#Catholic Charities USA

[locustheologicus]

Catholic Charities USA: Oklahoma City

The Catholic Charities USA conference took place on September 16-19, 2024, in Oklahoma City. The conference brought us to a land that was weirdly beautiful. We took a journey where we shared in their history, their tragedy, their hope, and social renewal. We visited their cowboy museum (pic 7), we saw the site of the 1995 bombing of their federal building (pic 8&9). We saw the newly opened national shrine to Bl. Stanley Rother (pic 2&3) where we walked to Tepeyac hill and venerated la Virgen de Guadalupe (pic 4). Of coursem we also saw some of the amazing social ministries that Oklahoma City Catholic Charities offers (pics 6-7).

The newly built offices were designed creatively to respond to the emergency needs that would arise. They are equipped with access to potable water, emergency power and WiFi outside in order to assist the community in the midst of a disaster. They also have a warehouse that can transform into a 60 bed emergency shelter if necessary. They designed the building to be powered with geo-thermal energy and incorporated sun and green spaces in the spirit of Laudato Si’. They have a chapel dedicated to Mother Theresa of Calcutta and at their reception there is a powerful quote from her that guides their mission:

Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you. - Mother Theresa

Our sessions involved going over parish engagement and community collaboration. I also went to sessions on financial literacy and workforce development. The first picture has a presentation from the new CEO Kerry Robinson. She shared with us her insights in visiting many local Catholic Charities agencies throughout the nation and from those visits she highlighted six values that she feels defines who we are.

Conviviality - the idea that we coexist with the larger community as freinds to one another; being hospitable and integrative with those we serve and partner with.

Creativity - the recognition that all our agencies are able to adapt to the local reality and can design programs and services based on these realities and the crisis that emerge.

Tenacity - our ability to persevere in providing services through great social challenges and unbelievable struggles that are clients and communities face.

Magnanimity - our ability to incredibly generous and open to the people we serve and to the communities we are a part of.

Hope - we are inspired to do our work from the hope-filled message of the gospel. We are guided in the belief that creation can and will be redeemed by our service to one another.

Reverence - our commitment to the holy dignity that is imbued throughout all creation and especially with those that we serve.

In the spirit of creativity and magnanimity, I thought about the women sanctuary project that Catholic Charities in Oklahoma established in an old mission church. Catholic Charities rebuild that mission church (pic 6) to accommodate the growing needs of women and children. They maintained the mission architecture, but expanded it to build greater spaces for women and children to take showers, wash clothes, take classes, have access to food, clothes, and internet resources and rest.

Those values guided how many of us discussed the programs we each were looking at networking with. I both shared and was attentive to how we embraced these values within the area of parish engagement in social ministries, financial literacy, and workforce development. The conversations allowed us to network with national partners to receive modules from programs like Rework America Alliance, UNIDOSUS, CFPB and others. These modules and partnerships can help us improve programs we need to offer the communities in need throughout Brooklyn and Queens. At the end of the conference Brian Corbin (the last picture) presented on the history of our mission and methodology (see, judge, act) as we discussed what we, the local Catholic Charity communities, want to see with the strategic planning process CCUSA will be going through.

Part of the concluding discussion we had was the perception that Catholic Charities has both in the public eye and with its member agencies. In reviewing it's marketing and branding strategy we asked questions concerning what we members need from CCUSA in order to help be a resource for us and a useful public presence that can help bring awareness to our local agencies. As a resource, our discussion suggested that it needs to embrace a useful internal social media platform so that we members can have visual best practices and tools for the work that we do. If the platform (for now CC connect) has useful tools and resources that we can take and adapt, then many of us will gladly participate with the larger community through this platform. As for our mission and identity, this will be an ongoing discussion throughout the process. Our mission is clear in that it is based on the social mission found in the Gospel and specifically the works of mercy. But as to what we do, we need greater flexibility with how this will be presented. We are local agencies that answer to the diocese and the needs of our community. We apply the principle of subsidiarity in this way and it will be valuable for the local community to know how we operate within the diocesan structure. But CCUSA should be able to provide institutional solidarity with each of our agencies to enhance the work that we do while defining itself as the national advocacy think-tank for the issues we face. It will be interesting to see how we move forward as we go through this process.

Along with parishes, hospitals, and schools/universities the Catholic Church has always had a thriving social service componant that is very much part of our religious identity. In the past 300 years (since 1727) this has been institutionalized by agencies which we now identify as Catholic Charities here in the United States or Caritas Internationally. There are other Catholic agencies that many of us partner with including Catholic Relief Services, the Catholic Campaign for Human Developmennt and the St. Vincent DePaul Society but Catholic Charities has been the official diocesan arm of domestic charitable work. The needs are different in every location so we strive to be adaptable to the issues we face. The Brooklyn/Queens diocese has an amazing history of promoting this specific aspect of our Church's mission. Here in Brooklyn/Queens we are attentive to providing senior housing to our elderly population, early childhood programs for our struggling families, case management and food distribution for our low-income communities, social services and resources for pregnant women, and legal service and case management for our growing migrant community.

Through CCUSA we are part of a larger network of Catholic social services and this allows us to network with one another.

[totallyhussein-blog]

Church destroyed by ISIS in Iraq completely restored 10 years later

The Dominican Church of Our Lady of the Hour, one of the most emblematic in Mosul, northern Iraq, has been completely restored after the destruction carried out by Islamic State terrorists 10 years ago.

Located in the old city of Mosul, a historic district that was characterized by strong relationships between various cultures and religions, such as Christians, Yazidis, Sunni and Shia Muslims as well as Arabs, Chaldeans, and Kurds, this church offered a space for dialogue fostered by the Dominican friars.

As Diego Lopez Marina explained, the destruction of the church was not only an architectural tragedy but also negatively affected all residents of Mosul, Muslims and Christians alike, as they lost an important symbol of the city’s history and identity.

In addition, ISIS used the church as a weapons warehouse and for torture. Its archaeological artifacts were stolen, including its famous clock, which was a gift from the wife of Emperor Napoleon III to the city’s Dominican fathers.

[noneedforbloodpressure]

Working Masterpost of Charities for Genocide & Humanitarian Crises

Want to help Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, East Turkestan, Armenia or other places facing genocide but don't know where to donate? Have limited funds and want to make sure your money helps as many people as possible? I've compiled some resources to help you get started.

Note that this is a working masterpost, meaning that I'll update it as I find more resources. This is also an inherently non-conclusive list, in significant part because I'm just one person. I urge you to do further research of your own

TIPS FOR DONATING

Charity Navigator and Charity Watch are useful sites to vet charity organizations

If you're employed, check out Charity Navigator's guide to employer donation matches.

GENERAL

Resources here are not specific to any one region in crisis, but you may be able to specify where you want your donation to be used

Doctors Without Borders/Medicins sans Frontieres (98% charity rating)

OxFam (98% charity rating)

UNICEF (94% charity rating)

World Central Kitchen (100% charity rating!)

MAUSA - Muslim Aid USA (98% charity rating)

CARE (97% charity rating)

International Committee of the Red Cross (85% charity rating)

UNHCR - UN Refugee Agency (the US branch has an 84% charity rating)

International Rescue Committee (96% charity rating)

HAIS (100% charity rating!)

Region Specific Charities Under the Cut!

PALESTINE

Palestine Children's Relief Fund (97% charity rating)

ANERA (91% charity rating)

Palestine Red Crescent Society (no specific rating, but part of a movement with the Red Cross, which - as mentioned above - has an 85% charity rating)

ALLMEP (85% charity rating)

Middle East Children's Alliance (100% charity rating!)

UNRWA (the US branch has an 89% charity rating)

eSIMs for Gaza (not currently rated, but you can read about the importance here on NBC)

Women Wage Peace (not currently rated, but you can read about their efforts on their website and via Time Magazine)

SUDAN

Sudanese Red Crescent Society (no specific rating, but part of a movement with the Red Cross, which - as mentioned above - has an 85% charity rating)

Sadagaat Charity Organization (the US branch has an 80% charity rating)

Sudanese-American Physicians Association (97% charity rating)

Khartoum Aid Kitchen (no charity rating, but you can read the effort here on NPR)

Darfur Women Action Group (not currently rated; page may be updated)

Water for South Sudan (97% charity rating)

Sudan Relief Fund (96% charity rating)

CONGO

Friends of the Congo (81% charity rating)

Panzi Foundation (91% charity rating)

UKRAINE

Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (recommended by here by Charity Watch)

Catholic Relief Services (not currently rated; read about their efforts here on Charity Watch)

ACT Alliance (recommended by here by Charity Watch)

Project HOPE (93% charity rating)

EAST TURKESTAN

East Turkestan, also called Uyghurstan, is the indigenous name for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. If you're unfamiliar with the Uyghur genocide, you can read some intro information here on BBC

Uyghur Human Rights Project (84% charity rating)

Save Uyghur - Justice for All (94% charity rating)

ARMENIA

If you're unfamiliar with the current Armenian genocide by Azerbaijan, you can read some intro information here on CNN

CARITAS Armenia (no specific rating, but part of CARITAS, which as a 98% charity rating)

Armenia Fund (not currently rated)

Armenian National Committee of America (not currently rated)

LEBANON

ANERA - Lebanon (91% charity rating)

Oxfam - Lebanon (98% charity rating)

ICRC - Lebanon (85% charity rating)

UNICEF - Lebanon (94% charity rating)

UNHCR - Lebanon (the US branch has an 84% charity rating)

UN Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (Currently unrated, as far as I can tell)

[thegreenleavesofspring]

By the way, when I say that the American church has FAILED, this is what I'm talking about:

The email I sent to Focus on the Family a couple weeks ago, identifying information redacted:

Hello,

My name is [redacted] and I followed a link to one of your website's articles - about Biblical discipline - and saw the massive donation solicitation banner at the top of the website, saying any donations would go to families in need.

My mother is very much in need.

She is 61 and severely disabled, mentally and physically. In 2016 she had a stroke, which type has a 70% death rate and of the remaining 30%, the vast majority never recover any cognitive or physical function. She is a medical outlier in that she recovered both - through odds so astronomical it is a blatant miracle she survived at all - to some degree. But now her cognitive abilities are declining, as well as her mobility and eyesight: she is effectively 100% disabled.

She is also currently undergoing an eviction since she can no longer pay rent. She had planned to move into her car, but earlier this week it had an oil/engine failure that will require about $7,000 of work to repair. Her insurance would pay for it, save that she has a $1,000 deductible she cannot afford.

She gets $914 a month in disability.

I am a single mother of three boys five and under; my husband has walked out on us and does not pay child support and I cannot get any legal division to enforce it. I make $1,000 a month, and also do not own a car or have any sort of transportation. I order her groceries online and try to get small expenses for her when I can, and that is the most aid I am currently able to offer.

Right now she just needs her car repaired. But we do not have $1,000 for that deductible.

We have spent weeks calling every phone number and resource in the area and even the state. The churches send us to the government, the government sends us to the NGOs, the NGOs send us to the churches. No one helps.

Your website claims you help families. I looked under the "get help" tab and found nothing of any use, hence this email.

Will you help my family?

Sincerely,

~~~~

I got this in return:

Dear [Redacted],

Thank you for writing to Focus on the Family. Your willingness to share your concerns means a lot to us, and we want you to know we care about you, your dear mother, and your children. 

Our hearts are heavy after reading about the serious financial problems your disabled mother is facing right now. We���re especially concerned to hear that her car has broken down and she has no place to call home. Though we realize you’ve already asked for assistance from churches and a number of organizations, we recommend you contact the Salvation Army. You can visit their website at: Salvation Army: Housing and Homeless Services. We’d also like to mention three more online sources of information: National Coalition for the Homeless,  2-1-1 Get Help,  Catholic Charities USA. We can’t guarantee that they will be able to provide the help you need, nor can we say with certainty that they consistently uphold Christian values and ethics. Nevertheless, we think it would be worthwhile to find out what services are available. Please note that our mentioning these organizations should not be taken as an endorsement by our ministry.

Be assured we’re praying for the Lord to comfort your mother, provide for her many needs, and lead her to a safe place to live. We’re also asking God to surround you and your three young sons with caring people who will offer their support and help you in practical ways. 

Along with praying for you, we invite you to call the Christian counselors on our staff if you think it might be helpful to discuss your concerns with caring professionals. They might be able to offer additional suggestions and useful referral information. To reach them, please call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) any weekday between 6:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M. (MT). Someone on our staff will ask for your name and phone number in order to arrange for a counselor to return your call as soon as they’re able. This service is available at no cost to you.

[Redacted], we understand you contacted our ministry because you saw a banner on our website indicating that all donations to our ministry are used to help families in need.  In order to provide clarification, we need to explain that the purpose of our ministry is to respond to the spiritual, emotional, and psychological needs of individuals and families. We do this by praying, providing books and other resources, airing broadcasts that address the serious issues many people face, and offering one free consultation with a professional Christian counselor on our staff. The financial contributions we receive are used to accomplish these objectives.

While it’s true that our ministry has been privileged on occasion to provide financial assistance to those experiencing hardships, our capacity to do this is limited as we are primarily a media ministry. Unfortunately, as much as we would like to, we’re not always able to offer monetary aid to the many individuals and families whose needs are brought to our attention. We’re so sorry to disappoint you.

Thanks again for writing to us, [Redacted]. God bless you and your loved ones, and may He always be the strength of your heart and your refuge.

[Redacted]

Focus on the Family

~~~~

I'll hand it to the Catholics. They do try. But their assistance is focused primarily on Catholics - quite understandable - and within their own parishes - equally understandable.

You might as well ask a brick wall for help as any Protestant church. Actually the brick wall probably at least won't - more or less literally - slam a door in your face.

I know good and well that my mother, my family, is not the only one in such dire straits. There is nowhere to turn - least of all our 'brothers' and 'sisters'.

One of these days the leaders of all these churches - these vastly wealthy mega churches and the haughty local churches and all of them - are going to have to answer to Christ about all the blood on their hands of their own people they left to starve and freeze and die in the streets.

(I'd bet good money - if I had any - that they'll have the money to put on a Christmas pageant this year.)

[thecatholicbozo]

Plea for Aid to Western North Carolina

"But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." 1 Corinthians 12:25-26

Please give whatever support you can to the relief efforts from Hurricane Helene. Western North Carolina depends on the Body of Christ right now

Many of you may not be aware that this is a region that struggles tremendously with poverty even in the best of times. Many of my neighbors & fellow parishioners rely on welfare, government assistance, & charity programs. Many others live paycheck-to-paycheck. These people do not have savings, retirement accounts, or emergency funds that they can draw from. They need help. Western North Carolina needs the Body of Christ right now

I don't know the latest death toll - yesterday in Buncombe County (Asheville) it was 30, other counties have been slow to report the deaths until they can find family members to inform first. Houses have been swept away on the water. Bridges have collapsed & roads are washed out - some of these are the only entrance & exit to people who are now stranded without food, water, and medicine. Businesses have been leveled, and some of the ones still standing have been looted. Many people are still without water & power, including some of my coworkers. Many folks will now be jobless due to businesses being destroyed. Western North Carolina needs the Body of Christ to send help.

Please send whatever aid you can through reputable organizations like the Red Cross. Lives are at stake & the wellbeing of the survivors depends on you, my brothers & sisters in Christ.

It's inspiring to hear the entire continent mobilizing to save my neighbors in danger. But once everyone has been saved, there will be a lot of rebuilding to do before things feel back to normal. I was able to get out of my driveway for the first time since Friday, and it just felt surreal. I don't really know how else to describe it.

Please share this sentiment & charity opportunities as much as you can. And if you have friends & loved ones in the area, please reach out to them. They may not have cell or internet reception yet, but I can guarantee they will greatly appreciate it. Western North Carolina needs the Body of Christ - for relief, for prayers, & for comfort.

I'm grateful to God for keeping my friends & family safe throughout all this. I'm grateful for all of the prayers & support y'all have sent already. I'm grateful for all of the emergency crews & responders from across the country who have been working 24/7 to restore infrastructure & help people in peril.

I'm especially grateful to the iHeartRadio crew who has been broadcasting updates from local callers & government officials every day - from safety alerts to resources available to just giving people a voice & for giving us a voice to keep us company. It was a very lonely weekend - I did not know when power was going to be back, and kept my phone off to save battery basically from Friday evening until this morning. The only time I turned it on was to update my parents that I was okay, and then I turned it back off. The only other contact I had with the outside world was through the iHeartRadio broadcast, and honestly it makes me break down in tears thinking about how much their show helped me to not feel alone & to feel hopeful. They're good people.

I'm sorry if this is the billionth post like this y'all have seen this week, but I just needed to dump this out there. It's been a scary weekend, and all things considered I haven't really been in any serious danger. I can't imagine what the folks in the mountain are going through right now. But they need you, the Body of Christ.

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27

[angeltreasure]

Hello :)

Do you have any tips on where I can donate stuff to? I see you talk about donating and helping the needy sometimes (something I keep wanting to do more of) I feel bad cuz I haven’t been too involved recently :/

I really want to help out or give stuff to people who need it more

Good Afternoon!

Don’t worry, it’s never too late to donate. I got you covered! A good place to start is your own diocese webpage!

Other examples:

- your own family members in need

- your next door neighbor

- your friends

- your church (this is probably the most active with a variety of options!)

- Mental Health Ministry

- Knights of Columbus

- Marians of the Immaculate Conception

- EWTN

- Relevant Radio

- pro life crisis pregnancy centers

- Maggie’s Place

- St. Gianna’s Place

- food banks (don’t donate expired food and be mindful of what is currently most needed) like this one

- hospitals (medical supplies like canes, wheelchairs, etc)

- St. Jude

- homeless shelters (think of clothing, gift cards, food, etc)

- nursing homes

- schools

- Charity and Development Appeal

- The Society of St. Vincent de Paul

- Catholic Charities USA

- Catholic Relief Services

- Kolbe Mission

- Sisters of Life

- Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America

- Wounded Warrior Project

- The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews

- You can even donate to homeless on the streets. I always carry an extra bottle of water when I drive, as well as prayer cards and Rosaries. If that person is not next to the highway exit, I’ll go buy them fresh food. For homeless dogs, I have a bottle of water and some dog food in a bowl.

[agentfascinateur]

The illegal "spiritual battle" over the US elections

A network of ultrawealthy Christian donors is spending nearly $12 million to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump. These previously unreported plans are the work of a group named Ziklag, a little-known charity whose donors have included some of the wealthiest conservative Christian families in the nation, including the billionaire Uihlein family, who made a fortune in office supplies, the Greens, who run Hobby Lobby, and the Wallers, who own the Jockey apparel corporation. Recipients of Ziklag’s largesse include Alliance Defending Freedom, which is the Christian legal group that led the overturning of Roe v. Wade, plus the national pro-Trump group Turning Point USA and a constellation of right-of-center advocacy groups.

The reporting by ProPublica and Documented “casts serious doubt on this organization’s status as a 501(c)(3) organization,” said Roger Colinvaux, a professor at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law.

“I think it’s across the line without a question,” said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a University of Notre Dame law professor.

[totallyhussein-blog]

Snoop Dogg and Ooberfuse rally for the UK's homeless this Christmas

There was great news at the weekend, as my good friends at Ooberfuse have teamed up with US rap royalty Snoop Dogg, to take on the prejudices surrounding homelessness here in the UK.

Their new single (out December 1st) is also aiming to raise much needed support for those helping the homeless on the streets of London this Winter.

While this is great news, if you live here in Manchester and want to get involved, there are two excellent organizations who will also be working extra hard this Christmas to assist those living on the streets of the city and they would welcome your assistance.

Reach out to the Community is an award-winning charity which helps people who find themselves homeless or living in food poverty. They welcome all contributions, which can be dropped into their community hub at 488 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Manchester, M21 9AS. You can also call 0161 862 9415.

Another service is Mad Dogs Homeless Project, which provides support to rough sleepers across Manchester. They go direct to people living on the streets giving out hot meals, drinks, clothing and other lifesaving essentials. They can be contacted via: info@maddogshomelessproject.org.uk or call 07591-571-555 for more information.

[sylvia-lydia-morelos-1974]

September 28, 2024...2:20 p.m.

"856 DENUNCIAS DE ABUSO INFANTIL EN BC [Baja California]."

Semana del 20 al 26 de Septiembre de 2024

Numero 2634

Costo $20

Portada: S.A.

911. The CVS at 10889 Wellworth, Los Angeles, CA. 90024, the supervisor SANTILLAN (her last name, the one she's using), she's the one on the cover. She PERMS her hair to make fun of the innocent, see statue by the VIRGIN MARY inside BLESSED SACRAMENT CHURCH off of CHEROKEE & SUNSET, 90028. The employees there all wear red shirts with a heart on the back of it. I worked there for ~6 months, reported 911 terrorism, found my own children there and other children who were being brutalized. Santillan also bragged: "i killed your fetus at ALVARADO PARKWAY INSTITUTE in San Diego." And "I killed your baby nephew!" My brother's baby, "she doesn't know." I reported other crimes. They always knew my babies were related to me, PATRIOT FAMILIES, and to FREDERICK DOUGLASS, um poqhuino. They also KNEW (THOMPSON as well) that we are directly related to the pope, John Paul II

(my little one, the 19 month old, with ADHD, Thompson scratched up his face sideways, with more than 20 perps, CVS included. My little one looks like John Paul II; Thompson ALWAYS knew; he rubbed it in my face. he lost his head over it.(grin). /S./)

...my other little boy, Um Poqhuino, who is directly related to Frederick Douglass, also my family, also is related to Pope_John_XXIII, whom I also look like:

Richard Clayton Thompson, dob 09 17 75, ss # 435 65 1226, ALSO knew this, as did CVS at 10889 Wellworth, 90024 off of Westwood, across the street from

PAPA JOHN.

SANTILLAN knows. So do the rest. I reported a LOT of crimes there. Then i left. I just got back from Mexico and friends told me other crimes committed against my children and other children and teens. United Pacific at 7900 Beverly Blvd. off of FAIRFAX, i.e. Jonathan Aguilar, Karina Castaneda, Omar Martinez, Raul Payan Lomeli-Azoubel dob 08 12 73, Richard Clayton Thompson, Susan Bakota, 310 478 7733 and Ramsey Lewis, MSW at Tina Pleasant Baker Board and Care (2006) 2438 K. Street, 92102 are all involved in crimes/rapes against students at schools, trafficking etc., right by LIBERTAD entrance, Jose Barocio, class of 1988 Berendo Jr. High school too. They were uniforms light blue and white? You've been implicated by the USA in trafficking, etc. You are wearing the same color of uniforms as TROLLEY COPS, light blue and BLACK (death) and yellow and black. Not a coincidence. Lomeli, Hernan placed my kids in plastic trash bags; now you know the city is NOT honoring you it's been condemning you. Orange sybolizes WARDING OFF EVIL that you are. PUMPKINS and JACK O LANTERNS too.

You perps are the trash. San diego is VERY CATHOLIC. WELCOME TO CATHOLIC "CHARITIES" too. There are many other things you perps don't notice. But you are predictably COMFY.

FUN! We know where to find you. You come back for more COMFY. Including inside the RONALD REAGAN UCLA medical center. UCLA loves the kids and patriot kids.

F Y I.

the perps inside that cvs are kept VERY close to UCLA.

there are NO coincidences.

/S./

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Andy Kroll and Nick Surgey at ProPublica:

A network of ultrawealthy Christian donors is spending nearly $12 million to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump. These previously unreported plans are the work of a group named Ziklag, a little-known charity whose donors have included some of the wealthiest conservative Christian families in the nation, including the billionaire Uihlein family, who made a fortune in office supplies, the Greens, who run Hobby Lobby, and the Wallers, who own the Jockey apparel corporation. Recipients of Ziklag’s largesse include Alliance Defending Freedom, which is the Christian legal group that led the overturning of Roe v. Wade, plus the national pro-Trump group Turning Point USA and a constellation of right-of-center advocacy groups.

[...]

Ziklag’s 2024 agenda reads like the work of a political organization. It plans to pour money into mobilizing voters in Arizona who are “sympathetic to Republicans” in order to secure “10,640 additional unique votes” — almost the exact margin of President Joe Biden’s win there in 2020. The group also intends to use controversial AI software to enable mass challenges to the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of voters in competitive states. In a recording of a 2023 internal strategy discussion, a Ziklag official stressed that the objective was the same in other swing states. “The goal is to win,” the official said. “If 75,000 people wins the White House, then how do we get 150,000 people so we make sure we win?”

According to the Ziklag files, the group has divided its 2024 activities into three different operations targeting voters in battleground states: Checkmate, focused on funding so-called election integrity groups; Steeplechase, concentrated on using churches and pastors to get out the vote; and Watchtower, aimed at galvanizing voters around the issues of “parental rights” and opposition to transgender rights and policies supporting health care for trans people. In a member briefing video, one of Ziklag’s spiritual advisers outlined a plan to “deliver swing states” by using an anti-transgender message to motivate conservative voters who are exhausted with Trump.

But Ziklag is not a political organization: It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity, the same legal designation as the United Way or Boys and Girls Club. Such organizations do not have to publicly disclose their funders, and donations are tax deductible. In exchange, they are “absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office,” according to the IRS. ProPublica and Documented presented the findings of their investigation to six nonpartisan lawyers and legal experts. All expressed concern that Ziklag was testing or violating the law. The reporting by ProPublica and Documented “casts serious doubt on this organization’s status as a 501(c)(3) organization,” said Roger Colinvaux, a professor at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law.

[...]

“Dominion Over the Seven Mountains”

Ziklag has largely escaped scrutiny until now. The group describes itself as a “private, confidential, invitation-only community of high-net-worth Christian families.” According to internal documents, it boasts more than 125 members that include business executives, pastors, media leaders and other prominent conservative Christians. Potential new members, one document says, should have a “concern for culture” demonstrated by past donations to faith-based or political causes, as well as a net worth of $25 million or more. None of the donors responded to requests for comment.

Tax records show rapid growth in the group’s finances in recent years. Its annual revenue climbed from $1.3 million in 2018 to $6 million in 2019 and nearly $12 million in 2022, which is the latest filing available. The group’s spending is not on the scale of major conservative funders such as Miriam Adelson or Barre Seid, the electronics magnate who gave $1.6 billion to a group led by conservative legal activist Leonard Leo. But its funding and strategy represent one of the clearest links yet between the Christian right and the “election integrity” movement fueled by Trump’s baseless claims about voting fraud. Even several million dollars funding mass challenges to voters in swing counties can make an impact, legal and election experts say.

Ziklag was the brainchild of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur named Ken Eldred. It emerged from a previous organization founded by Eldred called United In Purpose, which aimed to get more Christians active in the civic arena, according to Bill Dallas, the group’s former director. United In Purpose generated attention in June 2016 when it organized a major meeting between then-candidate Trump and hundreds of evangelical leaders.

After Trump was elected in 2016, Eldred had an idea, according to Dallas. “He says, ‘I want all the wealthy Christian people to come together,’” Dallas recalled in an interview. Eldred told Dallas that he wanted to create a donor network like the one created by Charles and David Koch but for Christians. He proposed naming it David’s Mighty Men, Dallas said. Female members balked. Dallas found the passage in Chronicles that references David’s soldiers and read that they met in the city of Ziklag, and so they chose the name Ziklag.

The group’s stature grew after Trump took office. Vice President Mike Pence appeared at a Ziklag event, as did former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, then-Rep. Mark Meadows and other members of Congress. In its private newsletter, Ziklag claims that a coalition of groups it assembled played “a hugely significant role in the selection, hearings and confirmation process” of Amy Coney Barrett for a Supreme Court seat in late 2020.

Confidential donor networks regularly invest hundreds of millions of dollars into political and charitable groups, from the liberal Democracy Alliance to the Koch-affiliated Stand Together organization on the right. But unlike Ziklag, neither of those organizations is legally set up as a true charity. Ziklag appears to be the first coordinated effort to get wealthy donors to fund an overtly Christian nationalist agenda, according to historians, legal experts and other people familiar with the group. “It shows that this idea isn’t being dismissed as fringe in the way that it might have been in the past,” said Mary Ziegler, a legal historian and University of California, Davis law professor. The Christian nationalism movement has a variety of aims and tenets, according to the Public Religion Research Institute: that the U.S. government “should declare America a Christian nation”; that American laws “should be based on Christian values”; that the U.S. will cease to exist as a nation if it “moves away from our Christian foundations”; that being Christian is essential to being American; and that God has “called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.”

One theology promoted by Christian nationalist leaders is the Seven Mountain Mandate. Each mountain represents a major industry or a sphere of public life: arts and media, business, church, education, family, government, and science and technology. Ziklag’s goal, the documents say, is to “take dominion over the Seven Mountains,” funding Christian projects or installing devout Christians in leadership positions to reshape each mountain in a godly way. To address their concerns about education, Ziklag’s leaders and allies have focused on the public-school system. In a 2021 Ziklag meeting, Ziklag’s education mountain chair, Peter Bohlinger, said that Ziklag’s goal “is to take down the education system as we know it today.” The producers of the film “Sound of Freedom,” featuring Jim Caviezel as an anti-sex-trafficking activist, screened an early cut of the film at a Ziklag conference and asked for funds, according to Dallas.

[...] A driving force behind Ziklag’s efforts is Lance Wallnau, a prominent Christian evangelist and influencer based in Texas who is described by Ziklag as a “Seven Mountains visionary & advisor.” The fiery preacher is one of the most influential figures on the Christian right, experts say, a bridge between Christian nationalism and Trump. He was one of the earliest evangelical leaders to endorse Trump in 2015 and later published a book titled “God’s Chaos Candidate: Donald J. Trump and the American Unraveling.” More than 1 million people follow him on Facebook. He doesn’t try to hide his views: “Yes, I am a Christian nationalist,” he said during one of his livestreams in 2021. (Wallnau did not respond to requests for comment.)

[...]

“Operation Checkmate”

In the fall of 2023, Wallnau sat in a gray armchair in his TV studio. A large TV screen behind him flashed a single word: “ZIKLAG.” “You almost hate to put it out this clearly,” he said as he detailed Ziklag’s electoral strategy, “because if somebody else gets ahold of this, they’ll freak out.” He was joined on set by Hiss, who had just become the group’s new day-to-day leader. The two men were there to record a special message to Ziklag members that laid out the group’s ambitious plans for the upcoming election year. The forces arrayed against Christians were many, according to the confidential video. They were locked in a “spiritual battle,” Hiss said, against Democrats who were a “radical left Marxist force.” Biden, Wallnau said, was a senile old man and “an empty suit with an agenda that’s written and managed by somebody else.”

[...] A prominent conservative getting money from Ziklag is Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer and Trump ally who joined the January 2021 phone call when then-President Trump asked Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to flip Georgia in Trump’s favor. Mitchell now leads a network of “election integrity” coalitions in swing states that have spent the last three years advocating for changes to voting rules and how elections are run. According to one internal newsletter, Ziklag was an early funder of Mitchell’s post-2020 “election integrity” activism, which voting-rights experts have criticized for stoking unfounded fears about voter fraud and seeking to unfairly remove people from voting rolls. In 2022, Ziklag donated $600,000 to the Conservative Partnership Institute, which in turn funds Mitchell’s election-integrity work. Internal Ziklag documents show that it provided funding to enable Mitchell to set up election integrity infrastructure in Florida, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

[...] For Operation Watchtower, Wallnau explained in a members-only video that transgender policy was a “wedge issue” that could be decisive in turning out voters tired of hearing about Trump. The left had won the battle over the “homosexual issue,” Wallnau said. “But on transgenderism, there’s a problem and they know it.” He continued: “They’re gonna wanna talk about Trump, Trump, Trump. … Meanwhile, if we talk about ‘It’s not about Trump. It’s about parents and their children, and the state is a threat,’” that could be the “target on the forehead of Goliath.” The Ziklag files describe tactics the group plans to use around parental rights — policies that make it easier for parents to control what’s taught in public schools — to turn out conservative voters. In a fundraising video, the group says it plans to underwrite a “messaging and data lab” focused on parental rights that will supply “winning messaging to all our partner groups to create unified focus among all on the right.” The goal, the video says, is to make parental rights “the difference-maker in the 2024 election.”

According to Wallnau, Ziklag also plans to fund ballot initiatives in seven key states — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Montana, Nevada and Ohio — that take aim at the transgender community by seeking to ban “genital mutilation.” The seven states targeted are either presidential battlegrounds or have competitive U.S. Senate races. None of the initiatives is on a state ballot yet. “People that are lethargic about the election or, worse yet, they’re gonna be all Trump-traumatized with the news cycle — this issue will get people to come out and vote,” Wallnau said. “That ballot initiative can deliver swing states.” The last prong of Ziklag’s 2024 strategy is Operation Steeplechase, which urges conservative pastors to mobilize their congregants to vote in this year’s election. This project will work in coordination with several prominent conservative groups that support former president Trump’s reelection, such as Turning Point USA’s faith-based group, the Faith and Freedom Coalition run by conservative operative Ralph Reed and the America First Policy Institute, one of several groups closely allied with Trump.

ProPublica takes a look at a secretive Christian Nationalist organization called Ziklag, a network of ultrawealthy Christian donors seeking to mobilize Republican-leaning voters to turn out for the general election with three different operations: Checkmate, Steeplechase, and Watchtower.

Read the full story at ProPublica.

[achilleanwizard]

I was tagged by @punkranger (Thank you!!! 😊) And I’m going to tag @gelvaan @sataari @mutantenfisch @deviant3lover @averagejermafan @demianwas and @aelyosos (Feel free to ignore this if you’ve already done it, or just don’t feel like filling it out for your OC(s)!! I’ve just noticed you guys talking about your ocs, and I’d love to hear more about them!)

BASICS

Full Name: Alexander Valente

Gender: Male?? Look, we’ve got more important things to worry about right now, okay?

Sexuality: Biromantic Bisexual

Pronouns: As of right now? Just he/him. He’s pretty comfy with she/her too though. It’s flattering that people think he might be a girl

OTHERS

Family: He never had anyone he considered family; Just very good friends. If asked about it, then he’d say something along the lines of “Do you think I would take the boost drug, with a notoriously very low survival rate, in order to get superhero powers if I had any family I wanted to talk about?”

Birthplace: ???, Nevada, USA

Job: A consultant. Who is he advising and what is he giving them advice about? Mind your business

Phobias: Spiders. Heights. Especially looking out of windows from a very tall height. Admitting he has feelings for a certain someone(s). Abandonment. Probably a whole bucketful more, but those are the main ones.

Guilty Pleasures: Sugar in all it’s various forms (even if he needs the energy to function/for his telepathy) Taking the time to read and appreciate art when not working. Painting his nails (but only when possessing the Puppet’s body) Taking time off work. Buying three entire floors of a luxury skyscraper to house his villain base/office, Renting the most luxurious top floor penthouse (That would make Mayor Osborn (from spider-man) weep tears of envy) he could afford for a home that he barely resides in, Pleasures of the flesh (it’s like a catholic priest up in here) Honestly, it would be easier to list things he isn’t guilty about. (Killing. He’s not guilty about those he’s killed, even if he should be.)

Hobbies: Playing piano. Scheming. Beating up Daniel behind a Wendy’s parking lot Training Daniel. Kissing Daniel too. Starting fights that he can’t possibly hope to win/finish

MORALS

Morality Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Sins: Desire / Despair / Envy / Fear / Hunger / Pride / Rage / Sloth (so almost all of them…)

Virtues: Charity / Chastity / Diligence / Humility / Justice / Kindness / Patience

THIS OR THAT

introvert/extrovert organized/disorganized close minded/open-minded calm/anxious disagreeable/agreeable cautious/reckless patient/impatient outspoken/reserved leader/follower empathetic/unempathic optimistic/pessimistic traditional/modern hard-working/lazy

RELATIONSHIPS

Otp: It’s cruel that you’re making me choose between Herald and Ortega. But gun to my head…. Chargestep. There’s nothing quite like old lost loves.

Ot3: I forget the ‘official’ name for it but, Herald/Sidestep/Ortega (Flychargestep? Chargeflystep?)

Acceptable Ships: Alexander flirts with everyone possible, so. Argentstep. Steelstep. Mortumstep? <- Is that the right name? Anyway, he’ll smooch just about anyone.

Brotp: I have to admit, I’ve been thinking about different Sidestep interactions from time to time. I think he’d be good buddies with some, and have a, uh, very *interesting* dynamic with others. Not naming any specific Sidesteps to 1. Avoid any favoritism and 2. Not humiliate myself even further. He’s annoying though, and he revels in that, so it might only be a good time for him. Oh, also Anathema and Sidestep. Best bros for life (or death)

Notp: Oh, this one’s tough. Shroud/Sidestep if that’s even a thing. It’s on sight for him with her. He don’t trust random Regenes like that. (Unless it’s a multiple Sidesteps AU) HG/Sidestep too cause… yeah. If you know you know. Icky. Blaze/Sidestep, because I like teasing my friends(?) (acquaintances?) 😉

[abettranempire]

I am unapologetically bigoted against Catholics.

Like yes, there are a lot of legitimate reasons outside of bigotry to hate this religion and its institutions; the attacks on LGBT and abortion rights, the sexual misconduct, the literal unchallenged patriarchy of Vatican City and the papistry, the colonialist nature of missionary work, the list just goes on and on.

But I can recognize how a majority of protestant religions also suffer the same problems. The fact is my hatred comes from a more personal place, and that's what makes it a bigotry. I grew up in a majority white-catholic neighborhood, and over time (especially once I came out) each of my neighbors revealed themselves to be fair-weather, two-faced little bitches. I grew up in close enough proximity to this religion to confidently say you don't have a single belief that isn't utterly stupid. Stop it! Your obsession with blood is weird and gross, your holy book is crappily written and your interpretations of it are even worse, you profess to love women... until they open their mouths, and most of you are only still following this belief because it gave you comfort as a child, which is a pathetic reason to do anything. Judaism has a lot of stupid beliefs too, but the difference is most jews I've met aren't dumb enough to take their beliefs literally; you people do! Protestants do just as much if not more damage on the global stage, but the difference is they manage to be at least 25% less punchably smug about it.

You are an overprivileged, credulous lot who think "persecution" means any attack on the status quo, and "charity" means handing your money and time over to what is already the most opulent building in town. You are eager to share your beliefs with others, but heaven forbid you deign to listen to any of the inferior "pagan" beliefs of your neighbors. You promote antisemitism and then turn around and have the gall to compare attacks on your freedom to oppress others to the holocaust. Deconvert now or be prepared to go fuck yourselves.

EDIT: I can't wait for the replies to start rolling in. My money says its going to be minor nitpicks from catholics about what I got wrong about their doctrine. You don't get it; I don't give a shit. Your religion had 25 years to make a good impression on me; I know enough to know that you suck. The only responses I want to hear are

"Yes ma'am"

"No ma'am"

"I'm sorry"

and "You're right, if we can't get a woman pope within the next decade the USA should have the right to audit the piss out of the Vatican"

[impossibleperfectionnerd]

the seriousness of the conflict in here. The shootings in here are in the extreme. There are 11 hospital ambulances downstairs.!!!! Red Cross (owned by Maiden RINA herself it’s a Swiss charity) is around. Men are injured downstairs. Opus Dei. Aileen Payumo. Inez javellana gamboa, Nicole Schulze ex Lopez, Doc JEGL, Sylvina and Cosel. Cecilios are the villains. Joan Chua. Is the one keeping the terrorists in here. Leads: Woodrose 98. Ateneo. College 2002. College batch 2004. Psychology department in Ateneo. New York network. British ex Romanian network. Ex UP (people that UP threw out). Because not pure UP. northeastern univ. USA medical doctor network. East coast) Torrance LA. Goes to Italy & France sometimes daily. Iloilo and Bataan network politician & super thief network. EDSA shrine Catholic Church network knows

[locustheologicus]

Catholic Charities Disaster Response Academy

In the middle of October, after Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated North Carolina and Florida, a colleague and I went to Fall River in Massachusetts for the Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) Disaster Relief Academy certification. This was a six session event held over three days. It’s a national training that CCUSA provides Catholic Charity organizations along the North East of the United States.

The conference was on Disaster Relief in general with many specific workshops. My colleague and I took this opportunity to receive training for the Disaster Case Management (DCM) Certificate and to fulfill the DCM Cadre Requirement.

The training offered the following six sessions:

Sequence of Delivery: developing a process used when providing assistance to disaster survivors. A well developed process maximizes the number of people served while not duplicating services and being responsible stewards of the donated goods.

FEMA Programs: recognizing the process for declared disasters. Although disaster response always start local and end local federally declared disasters establish FEMA Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) to provide the resources that the federal government offers.

Recovery Planning: developing detailed plans after the intake and initial assessment that discusses the actual situation and assesses the needs while communicating a recovery plan with how to move forward. It is an important physical document.

VOAD and LTRG’s: VOADS are coalitions of local organizations responding to disasters. After a natural disaster they form Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG) to respond to the unmet needs of survivors who have not received personal or federal assistance.

DCMP, Federally funded Disaster Case Program: local agencies provide short term DCM (0-6 months). Federally declared disasters can fund a long term DCMP contract which is often funded for 24 months with 6 month extension. With funding you can increase your staff to serve a greater amount of survivors.

Knowing these different components allowed us to familiarize ourselves with the different governmental and organizational systems that will help us respond to natural disasters. It was intense but we learned a great deal about how the system of collaboration works between the federal agencies and local organizations. Below you see the sequence of delivery for federally declared disasters and the various federal programs that we can access for the survivors.

The education we received was crucial, we learned the process that local organizations need to be attentive to both before a disaster hits (blue sky operations) and in the midst of a natural disaster (grey sky operations).

During this training we did many table top small groups to walk through a case study. It was an interactive training where we were also able to learn from one another on how to follow the steps for responding to disaster survivors.

At the end of this training we had one more session called the Disaster Relief Cadre. It prepared us to work as an Agency Staff Assistance Program (ASAP) team and organize the logistics of our disaster response.

Trainings like this allow us to respond to the needs of the community when natural disasters strike. The federal and state governments work with agencies like Catholic Charities to respond to disasters in our communities.