Green Bay Bishop David Ricken has written to two interfaith groups warning them that if they do not sever their affiliation with the Gamaliel Foundation they will lose the diocese's support. Bishop Ricken said that he values the work of these organizations, called JOSHUA and ESTHER, but made it clear that their affiliation with Gamaliel, a national Chicago-based network of community organizing groups, through the state umbrella group, WISDOM, was problematic because Gamaliel espouses principles contrary to Catholic teaching, Lifesite News reports.
"After prayer, study, and reflection, it is clear to me that principles of the Gamaliel Foundation are inconsistent with the tenets of our Catholic Social Teaching," the bishop wrote them on Saturday. "It is not fitting for a Catholic entity to enter into a formal association with another organization when there is such a conflict of principles."
"The end does not justify the means," vicar general and chancellor Fr. John Doerfler told The Post-Crescent on Wednesday, although he would not elaborate on the diocese's problems with Gamaliel.
In a November statement, the diocese explained that they would be reviewing Gamaliel and WISDOM, due to JOSHUA and ESTHER's association with them.
They noted at the time that the groups were affiliated with Health Care for America 
Now (HCAN), which began advocating abortion coverage at the beginning of November.
But the diocese also stated that the groups had withdrawn from HCAN, and LifeSiteNews has verified that they are still not listed as coalition members.
Fr. Doerfler told the Post-Crescent, however, that the previous connection with HCAN is not the diocese's concern. "JOSHUA and ESTHER have given that explanation and have severed that affiliation," he said.
According to Bishop Ricken, "it is crucial that we continue to collaborate with our non-Catholic brothers and sisters to pursue matters of social justice that we share in common."
He applauded JOSHUA and ESTHER for their work in serving the homeless and promoting immigration reform.
"This good work must continue," he said.
He said that the diocese will begin by approaching JOSHUA and ESTHER to "ask that their affiliation be severed with WISDOM, and through WISDOM with the Gamaliel Foundation."
"Such a resolution would allow our continued involvement with JOSHUA and ESTHER in the work of justice that we share in common without the conflict of principles," he continued.
If the groups will not sever their relationships with Gamaliel, he says the diocese will seek "alternative avenues, apart from JOSHUA and ESTHER, to collaborate with our non-Catholic brothers and sisters in the work of justice that we share in common."
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