9:54 a.m.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020 9:53 am

MANCHESTER - The Friends of Saint Benedict Center today is criticizing the Bishop of Manchester, the Most Rev. Peter Libasci, for committing diocesan funds to the United Way of Greater Nashua.

On June 16th, Libasci announced that $102,000 from the Bishop's Charitable Assistance Fund was distributed among 27 New Hampshire non-profit organizations to assist in their response to COVID-19. One of the recipients was the Nashua affiliate of United Way.

As a national organization, United Way Worldwide is deeply embedded in what Pope Saint John Paul II described as the Culture of Death. The American Life League has given United Way a negative rating on its Charity Watchlist, warning Catholics and other believers in the right to life that it should never be the object of their support. According to ALL, United Way is a conduit for donations not only to Planned Parenthood, but to the National Abortion Federation, the trade association of the abortion industry.

The 2018 IRS 990 Form Certifications for United Way Worldwide reveals that its beneficiaries include the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and both the national office and multiple state and local affiliates of Planned Parenthood.

United Way of Greater Nashua has a similar orientation. According to its latest 990 filing, its funding recipients include Girls, Inc. of New Hampshire, one of whose goals is to "Advance Reproductive Justice," by advocating for "comprehensive...non-shaming, LGBT-inclusive sexuality education as well as access to quality, affordable reproductive health care for all girls and women." c

Another UW recipient is the Granite State Children's Alliance, which also opposes Catholic morality. Topping the list of literature for teenagers "highly recommended by the staff of the Granite State Children's Alliance,"---according to its website---is the notorious, Planned Parenthood endorsed, Ruth Bell book, Changing Bodies, Changing Lives, which presents adolescents with an affirming view of contraceptive use, homosexuality, lesbianism, masturbation, and pre-marital sexual relations.

The Granite State Children's Alliance also promotes The Guy Book, by Mavis Jukes, which instructs teenage boys on how to purchase birth control. United Way of Nashua provides financial support to a third group, The Youth Council, which offers counseling services to teenagers on sexuality.

The Friends of Saint Benedict Center is characterizing the Bishop's funding of United Way as a "witless, scandalous and improvident decision" which suggests an "appalling lack of due diligence in vetting the recipients of money collected from the donations of the Faithful."

Friends of Saint Benedict Center Communications Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: "This is gross dereliction. In an era when the Diocese of Manchester is closing parishes and schools, the Bishop is actually awarding discretionary church monies to a local organization which funds abortion advocacy."

"It is an unforced error. Anyone remotely familiar with the pro-life movement could have told Bishop Libasci to avoid United Way. Apparently, no such person can be found within the Bishop's social circle or curial administration."

In addition to United Way, the diocese has also funded Easterseals New Hampshire, whose national organization has, in the past, supported embryonic stem cell research, and which opposed the pro-life Blunt Amendment to President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.