IN FEBRUARY 1997, PENNSYLVANIA Senator Rick Santorum sparked a debate on the role of government money in private charity that has yet to settle down. The senator was in New York City to receive an award from the Catholic Campaign for America for his leadership against abortion. Early into his acceptance speech, he launched into a pointed critique of Catholic Charities.
Because Catholic Charities receives almost two-thirds of its funding from government sources, the senator said, it "can do little that is uniquely Catholic. They have to do what the government dictates, which means they can't talk about the Catholic part of the charity."
Ah. In the latest financial statement I can find for Catholic Charities I was taken aback by the fact that they list $1.2 Billion in government revenue for the FY 2002.
Of course that is roughly nine percent (9%) of the $13.6 Billion in total revenue. That is a far cry from two/thirds (67%).
Now, had it been anyone but Senator Santorum, possibly the dumbest politician in Pennsylvania since Tom Ridge, I would have thought that perhaps it was true five years ago.
But, on further inspection it turns out the pretty boy dunce was talking about one program specifically directed to members of the United States Armed Forces...Color me biased, but to my thinking that is fair enough.
So, for the future may I suggest you think more carefully about using a twit like Santorum as a reliable source.
You may not like Catholic Charities because they didn't pay your heat bill ten years ago, but stick to the facts and your point would have been made.
I personally had no idea they obtained that much money from government grants and like my old friend Senator Dirksen used to say, "...a billion here and a billion there, and sooner or later we are talking big money...", or words to that effect.