Atheist Soros Funds Catholic Groups

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By Cliff Kincaid

The critical role of the Catholic Church in passing national health care reform legislation is
coming under serious media scrutiny. But the story has taken a strange turn. It has now
been revealed that George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund operator and well-known
atheist, has been pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into “progressive” Catholic
groups that are significant players in the national debates over health care and
immigration.

On the surface, it would appear that Soros would be opposed to many positions of the
Catholic Church. A major financial backer of the ACLU, Soros supports such causes as
drug legalization, the rights of “sex workers” and felons, euthanasia, radical feminism,
abortion rights, and homosexual rights. He does all of this in the name of promoting an
“open society.”

But a review of the records of his Open Society Institute finds that a group calling itself
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) has received $200,000 over the last
several years.

James Todd of the Pewsitter.com web site, which represents traditional Catholics, calls
such groups “CINOs,” or Catholics In Name Only. He explains, “This group and several
others have sprung up recently — I suspect purposely organized and funded — to
counterbalance the growing influence of the faithful Catholics AND to try to deceive and
mislead the middle of the road Catholics that have determined the last 13 Presidential
elections.”

An investigation also finds, however, that Soros money has gone into the Catholic Legal
Immigration Network (CLINIC), an organization established by the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops back in 1988. It has received at least $530,000 from the Open Society
Institute.

The two issues merge in the fact that the Catholic Bishops are demanding that national
health care legislation cover illegal aliens.

In a story headlined, “Religious Leaders Seek Healthcare for Illegal Immigrants,” the Los
Angeles Times recently quoted Kathy Saile, director of domestic social development with
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as saying that illegal immigrants should be
included in any healthcare reform plan. Father Richard Estrada of Our Lady Queen of Angels
Catholic Church in Los Angeles was described as being part of a religious service and
phone bank “to urge congressional leaders to include illegal immigrants in any healthcare
reform plan.” His church has in the past offered sanctuary to illegal immigrants.

CACG played a role in House passage of H.R. 3962, the bill known as Pelosicare and
boasts that it had joined with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Health
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Association, and “dozens of other Catholic and faith-based groups in celebrating this
historic vote.”

The group’s blog even offered a “Health Care Reform Prayer,” asking for God’s help in
passing federal legislation.

John Gehring, CACG media director, said that, “We have been primarily focused on
highlighting the moral dimensions of this issue and articulating how Catholic social
teaching addresses health care as a human right central to a just society. Along with other
faith-based groups like PICO National Network, Faith in Public Life, Sojourners and others
we brought citizens and faith leaders to Capitol Hill several weeks ago to meet with
representatives and they emphasized the urgency for reform and specifically the critical
issue of affordability. For example, Fr. Joseph Shad, S.J., a hospital chaplain at Mercy
Hospital in Portland, Maine, came to Capitol Hill and met with representatives. He shared
stories we have collected from citizens across the country as part of our project, Voices for
Health Reform.”

On the passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act, H.R. 3962, CACG said, “As
Catholics, we applaud the efforts of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Bart Stupak, and
others who helped extend current restrictions on federal funding of abortion to health plans
participating in the public [health] exchanges.”

But Judie Brown of the American Life League says the provision doesn’t go far enough and
accuses the Bishops who lobbied for passage of wanting “mandatory, government-run
health care for one and all more than it desires the protection of all vulnerable human
beings’ right to life.”

The anti-abortion restrictions, Brown points out, still permit federal funding of abortions in
some circumstances.

Meanwhile, Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute says that “Catholics should be outraged at
the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops” because while they succeeded in getting
a pro-abortion provision dropped from the bill, they “abandoned the Church’s doctrine of
subsidiarity by endorsing the rest of the Democrats’ plan to centralize power in
Washington.” Cannon says his grandfather served as counsel to the Bishops.

But the Soros-funded Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good has high-level
connections of its own. The Treasurer-Secretary is Francis Xavier Doyle, a former top
official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Executive director is Victoria
Kovari, a former organizer for the Gamaliel Foundation, the same group that helped launch
Barack Obama’s career as a community organizer in Chicago. The chairman is Alfred M.
Rotondaro, a senior fellow at another Soros-funded group, the Center for American
Progress.

Although CACG describes itself as “a lay Catholic organization that works to promote the
common good and the broad spectrum of Catholic social teaching,”Frank Walker ofthe
conservative Pewsitter website labels it a religious and political Trojan Horse designed to
mislead Catholics and produce votes for the Democratic Party.

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One purpose of the Soros money, Walker says, is to play down the importance of the issue
of abortion to Catholics and even make abortion rights a “respectable” Catholic position.

Walker notes that, “The CACG is run and advised by powerful Democrats. Their board,
staff, and advisory committee include top fundraisers and strategists as well as major
labor union representation.” He adds, “Catholic Church Leadership from the Sisters of
Mercy, the Jesuit order, the government-funded Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief
Services are also represented at CACG. Catholic academia has a strong presence.”

Indeed, the CACG advisory council includes figures from the Service Employees Union
(SEIU), AFL-CIO, Catholic University of America, Georgetown University, and Boston College.

In addition to health care reform, other big issues for CACG are “immigration reform” and
“worker justice.” The latter links to a group promoting a bill, the Employee Free Choice Act,
which would make it easier for unions to gain members.

The SEIU representative on the CACG board is Tom Chabolla, who serves as assistant to
SEIU President Andy Stern. Before joining SEIU, he was associate director of programs for
the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the agency of the Bishops that
funded ACORN to the tune of $7.3 million over the last decade. Funding of ACORN – but not
to groups like Gamaliel – has been suspended by the Bishops.

Gamaliel says on its website that says, “Barack H. Obama, former Gamaliel organizer, is the
44th president of the United States,” and that this makes the organizing community proud.
It also has a story about Obama friend and White House adviser Valerie Jarrett speaking to
a Gamaliel event in Washington, D.C. of 2500 activists. Jarrett is the official who said that
“we” had recruited communist Van Jones to the White House. Another speaker was
Melody Barnes, Obama’s Director of the Domestic Policy Council.

Before coming to the White House, Barnes was the

Interestingly, Tom Chabolla of the SEIU and formerly of the CCHD was on the dinner
committee for the 33rd Annual Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award Dinner, which was
held on May 7, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

One of the award winners was none other than Van Jones.

On Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22, Catholics across the country will be
asked to support the CCHD with their financial offerings. Gamaliel is appealing for support,
saying that it is “under attack from those with a partisan agenda to de-fund groups
committed to organizing for social justice.” It says. “Many Gamaliel Foundation affiliates
rely on funding from CCHD to serve their communities.”

But Gamaliel also relies on George Soros. His Open Society Institute provided $300,000 to
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the organization in 2008.

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