Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the overseas charitable arm of the US
bishops’ conference, cooperated in the distribution of contraceptives
in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a watchdog group has charged.The Lepanto Institute, which has been consistently critical of CRS, has released a report saying that in a partnership with a US government project between 2006 and 2010, CRS “received, stored, and dispensed millions of contraceptives, including condoms, oral contraceptives, injectable contraceptives, intra-uterine devices, and even surgical sterilization kits.”
“The implications of this report could have far-reaching consequences for CRS,” said Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute. “For the last six years, CRS has been dodging around revelations of its impropriety by telling bishops and faithful Catholics that it ‘never’ promotes, distributes or facilitates the distribution of contraception. We now have proof that CRS’s claim is completely untrue.”
The Lepanto report is based on government documents, including inventory reports and procedure manuals.
The documents appear to show a major increase in the use of contraceptives in the African country.