I'm sorry; is there some style guide that tells you *not* to define your acronyms? If there is, please find a different style guide to follow. Nobody should have to wade through alphabet soup to figure out what you're saying.
It did seem like the initialisms should have been placed in parentheses after the first use of the full names, and that the relationship between United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the Department of Justice, Peace & Human Development (JPHD), and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) could be better explained.
The initialism that’s missing from this story, though, is CST (Catholic Social Teaching). Because there seems to be some confusion about where CST ranks among the priorities of the Catholic Church in the US, it would have been appropriate to include that one in this story, too.
I think there's a big difference between CST, which the bishops constantly emphasize in it's T, and some kind of mandate that the USCCB be running, organizing, or funding the implementation of that T. There isn't some crisis in the Church in the US where Catholics don't know that they're supposed to help the poor; in fact, the danger is essentially the same as what's happened to the Church in Germany, where the institution became a secular NGO, lost funding through disaffiliation, and now eventually won't be able to fund its charitable works. The heyday for JPHD in the Bernadin/McCarrick era coincided with a massive turn in the American Episcopacy away from its liturgical and spiritual core, which hallowed out the number of practicing Catholics (and eventually even nominal Catholics). The absolute savagery of our modern times demonstrates that good-will towards the poor is an offspring of a vibrant spiritual and moral life and not a sui generis natural human ordering. The idea that we should "be nice to the poor" is a uniquely Christian idea, which means that you kind of need actual Christians to engender it. I think not a few bishops are looking around right now sensing that the future of Christianity is going to be a lot more Eucharistic processions and a lot less German Synodal Way.
"There isn't some crisis in the Church in the US where Catholics don't know that they're supposed to help the poor;"
There is not. But that is not what CCHD does, which does suggest there is a crisis in the Church in the US where many Catholics don't know that CST and CCHD call us to not limit ourselves to charity (helping the poor) but addressing the root causes of poverty. Justice AND charity.
The acronyms seem to be confusing here, again. Catholic Social Teaching is not synonymous with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Social teaching is not the same thing as a program of development nor are the two on a level. A disagreement with or lack of knowledge of CCHD is not a 'crisis in the Church.' Not supporting the Campaign for Human Development is not the same as refusing either charity or understanding to the poor. There's quite a bit of argument about how to help poor people truly escape poverty. Consider the bishop who is calling for educations efforts to be increased as an example.
I would agree. Catholics in good faith can have various strategies, initiatives and programs for responding to poverty, abortion, adultery, education, racism etc. But there is a distinction between charity (helping the poor) and justice (empowering the poor and eliminating the root causes of poverty).
So, I think if there was a USCCB organization that essentially became a wing of the Republican Party; for example, if the Acton Institute and National Rifle Institution had a baby and it was funded by Sunday tax collections, Catholics would be right to question whether its continuation was prudent. The CCHD smells a little too much of Das Kapital for a lot of Catholics and its functions could easily be recreated at a local level with greater oversight.
I think you have little understanding of CCHD programs. Their scent is the smell of justice. Father Kolping would be proud of them; Mr. Marx, not so much.
Without CCHD, Catholic social action is just welfarism.
"Lifesite" has about as much credibility as Stormy Daniels has virginity.
They first need to apologize for making this same accusation some years ago of a CCHD grantee in Wisconsin being "pro-abortion" for being part of a statewide federation that worked on public policy issues where the statewide group attended a national conference on organizing methods that took all comers as registrants where one of the hundreds of registrants was Planned Parenthood.
Once they correct their previous lies and disinformation, one can then consider their new accusations.
Associated Press style would be to use the full term on first reference (with no acronym in parentheses) and the acronym on second reference. It's arguable whether USCCB would need to be spelled out or has become its own term (see: UPS or NCAA).
Associated Press style, which is what is frequently used in news writing, does usually define acronyms on first reference (from what I remember of my olden days) and then uses the acronym on all subsequent references. It does not use parenthesis around first or subsequent use of acronyms because that format is reserved for publicly traded stocks.
Acronyms that are common, like USCCB when used on a news site dedicated to catholic news, can probably be used without fully spelling out the name of the body on first reference.
There might be some legitimate questions as to why these initiatives are the first. But my guess is that this is simply another step in the downsizing of all elements of the Church in the US due to the fact that the laity (remember us, the people who pay the bill???) have lost confidence in the American Church. Other departments will follow soon, parishes and school will close, dioceses will cut back. And the episcopacy will continue to accept a retreat rather actually respectfully interact with the lay faithful.
Don't I remember the CCHD being involved in activities contradictory to Church teaching, perhaps supporting LGBTQ or abortion? Maybe a subgroup?
It's important to note that the USCCB is a powerful target for activists. It has enormous influence in the US Church, and poor resources to protect itself from external or internal corrosion—think Msgr Burrill coordinating the response to gay abuse by priests, while using an app for gay hookups.
Much thanks for the ongoing explanations and facts relating to this financial issue.
I'm sorry; is there some style guide that tells you *not* to define your acronyms? If there is, please find a different style guide to follow. Nobody should have to wade through alphabet soup to figure out what you're saying.
To some observers, the layoffs in the Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development have been taken as the start of a kind of ideological purge.
They are the two departments they are taking about. USCCB I think is self explanatory.
It did seem like the initialisms should have been placed in parentheses after the first use of the full names, and that the relationship between United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the Department of Justice, Peace & Human Development (JPHD), and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) could be better explained.
The initialism that’s missing from this story, though, is CST (Catholic Social Teaching). Because there seems to be some confusion about where CST ranks among the priorities of the Catholic Church in the US, it would have been appropriate to include that one in this story, too.
I think there's a big difference between CST, which the bishops constantly emphasize in it's T, and some kind of mandate that the USCCB be running, organizing, or funding the implementation of that T. There isn't some crisis in the Church in the US where Catholics don't know that they're supposed to help the poor; in fact, the danger is essentially the same as what's happened to the Church in Germany, where the institution became a secular NGO, lost funding through disaffiliation, and now eventually won't be able to fund its charitable works. The heyday for JPHD in the Bernadin/McCarrick era coincided with a massive turn in the American Episcopacy away from its liturgical and spiritual core, which hallowed out the number of practicing Catholics (and eventually even nominal Catholics). The absolute savagery of our modern times demonstrates that good-will towards the poor is an offspring of a vibrant spiritual and moral life and not a sui generis natural human ordering. The idea that we should "be nice to the poor" is a uniquely Christian idea, which means that you kind of need actual Christians to engender it. I think not a few bishops are looking around right now sensing that the future of Christianity is going to be a lot more Eucharistic processions and a lot less German Synodal Way.
"There isn't some crisis in the Church in the US where Catholics don't know that they're supposed to help the poor;"
There is not. But that is not what CCHD does, which does suggest there is a crisis in the Church in the US where many Catholics don't know that CST and CCHD call us to not limit ourselves to charity (helping the poor) but addressing the root causes of poverty. Justice AND charity.
The acronyms seem to be confusing here, again. Catholic Social Teaching is not synonymous with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Social teaching is not the same thing as a program of development nor are the two on a level. A disagreement with or lack of knowledge of CCHD is not a 'crisis in the Church.' Not supporting the Campaign for Human Development is not the same as refusing either charity or understanding to the poor. There's quite a bit of argument about how to help poor people truly escape poverty. Consider the bishop who is calling for educations efforts to be increased as an example.
I would agree. Catholics in good faith can have various strategies, initiatives and programs for responding to poverty, abortion, adultery, education, racism etc. But there is a distinction between charity (helping the poor) and justice (empowering the poor and eliminating the root causes of poverty).
So, I think if there was a USCCB organization that essentially became a wing of the Republican Party; for example, if the Acton Institute and National Rifle Institution had a baby and it was funded by Sunday tax collections, Catholics would be right to question whether its continuation was prudent. The CCHD smells a little too much of Das Kapital for a lot of Catholics and its functions could easily be recreated at a local level with greater oversight.
I think you have little understanding of CCHD programs. Their scent is the smell of justice. Father Kolping would be proud of them; Mr. Marx, not so much.
Without CCHD, Catholic social action is just welfarism.
https://www.catholicbusinessjournal.com/voices/bishops-corner/the-lepanto-institute-finds-that-usccb-catholic-campaign-for-human-development-gave-grants-to-openly-pro-abortion-organizations/
"Lifesite" has about as much credibility as Stormy Daniels has virginity.
They first need to apologize for making this same accusation some years ago of a CCHD grantee in Wisconsin being "pro-abortion" for being part of a statewide federation that worked on public policy issues where the statewide group attended a national conference on organizing methods that took all comers as registrants where one of the hundreds of registrants was Planned Parenthood.
Once they correct their previous lies and disinformation, one can then consider their new accusations.
Associated Press style would be to use the full term on first reference (with no acronym in parentheses) and the acronym on second reference. It's arguable whether USCCB would need to be spelled out or has become its own term (see: UPS or NCAA).
Thanks for the info!
Associated Press style, which is what is frequently used in news writing, does usually define acronyms on first reference (from what I remember of my olden days) and then uses the acronym on all subsequent references. It does not use parenthesis around first or subsequent use of acronyms because that format is reserved for publicly traded stocks.
Acronyms that are common, like USCCB when used on a news site dedicated to catholic news, can probably be used without fully spelling out the name of the body on first reference.
There might be some legitimate questions as to why these initiatives are the first. But my guess is that this is simply another step in the downsizing of all elements of the Church in the US due to the fact that the laity (remember us, the people who pay the bill???) have lost confidence in the American Church. Other departments will follow soon, parishes and school will close, dioceses will cut back. And the episcopacy will continue to accept a retreat rather actually respectfully interact with the lay faithful.
Don't I remember the CCHD being involved in activities contradictory to Church teaching, perhaps supporting LGBTQ or abortion? Maybe a subgroup?
It's important to note that the USCCB is a powerful target for activists. It has enormous influence in the US Church, and poor resources to protect itself from external or internal corrosion—think Msgr Burrill coordinating the response to gay abuse by priests, while using an app for gay hookups.