This post comes from my habit of browsing the Courthousenews periodically (article below) and a recent lawsuit against an orphanage in Haiti operated by “Lashbrook Family Ministry.”

That doesn’t mean you won’t get a still get dose of  HHS Healthy Marriage Responsible Fatherhood Faith-Based Grantees, and my commentary on them.  After all, it looks like one thing in common with Project Pierre Toussaint Fiasco is fundraising (from afar) continues after corporate status, or institution, suspended.

Talk about the “Missionary Position”and compromised relationships of funders:  Did they know?  Did they not know?  ….How many unreported similar stories abound? Can we trust ANY advertisement from ANY source with poignant photos of happy (or, if that’s the sales angle) forlorn skinny children?

In short — no.  Do the homework, and don’t support what you can’t validate.

OK, Here goes nothing and a rather different post.

Remember Haiti — and some debates about well-meaning Baptists going and getting themselves some nice Haitian kids?

Read and understand what the concept “faith-based” really entails:

The Evangelical Adoption Crusade

Research support for this article was provided by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.

In late March Craig Juntunen told a group of Christian adoption advocates assembled at a Chandler, Arizona, home about his plans to increase international adoptions fivefold. Just over a year before, the world had been riveted by the saga of Laura Silsby, the American missionary arrested while trying to transport Haitian children across the Dominican border. But the lessons of that scandal seemed far from Juntunen’s mind as he described his “crusade to create a culture of adoption” by simplifying adoption’s labyrinthine ethical complexities to their emotional core. Juntunen, a former pro football quarterback and the adoptive father of three Haitian children, has emerged as a somewhat rogue figure in the adoption world since he recently founded an unorthodox nonprofit, Both Ends Burning. He has commissioned a documentary about desperate orphans in teeming institutions, Wrongfully Detained, and proposed a “clearinghouse model” that will raise the number of children adopted into US families to more than 50,000 per year.

Juntunen acknowledges that many adoption experts find his proposals naïve, particularly in a year that witnessed scandals in Haiti, Nepal and most recently Ethiopia, where widespread irregularities and trafficking allegations may slow the once-booming program to a crawl. He met a chilly reception recently at the Adoption Policy Conference at New York Law School when he spoke alongside State Department officials. But Juntunen insists that his ideas for increasing adoption constitute a social movement, akin to the civil rights movement, and that the force of a growing “adoption culture” will help them prevail. …

In Arizona, Juntunen was speaking with Dan Cruver, head of Together for Adoption, a key coalition in growing evangelical adoption movement. The event was the first of the organization’s new “house conferences”: small-scale meet-ups bolstering an active national movement that promotes Christians’ adopting as a way to address a worldwide “orphan crisis” they say encompasses hundreds of millions of children. It’s a message Cruver also emphasizes in his book Reclaiming Adoption—one in a growing list of titles about “orphan theology,” which teaches that adoption mirrors Christian salvation, plays an essential role in antiabortion politics and is a means of fulfilling the Great Commission, the biblical mandate that Christians spread the gospel.

If one can’t convince the locals by one’s ethical example and the goodness of God, go forth and adopt, how could a dependent orphan possibly resist the faith?

Yet while Cruver and his colleagues have inspired thousands of Christians to enter the arduous and expensive process of international adoption, the adoption industry is on a steep decline after years of ethical problems and tightening regulations around the world.

In 2009 Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary** and author of the 2009 book Adopted for Life, shepherded through a Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) resolution calling on all 16 million members of the denomination to become involved in adoption or “orphan care.”** Last year at least five evangelical adoption conferences were held, and between 1,000 and 2,000 churches participated in an “Orphan Sunday” event in November. And in February, the mammoth evangelical adoption agency Bethany Christian Services announced that its adoption placements had increased 13 percent since 2009, in large part because of the mobilization of churches.

WOW.  I just learned today that the California Judicial Council (again) nominated November as “Adoption Month” and we know that some courts are holding “Adoptions Weekends too.”  I also know that in some states, Adoption incentives are simply huge.  There are just so many parents losing, abandoning, and abusing their kids, I guess — either that or (as the late Nancy Schaefer, of Georgia was pointing out — shortly before she and her husband were shot to death — there are indeed huge financial incentives to for state governments (not just evangelists) to traffic in children.

**Southern Baptist Convention being the one Jimmy Carter and his wife quit, stating they could no longer support the group’s oppressive views towards and treatment of women.  Other literature one can read indicates they fight, cheat, and gang up on each other too . . . . ”

(WIKIPEDIA)

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world’s largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members.^[3] It is also the second largest Christian body in the United States, after the Catholic Church.^[4]

The word Southern in Southern Baptist Convention stems from its having been founded and rooted in theSouthern United States. The SBC became a separate denomination in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, following a regional split with northern Baptists over the issues of slavery.

Hence one wonders why the urge to go adopt children of color . . . . .

After the American Civil War, another split occurred: most black Baptists in the South separated from white churches and set up their own congregations.” . . . .

Russell H. Dilday, president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1978 to 1994, described the resurgence as having fragmented Southern Baptist fellowship and as being “far more serious than a controversy”.^[28] Dilday described it as being “a self-destructive, contentious, one-sided feud that at times took on combative characteristics”

(Since this is about 16 million Americans I’m talking about, felt it deserved at least a little reference there….)

DO YOU REMEMBER?  “After Haiti Quake, the Chaos of U.S. Adoptions”  NYTimes  By GINGER THOMPSON Published: August 3, 2010

HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE —- A BABY LIFT UNLIKE ANYTHING SINCE THE VIET NAM WAR — SCANDAL INVOLVING 10 BAPTIST MISSIONARIES WHO IMPROPERLY TOOK CUSTODY OF 33 HAITIAN CHILDREN :

Then on Jan. 12, a devastating earthquake toppled Haiti’s capital and set off an international adoption bonanza in which some safeguards meant to protect children were ignored.

Leading the way was the Obama administration, which responded to the crisis, and to the pleas of prospective adoptive parents and the lawmakers assisting them, by lifting visa requirements for children in the process of being adopted by Americans.

Although initially planned as a short-term, small-scale evacuation, the rescue effort quickly evolved into a baby lift unlike anything since the Vietnam War. It went on for months; fell briefly under the cloud of scandal involving 10 Baptist missionaries who improperly took custody of 33 children; ignited tensions between the United States and child protection organizations; and swept up about 1,150 Haitian children, more than were adopted by American families in the previous three years, according to interviews with government officials, adoption agencies and child advocacy groups.

. . . But child protection advocates like Marlène Hofstetter at Terre des Hommes, an international child advocacy organization, contend that those ends do not justify the means. Rushing children out of familiar environments in a crisis can worsen their trauma, she said. Expediting adoptions in countries like Haiti — where it is not uncommon for people to turn children over to orphanages for money — violates children’s rights and leaves them at risk of trafficking, she added. . . .

In the United States, adoptive parents contacted anyone they knew who might have money, private planes and political connections to help them get children out of Haiti. Evangelical Christian churches, which have increasingly taken up orphan care as a tenet of their faith, were also mobilized.

SO, THIS IS ABOUT A FAITH-BASED GROUP THAT OPERATES AN ORPHANAGE (NOT ADOPTIONS) IN HAITI.  

LET’S TALK:

Let me tell this story (not about the largest organizations around, just a fragment of the field) to make the point that organizations which identify as religious — or faith-based (= ????) — are not necessarily more ethical more altruistic, or doing more good than other groups, as alleged.

In fact the opposite might be true — only they have the religious angle to sell from and people who for milennia have been used to hearing that voice and following that shepherd.    Here’s the Bible on that:

1Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.  ((I Peter 5))

Here’s another type of “example to the flock” which it seems we will never get the message, is fairly typical for the practice,

(1)

“HAITI:  ADOPT AN ORPHANAGE”  BLOG:

Welcome to our Adopt-an-Orphanage Project.

On this site you can track our progress in fundraising,

locating 501c3 non-profit partners, and selecting a Haitian orphanage.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2010

Latest from Lashbrook Family Ministries

Dear Family,

Change is good, or so we hear. Change is also difficult. The mission is changing daily with new children being added, new interns and volunteers coming to work and new buildings going up. In the five and half months since the earthquake we have seen so many changes it makes our heads spin. . . .

Cindy & I will be in Haiti June 5 – 14 and then coming back out to speak and raise funds until this fall. We are still looking for churches and groups that would allow us to share our vision and story. For part of this time we hope to have Pastor Andy traveling with us to share his heart about all that is happening in Haiti…

One thing that hasn’t changed is our love and appreciation for all of you who faithfully pray for and support our family as we seek to serve in Haiti and deal with the daily pressures and decisions we must make for our huge family and our ministry. Thank you!Keith & CindyKeith & Cindy Lashbrook, Directors
Lashbrook Family Ministries, Haiti
In the Father’s Hand Children’s Home
Grace Children Adoption Home
Grace Christian School
Grace ChapelFinancial contributions should be made payable to:
Lashbrook Family Ministries
and mailed to:
Globe International
PO Box 3040
Pensacola, FL 32516-3040

Correspondence & in-kind donations contact:
Mission Services Office
2457 W 950 N
Thorntown, IN 46071

(2)

A. “HIS PASSION REACHING THE WORLD”

Another individual highly impressed with the above Lashbrook Ministries and their concern to reach out and touch / impact  abandoned, vulnerable children.  Possibly innocent of the literal meaning of “reach out and touch…”

Welcome to Hispassion.org. I am Ashley Pell and His Passion is simply me and the ministry that I do. The Lord’s passion is His people and I share that same passion in my life. As a full-time missionary in the Philippines, I am partnered with David Mayyam pioneering a ministry called North Gate, based in Baguio City. I am sent by Helping Hands Inc, a ministry based in Charlotte NC and my church, the Refuge from Concord NC.

http://hispassion.org/Haiti/LashbrookFamilyMinistry/tabid/77/Default.aspx

During my time with the Lashbrook Family Ministry in Haiti, I was blown away by the magnitude of what God was doing there. I came home with a strong desire to convey that to the people who would not be able to take the trip I did. In January I returned to Port-de-Paix, Haiti, to film this documentary. In just 10 short years, Lashbrook Family Ministry, has founded a Children’s Home, an Adoption Home, a School, a Feeding Program, and a Church. Their desire is to impact the city and eventually the nation with love of God, through reaching these abandoned children

(2)B.

our ministry (the Lashbrooks….)

Current Information

Entity Legal Name: LASHBROOK FAMILY MINISTRY, INC.

Entity Address:  2457 W 950 N, THORNTOWN, IN 46071
General Entity Information:
Control Number: 1998060496 
Status: Voluntarily Dissolved 
Entity Type: Non-Profit Domestic Corporation 

Entity Creation Date: 6/1/1998 
Entity Date to Expire: 
Entity Inactive Date: 1/22/2008 

There are no other names on file for this Entity.

 Transactions:

Date Filed	Effective Date	Type
06/01/1998	06/01/1998	Articles of Incorporation
01/22/2008	01/22/2008	Articles of Dissolution

(I’d like to see this one).

Florida, I can deal with — they have a great corporations search site — and “GLOBE INTERNATIONAL” is a real common name.  Notice the “Status” column has a lot of “INACT” entries.

GLOBE INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES:

Learn How to Become a Globe Missionary.

Are you praying about a career in missions? Great! I am sure, if you are praying about serving God in a missionary career, you have been thinking about missions for a long time. Perhaps you have already made a few short term trips, and you probably have also been studying missions courses and missions books. Perhaps too, you have been serving in your local church missions department. Maybe you have a college degree in missions. All of the above is great preparation for a career in missions.

Globe has many opportunities where you can serve alongside our existing ministries and missionaries. Or, if you are ready, Globe can help send you to pioneer a new work in a new country.

You are probably asking, “What must I do first?” Let me make a few suggestions.

1. First, get active in your local church
2. Second, if you haven’t made a short term missions trip, let me encourage you to do that soon
3. Third, if you have not done any formal study, take some bible and missions courses. Globe can recommend several quality study programs that you can do at home in your spare time. They are affordable and will minimally intrude upon your schedule, but will be a great help in the preparation process.
4. Finally, when you are ready, give us a call

(i.e., if you want to go evangelize as a Christian, start acting like one (translated into:  do something with your church, for a change), and heck, why not even study the bible some?)

For some reason, Globe International Ministries gets to cash checks made out to Lashbrook Family Ministries (IN) which is not an entity in IN since 2008.  CEO,  J. Douglas Gehman per the site. … Found reviewing “Jesus Drank, Judas Repented, and God DIvorced his Bride”

Steve Brown’s book will surprise you. It is, and it is not, what the title conveys. With a well researched approach, Brown develops the “Big Three” premises in the title; his conclusions will inspire and challenge you. It is obvious from the beginning that Steve Brown is an ardent follower of Jesus, and is seeking to live a genuinely Christ-centered life before God and people. I highly recommend this thought-provoking book. Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, you will be stirred.”
Dr. J. Douglas Gehman**
President, Globe International
Pensacola, Florida

Also associated with (per corporationwiki) the

**Africa Institute for Biblical Christianity, Inc.  (Affiliated with ACTEA which has to do with theological education in Africa)

Company Name: AFRICA INSTITUTE FOR BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY, INC. Status: Active Filing Date: 02/26/2003 Entity Type: Non Profit Corporation File Number: N03000001736 Company Age: 9 Years, 10 Months Principal Address: 3015 St Charles Drive Tampa, FL 33618 Mailing Address: P O Box 261565 Tampa, FL 33685-1565

Because Globe International Ministries self-identifies as religious, it doesn’t have to file tax returns (at least not ones the public can view):

ANYHOW, Like Responsible Fatherhood Organizations,** EVANGELICALS LOVE NEW GROUNDS. especially in Africa.…[[

]]

Train the Trainers, plant a church, adopt an orphanage, touch the world…..IT’s WHAT THEY DO — and opening orphanages, establishing schools, clinics, etc. of course is part of the terrain 

BUT THIS SHOULDN’T BE:

From COURTHOUSENEWS — another point of view

Globe founded and operated the children’s home through its missionaries, (nonparties) Keith Lashbrook and Lashbrook Family Ministry, and profited from donations received by the orphanage, according to the complaint.

The families say Lashbrook and other orphanage staff repeatedly molested the Haitian orphans, with Globe’s knowledge.

 “On or about Aug. 24, 2010, Globe admitted and acknowledged to potential adoptive families of the Haitian children, including plaintiffs, and other donors to Globe and Lashbrook Family Ministry that sexual assaults occurred and a culture of sexual abuse existed at In the Father’s Hands Children’s Home.”

The parents say Globe was negligent in hiring, training and supervising its missionaries and staff.  (see above, steps 1,2,3,4 on Globe’s site)

They seek damages for negligence.

They are represented by Bobby Bradford with Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz.

WHY DO YOU THINK GROUPS LIKE “SNAP” or, Arizona’s “Voices from the Desert” exist to start with?  Why is there an ongoing need?

Supporting survivors of clergy sexual abuse and examining the cover up, causes, and effects of that abuse in the Roman Catholic Church

Why do women like me have to sound alarms about “Faith-Based Initiatives” and keep talking about how the religious factor IS the abuse factor?  Since when — except for maybe a brief period in the US — has any religion NOT been really aligned with any government — or fighting it to gain control?

I found a similar case to this Lashbrook one in Connecticut recently, and one of the faithful Catholic at least spoke up about it, he says.  

NOVEMBER 11, 2009 1:59PM

Letter from concerned parishioner on Perlitz and Fr. Carrier*

*”Fr.” meaning “Father”

Michael Nowacki Letter distributed to St. Thomas More parishioners in Darien, CT (from the parking lot)

La Sosyete, HLLN and Michael Nowacki,

By circulating this mail, HLLN extends its sympathies, support and solidarity to Mr. Michael Nowacki of the St. Thomas More parish in Connecticut USA, who, with great courage ignored alienation {{??}} to inform the St. Thomas More parishioners who contributed funds to the Douglas Perlitz endeavor in Haiti about his case. (See below – Letter to Parishioners, November 7, 2009).

Mr. Nowacki was actually detained by police, called to his Church by the highest Catholic official in the State of Connecticut, Bishop Lori, for his efforts to tell fellow parishioners about the Douglas Perlitz case and the questionable role of Catholic priest Paul Carrier, who appears to still have been soliciting for funds for accused pedophile Douglas Perlitz, even when Father Carrier was no longer affiliated with the Haiti Fund for over a year. (See Letter to Parishioners for exact details.)

{{Emil Danto is an award winning playwright, a performance poet, author and human rights attorney. She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and raised in the USA. She holds a BA from Boston College, a JD from the University of Connecticut School of law. She is a human rights lawyer, cultural and political activist and the founder and president of the Ezili’s Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN).}}

NOW HERE IS PART OF THAT LETTER:

Letter to Parishioners
by Michael Nowacki
November 7, 2009

Dear Fellow Parishioner,

As a Parishioner of St. Thomas More for the last eighteen years, it is with some genuine concern that this letter is being written.

On the morning of September 12, an article was sent to me which had been posted in that day’s edition of the Connecticut Post. The article was about an indictment of the former executive director of the Pierre Trouissant Project in Haiti on nine counts related to charges relating to child molestation. 

The devastating indictment indicated that Douglas Perlitz had used money that had been raised largely through the efforts of Father Paul Carrier, who has been an active homilist at St. Thomas More, especially in the last two years.

Perlitz allegedly used funds from The Haiti Fund to purchase electronics and other inducements for these children in order to purchase their silence from this abuse.

Perlitz was a student when Father Paul Carrier was the Chaplain and Director of Campus Ministry at Fairfield University. Father Carrier was removed from his position at Fairfield U. in the spring of 2006 and devoted himself to raising money in Parish’s including St. Thomas More for his favorite charity—the Haiti Fund.

In the allegations, Perlitz was also the recipient of wire transfers from the Haiti Fund to personal accounts. . .

The author continued to follow up on the situation, particularly after learning that Fr. Carrier had a class of confirmation students….

. . . My response was somber: “ in this case, you don’t get an indictment from a grand jury without compelling evidence of wrongdoing.” Douglas Perlitz was arrested in Colorado on September 16, where he was living and escorted on Thursday, September 17 with a federal marshal and incarcerated after arraignment in the Federal Courthouse in Bridgeport on Friday in Federal prison in Rhode Island.

Father Bob then startled me when he said that he couldn’t talk to me about this subject because he was under a gag order. “A gag order?” was my question, isn’t that usually connected to a court proceeding? A court didn’t direct your silence did it Father Bob?

I then explained to the lector that Father Carrier had been identified as the “religious leader” in the indictment for having signed a pro-Perlitz letter in the spring of 2008 supporting Perlitz.

Despite the knowledge of the problems for Father Carrier in Haiti, Father Carrier continued to raise money at our parish after he was removed from his role as the Chairman of the Haiti Fund. He raised money at Fairfield University and other parishes including St. Thomas More after he was removed for his favorite charity.

AND SO FORTH. . . . . .   NB.  In another context, Mr. Nowacki is a father’s rights advocate and has sued the STate of Connecticut for violation of his constitutional rights, etc.   The Catholic church is pretty big on fatherhood, and I am not by publishing this letter standing with that court action (which haven’t read enough about anyway).  WHat’s the other side of the story, was this a Catholic family?

These days when money can be raised also easily through web pages — it’s important to check facts.  Time and again, when I check, the groups are not current.  Moreover, since when have religious groups NOT been associated with abuse & molestation of children male and female (cf.  Bishop Eddie Long, who settled out of court) ? ? ? ?   And since when have faith communities NOT been adept at ignoring what’s in their face, and covering up when it’s one of their leaders?

Ask me how I know that. . . . . . apart from what’s available in public….

Here’s the background story on the Project Pierre Toussaint, including the investigative reporter who broke it.  Please read!  I posted enough segments to explain why it stands on this post (fragments may not be in order).

What Happened at Project Pierre Toussaint?

A confidential Haitian police investigative report portrays, in shocking detail, how Perlitz may have preyed on even more students — up to 29, investigators believe. Perlitz was warned not to continue taking children to his house for overnight stays, but former school employees told Hearst Connecticut Newspaper that a culture of silence grew out of the fear of wrecking the economically flourishing charity. A former friend of Perlitz’s who shared a Cap-Haïtien apartment with him said that as far back as 1998, Perlitz was bringing young boys into his bedroom.

Project Pierre Toussaint probably would not have existed without the Rev. Paul Carrier, a charismatic Jesuit priest, close mentor to Perlitz and the longtime director of Fairfield University’s Campus Ministry program. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing, but his role in setting up the charity that raised millions of dollars for Perlitz’s programs — and where that money went — has aroused the interest of federal investigators.

And Perlitz might not be behind bars save for the work of Cyrus Sibert, a Haitian journalist who says he ignored threats and refused bribes to expose allegations that the boys of The Village were being abused.

“Students began writing graffiti on the tall concrete block walls surrounding the Carinage Intake Center regarding how some boys went home with Perlitz and what happened when they did. Each time staff painted over it, more would reappear.”

 . . .

Excellent said, “The kids believed so much in Doug — that he would take them to another level in life.” But too often, he claimed, Perlitz was taking them to his bedroom. “Doug did not have to answer to anyone,” he said.

Sibert broke his first story on Aug. 19, 2007.

Around that time, Louis Petit-Frère, an investigator with the Institut du Bien Etre Social de Recherches, whose responsibilities are similar to Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families, recalled finding several anonymous notes posted on his door when he arrived at work.

Petit-Frère described the notes as “saying sick things…that boys were staying with Douglas in the evening, he was promising things” in exchange for sex.

. .

Kendrick, the Fairfield University graduate who had become an advocate for sex-abuse victims, visited Project Pierre Toussaint. At first an admirer of Perlitz’s work, Kendrick became alarmed when he saw Perlitz associating with a former priest who had moved to Haiti after being defrocked for allegedly abusing minors in the U.S.

And Cyrus Sibert kept digging.

. . .

Armed with evidence showing child pornography on Perlitz’s computer, federal investigators dismiss those claims. They maintain those boys either are driven by a misplaced loyalty to Perlitz, or that Perlitz and his supporters may have bribed them to lie. Prosecutors, citing Western Union records, said in court documents they believe Perlitz wired money “to buy the silence” of former students.

The Haiti Fund, the charity that raised millions for Perlitz’s project, is in disarray. Past and current board members — prominent residents of Fairfield and Westchester counties — are locked in a bitter dispute. Some ex-board members say Perlitz has been railroaded. At Fairfield University, where the Campus Ministry’s efforts in Haiti have long been a source of immense pride, an internal investigation is under way to determine the school’s financial relationship with Perlitz. . .

(Para. out of order — see original article)

By 1997, Perlitz began looking for space to begin a program offering food, a change of clothes, some basic schooling and showers to homeless Cap-Haïtien boys. Connections through the Order of Malta, a Catholic organization providing medical and humanitarian aid, provided him with a grant that helped create Project Pierre Toussaint, named after a Haitian ex-slave who made a fortune in New York and shared it with orphans and the poor.

Project Pierre Toussaint’s Village at Blue Hills was well on its way to becoming a compound. It would grow to encompass eight buildings — dormitories, classrooms, a dining hall and chapel, as well as athletic fields. And the Carinage intake facility in town handled kids who could transfer to The Village if they showed promise after six months.

By then, Perlitz needed more than handouts and grants from other religious organizations.

Back at Fairfield University was just the man who could help.   For 20 years, the Rev. Paul E. Carrier, S.J . . . .

assisted in establishing the Haiti Fund, a nonprofit organization, and over the next several years helped recruit a roster of well-connected board members active in Catholic circles in Westchester and Fairfield counties. Among them: attorneys Philip Allen Lacovara and Thomas Tisdale; wealthy benefactor Hope Carter; and Suzanne McAvoy, Cathy Lozier and Deborah Picarazzi, all Fairfield University employees at that time.

Carrier visited Project Pierre Toussaint monthly, often leading groups of students for volunteer missions. He vacationed with Perlitz in the Bahamas, Project Pierre Toussaint staffers said. When CNN needed a guest to explain the impact of political upheaval in Haiti, the network’s reporters turned to the Jesuit priest.

Project Pierre Toussaint grew. Its reputation blossomed and donations poured in, bolstered by events like the February 2002 visit from Bishop William E. Lori of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport.

http://www.haitian-truth.org/what-happened-at-project-pierre-toussaint/

As one can see — Haiti was in a desperate situation (85% employment mentioned in the area), and how high a price did the boys pay for food and lodging?

Perlitz background from Illinois:

At the convocation, few were surprised at the accolades for Perlitz. After all, Perlitz’s missionary zeal to aid poor Haitians seemed almost foreordained.

Perlitz was born June 23, 1970, and grew up in Barrington, Ill., a community of 10,000 northwest of Chicago that is among the wealthiest towns in the nation.   Religion was a cornerstone of his education. He attended Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein, Ill., continuing his Catholic education at Fairfield University in 1988.

NOW LET”S TALK ABOUT THIS MARRIAGE AND FATHERHOOD PROMOTION WHEN MIXED WITH “FAITH-BASED”

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/grantees/list10-06.htm#rfg

By now, I “know” (through their on-line profiles and corporation status, etc.) many of these groups.  And I noticed the grantees that are receiving $1,000,000 or over:

Grant Awards List  (page is not courteous enough even to list which year…)

Healthy Marriage Grantees | Responsible Fatherhood Grantees

Healthy Marriage Grantees

(CHMC is a faith-based coalition, it says — including Unification Church adherent.  It’s also got some zany habits when it comes to staying incorporated)

Forty years ago, TELACU was established as a pioneering institution committed to service, empowerment, advancement, and the creation of self-sufficiency. Chartered as a Community Development Corporation (CDC), TELACU was initially funded through federal legislation authored by Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Jacob K. Javits to revitalize urban, underserved communities throughout the United States.

Utilizing a unique business model – The TELACU Model – for community and economic development, each and every business TELACU owns and operates has a double bottom line – profitability that is inseparable from social impact. The parent, non-profit CDC owns and operates a Family of Companies called TELACU Industries. These for-profit businesses not only provide valuable products and services to the community; but they also provide the economic means for TELACU to sustain its non-profit community-focused entities.

(It is the largest CDU in the nation.  It is still getting federal grants, despite all this success and the concept of nonprofit tied to for-profit tied to local communities, because . . . . .. ?) (because families are, despite all this construction and business-building effort, completely “Tool-less” when it comes to having a strong family (and probably because the grants are available to snag):

FuturoNow Healthy Marriage Initiative

To provide the relationship-building education that is often unavailable in underserved communities, TELACU collaborated with Urban Strategies to launch the FuturoNow Healthy Marriage Initiative. Through programs delivered by a network of faith- and community-based organizations, individuals and couples are empowered to create and maintain healthy relationships that enrich each partner, their children and the entire community.

The charity IS current (per California OAG site) and this was the 2009 financials:

Collected TAGGS (HHS) grants:

(active links easy to explore by clicking).  Since 2006, it’s been getting about $1.1 million on one grant/ 2006, 2009 & 2010  for “Healthy Marriage” for total of $3.3 million.  However in 2011 a different grant name (same general idea), “FUTURO NOW” (90FK0019) also a fatherhood grant, for $799K has just started.  2011 is year one.  WIth the remaining $222 on “healthy marriage” and another grant series started (marked like the others “Discretionary”) it’s over $1 million in 2011.   And thanks to TAGGs data entry? mess-up? we have the vital information that the Principal investigator’s first name (in a Hispanic-oriented community action org.) is “Jose.”

Here is an HHS-primer on the overall program; the last page shows that TELACU has contracted with Meier Clinics — not not the Foundation, but the for-profit Meier Clinics — to do data reporting and program evaluation, and another company, “Urban Strategies” for day to day operations.  (Sounds like the money is really going to the needy of the area…).

There’s an Urban Strategies with a Registered Agent in Los Angeles but place of Business in St. Louis — in fact these are the three active “urban strategies” corps. in California (4 others are dissolved or suspended):

(Direct HHS grants to Urban Strategies, Inc. are from year 2009 only, including ARRA grant)

(It’s the bottom one, obviously — which registered to do business in CA in 2008):

Founded in 1978, Urban Strategies is a not-for-profit corporation that works with its development partner, McCormack Baron Salazar, to help communities build safe neighborhoods, good schools, and a range of comprehensive human service supports. Our goal is to lead distressed, urban-core residential communities and low-income families toward positive social and economic mobility.

2009

431141027

Urban Strategies Inc

MO

1980

03

4,759,230

4,007,076

990

Meier Clinics(r) (given that its own Meier Clinics(r) Foundation also got a hefty grant) will make sure to be honest in reporting.  AFter all, they are a Christian group.   [[Actually I’ve heard they are reputable.  Who knows?]].

And like XX% of the fatherhood and marriage promotion — of course they are going to be promoting certain curricula:

Given the variety of audiences— youth, married and unmarried couples, and individuals—the partner agencies use a wide array of curricula including “Within My Reach,” “Family Wellness,” “Love U2,” and “Mastering the Mysteries of Love”** (a “Relationship Enhancement” program) to teach 8 hours of marriage education to mostly first generation immigrants or second generation U.S.‐born Latinos primarily of Mexican descent

“Mastering the Mysteries of Love” is run by many grantees (including California Healthy Marriages) and appears to have been designed specifically to profit from the faith-based and marriage-education grant stream.  For example, here’s a description from the ”

National Institute of Relationship Enhancement^®

Mastering the Mysteries of Love (MML) is a research-validated Relationship Enhancement® Program developed by Dr. Bernard Guerney, Jr. and Mary Ortwein, MS. You will be qualified to teach the 8 hour MML program ideal for low income, community, or faith based groups.

Who Should Attend: (the training to run MML classes and support Dr. Guerney, Jr. & Mary Ortwein…..)

Community and faith-based marriage and relationship educators, clergy, students in the helping professions, professionals who want to include an educational approach for their families and couples.
Cost: $225 per person includes leader manual, participant workbook, snacks and certificate of completion ($150 for spouse w/one leader manual and 2 workbooks

The same logo at NIRE(r) above (two interlocking hands in a circle graphic) is found at IDEALS of KENTUCKY site, a URL called “skillswork.org”)

This site (which is Red — the other is Green background) on left column simply lists the marriage/fatherhood grants:

MML Curriculum

• 2011 Marriage and Fatherhood Grants
  • 2011 Grants Chart

(They hint — not too subtly — that our curriculum would be just Grrrrreat for Getting a Fatherhood Grant….)

2011 Marriage and Fatherhood Grants

The Foundation is a nonprofit.  Doesn’t look like the Clinics are….

Meier Clinics® Foundation

“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 

2 Corinthians 9:7

Includes “Pathways to Freedom” to help people with sexual addictions:

PATHWAY TO FREEDOM

An Intensive Outpatient Program for Treatment of Sexual Addictions

It is no secret that our culture has become increasingly obsessed with sex.  It is inescapable.  It is plastered throughout magazines, on billboards, on the internet, in books, on TV – just about everywhere you look. While many felt that a more unrestricted approach to sexuality would liberate people, it actually has lead to bondage for many.  An alarming number of men and women have experienced painful consequences and find they are unable to stop sexual behaviors that are destroying them emotionally, vocationally, relationally, and spiritually.

Just the way Jesus did it …..  with a program…  (Mark 16)

This $2 million, however, is for making Family Bridges (whether or not someone is free from sexual addictions and acting out?)

List of providers, starting with the “Archdiocese of Chicago”  So glad we’re helping support the impoverished Catholic Church, alongside many of their impoverished (in part by them) parishioners.  SOMEONE needs to pay those settlement suits for abusive priests… Why not taxpayers?

http://www.familybridgeschicago.org/ourpartners.asp

The Family Ministries Office of the Archdiocese of Chicago offers services to more than 8,000 couples annually. Through a wide range of programs, classes, workshops, and conferences the group helps build strong relationships among engaged, married, and remarried couples with or without children. Among other things, Family Ministries hosts an annual conference for stepfamilies, and is currently developing a program to train family coaches for the Hispanic community.

…(some of the Ohio ones seem to be related;,

I looked up Sewickley, PA — know the population?

Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 12 miles (19 km) west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 at the 2010 census. TheSewickley Bridge crosses the Ohio River at Sewickley.

Allegheny County in PA, and Sewickley in Allegheny County (maps):

STATE of PA . . . . . . . . ..  County of Allegheny, with red dot = Sewickley.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 1.1 square miles

(Clearly a distressed area in need of marriage promotion)

39.8% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.1% were non-families. … For every 100 females there were 79.8 males (Maybe they should push polygamy, to catch those unattended females who have a 22% chance of actually having a child in the household…)

The median income for a household in the borough was $39,598, and the median income for a family was $56,500. Males had a median income of $48,988 versus $33,311 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $30,571. About 2.6% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line,

With that GENDER wage gap, and a stretch of the imagination, possibly a case could be made that the children of the female wage-earners were at risk of being poor (a 5% risk, that is, for the area), which perhaps a great public school system might help with:

Education

There are several private schools in the area; Sewickley Academy, St. James Catholic School and Eden Christian Academy. The public school system,Quaker Valley School District, is renowned for an innovative laptop-technology grant received in 2000 from former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge. Quaker Valley School District is often regarded as one of the best and academically top-ranked school districts in the nation. In the spring of 2006, U.S.News & World Report ranked Quaker Valley High School among the top 2% of high schools nationwide.

Health care

Sewickley is home to Sewickley Valley Hospital, which is part of the Heritage Valley Health System.

FAMILY GUIDANCE, INC. is a very Christian organization.  Obviously a lack in Sewickley, also ….  DNR if I posted (I remember looking this one up)

STATEMENT OF MISSION

Family Guidance, Inc. exists to bring hope and a future in Jesus Christ to vulnerable children and families of all cultures throughout western Pennsylvania. 

In 1997, God broke Keith and Cindy’s heart for the children of Haiti. They moved their family of 4 from Martinsville, Indiana, to Port-de-Paix, Haiti. Lashbrook Family Ministry was born and now they are a family of 110. God has put it in their hearts to love each of the children like their own.

The families say Lashbrook and other orphanage staff repeatedly molested the Haitian orphans, with Globe’s knowledge.

“On or about Aug. 24, 2010, Globe admitted and acknowledged to potential adoptive families of the Haitian children, including plaintiffs, and other donors to Globe and Lashbrook Family Ministry that sexual assaults occurred and a culture of sexual abuse existed at In the Father’s Hands Children’s Home.”

Trafficking in Children and Keeping Women Submissive

and the Community in Ignorance

or Silence under threat

is part of the deal – –

and always has been.