At the recent US bishops’ meeting, Auxiliary Bishop David Connell of Los Angeles, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, praised and defended the bishops’ program, which has attracted criticism over the years over some of its grant recipients.

Over the past 50 years, “it has awarded over $440 million in grants supporting nearly 12,000 community-based, grassroots-led organizations,” he said. “Now more than ever, we need the work of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development so that our parishes can become places of transformation where barriers are broken down and divisions are overcome.”