proceeding. Now take a deep breath because this one is a doozy!

Commonwealth Catholic Charities of Richmond (CCR) has decided that being ‘Catholic’ is too restrictive for them. Normally you would think this is something that the USCCB would, or if need be the Pope, could and would easily dispatch an entourage of priests and cannon lawyers to straighten out the matter. Unfortunately CCR has not just rejected the Church; they have broken some very serious laws - state and federal laws - and the entourage knocking at their door isn’t the Papal Swiss Guard, but the “federales.”

Here’s the scoop: On January 18, 2008 a Guatemalan female was under the “protection” of CCR because she was in the US illegally. As of this date, the unnamed girl was pregnant, sixteen years of age, was without guardian, and already had one child with her. Two months prior to the date in question, CCR paid for and had a doctor fit the young girl with a contraceptive device. No, not a Catholic organization.

Now we come back to the date in question, January 18. On this date CCR decided to procure an abortion for the young immigrant. Because she was underage, an employee of CCR signed the consent form in place of her guardian. This, by the way, is against Virginia law. Virginia notification law stipulates that at least one parent or legal guardian must give consent. Social workers cannot sign consent forms for an abortion. Again, not a Catholic organization.

On top of all of the Catholic violations and state violations, the young Guatemalan woman was a ward of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services. This naturally pulls the federal government into the mix. HHS provides $7.6 million a year to the USCCB’s foster care of immigrant children programs, which are subcontracted to groups like CCR. HHS spokesman Kenneth Wolfe expressed extreme disappointment upon learning that CCR had procured an abortion for the young girl:

“These federal funds are awarded with the clear purpose of caring for unaccompanied minors here from other countries. To that end, we were surprised and disappointed to learn of a chapter of Catholic Charities using this funding to facilitate a minor procuring an abortion. We have also requested several corrective actions be taken by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops…in order to prevent this type of abuse from happening again. Our agency is one that supports human life, and we take that responsibility seriously.”

Mr. Wolfe added that the case has been referred to HHS Inspector General Timothy Menke because it might violate Virginia law and contradicts federal policy. According to federal sources, four employees of CCR have been fired and one supervisor with the bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services agency has been suspended.

You are probably asking what the bishops have done about this scandal and why you are just now hearing about it. The simple answer is because Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond just got around to “releasing” his information - along with Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration; and Bishop Michael Driscoll, Episcopal liaison to Catholic Charities, USA - in a private letter to his brother bishops dated April 29, 2008. The letter was in response to the April 23 investigation by the federal authorities. Of course, this scandal and the surrounding information is just now becoming public knowledge. The Wanderer was the first to release quotations from Bishop DiLorenzo’s letter in the early online edition of their June 19 paper.

Naturally I pray that the bishops will do more than just fire those responsible for this atrocity. I am hoping beyond hope that Bishop DiLorenzo had no knowledge or compliance of the horrific acts that go on at the Catholic Charities within his Diocese, but more importantly I urge him to take swift action to help his flock back to Christ’s Church.