David Gibson, a reporter for Religion News Service whose work frequently appears at theWashington Post, Huffington Post, and the Boston Globe's religion site Crux, appears to have presented false claims in a controversial passage from a recent article. (Yesterday I examined its other problems.)
The passage discusses the objections of certain anonymous “critics” to a recent gift to the Catholic University of America:
Critics of the CUA gift say it is ironic that the school would seek such massive support from a social liberal when Catholic charities are not allowed to take any money from any person or group that supports abortion rights or gay rights.
Contrary to Gibson's claim, not only is there no policy barring Catholic charities from taking “money from any person who supports abortion rights or gay rights,” there are many documented cases of Catholic Charities doing just that.
Here are just three examples:
The Target Foundation, a charitable arm of Target, donated over $250,000 to Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2014. In August, the company signed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to recognize gay marriage as a constitutional right.
The New York Times Company served in 2011, 2012, and 2013 as an “Ambassador”-level supporter of New York Catholic Charities, the highest level of support. It has long been a strong supporter of gay rights, as then-editor Bill Keller said in 2011: “We are liberal in the sense that we are open-minded, sort of tolerant, urban. Our wedding page includes — and did even before New York had a gay marriage law — included gay unions. So we’re liberal in that sense of the word, I guess. Socially liberal.”
JP Morgan Chase, which has also signed a Supreme Court brief arguing for gay marriage, donated to New York Catholic Charities at the “Benefactor”-level in 2012. That same year JP Morgan Global Head of Diversity Patricia David said, “JPMorgan Chase is honored to have received a 100 percent score on the 2012 HRC Corporate Equality Index, and proud to be the only financial institution to have earned this distinction for 10 consecutive years.” One of the index's four main criteria is that companies “demonstrate firm-wide public commitment to the LGBT community.” The National Organization for Marriage has called for a boycott of JP Morgan.
Gibson's story containing the inaccurate claim has been published on the Washington Post, on the Huffington Post, and on the Boston Globe's religion site, Crux. The passage remains uncorrected at all three publications.
Matthew Schmitz is the deputy editor of First Things.
