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Catholic Relief Services Caught in Contraception Cover-Up

Contact: Michael Hichborn, Lepanto Institute, 540-847-5501, mdhichborn@LepantoInstitute.org

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- A joint investigative report by the Lepanto Institute and the Population Research Institute (PRI) spotlights a series of programs implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) which promote contraception. The report also shows that government documents were falsified, hiding CRS's involvement in these programs.

The 56-page report provides documentation and statements from CRS' implementing partners as well as evidence collected from a field investigator in Kenya. These dual investigations together demonstrate that CRS implemented contraception-promoting programs through grants from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute, presented a PEPFAR document to Archbishop Coakley, chairman of CRS' board of directors, which indicated that CRS was responsible for the implementation of contraception-promoting programs in Kenya. The only response Hichborn received from CRS was that PEPFAR "made a mistake" and was "correcting" the document in question.

"The PEPFAR document wasn't 'corrected,' it was falsified. The evidence we have proves that CRS absolutely implemented the programs initially indicated by the PEPFAR document, and PEPFAR changed the public record after a conversation with CRS," said Hichborn. "This strongly suggests that CRS and PEPFAR collaborated in a cover-up to hide CRS' contraception-promoting programs in Kenya from the bishops and the faithful."

"If CRS is willing and able to engage in a cover-up of this magnitude, what else has it kept hidden from the bishops and the faithful?" Hichborn asked.

In January, the Lepanto Institute published a report on CRS' involvement with a graphic sex education program called My Changing Body. Rather than address the evidence in the report, CRS issued a statement denying any wrong-doing.

To view the report online, go to www.lepantoinstitute.org/crs-pepfar-cover.

The Lepanto Institute, formed in 2014, conducts independent research into Catholic charitable efforts to ensure their compliance with Catholic social and moral doctrine.