A Price They Were Willing to Pay
By Gibbons J. Cooney
Earlier this week in a California Catholic Daily story, I described the Healthcare Toolkit produced by PICO (People Improving Communities Organization) and the Sojourners, with the assistance of Catholics in the Alliance for the Common Good.
How did pro-abortion Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez end up speaking in a Catholic Church? The "prayer vigil" for healthcare was sponsored by the Orange County Congregation Community Organization. This group is an affiliate of the PICO National Network. From the parent group's website: "Today [we have] 53 affiliated federations working in 150 cities and towns and 17 states. More than one million families and one thousand congregations from 40 different denominations and faiths participate." Ten of the Orange County group's 22-member congregations are Catholic churches.
PICO was founded in Chicago in 1972 by a Jesuit priest, Father John Baumann. It continues to receive much support from the Jesuits. One of this year's Jesuit Foundation grants at the University of San Francisco will go to "training 50-75 USF students, faculty, and staff in the best approaches to community organizing." The Jesuit California province just released a promotional video, commemorating their 100th year in California: "Responding to the Call of Christ." Interviewees included Steven Klink, from the PICO's fundraising arm, and Amy Fitzgerald from their Oakland affiliate, Oakland Community Organizations. In the Jesuit video, the national network is mentioned as much as or more than Jesus Christ. How did Fr. Baumann come to start it? Answers.com says: "In the late 1960s Baumann had worked with community organizing projects in Chicago, where he became familiar with Saul Alinsky's ideas."
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