There’s been a lot of finger pointing lately in the direction of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, a social justice program of the U.S. Catholic bishops. But unlike other attacks on Catholics that come from the secular world, this one originates within our own faith community.

Several Catholic organizations, including watchdog group Bellarmine Veritas Ministry, Human Life International and American Life League, are calling for a massive overhaul of CCHD’s practices, citing instances where CCHD-funded groups have acted in opposition to the Church’s teaching on human life.

The critics have assembled a “Reform CCHD Now” coalition and are calling for a boycott of the organization’s annual parish collection. Meanwhile, the U.S. bishops are urging the faithful to give generously to that same collection to help our struggling brothers and sisters during this time of economic uncertainty.

The concerns of CCHD’s detractors are not without merit. Suspicion of CCHD’s direction of funds originated when one of its grant recipients – the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) – made headlines for its involvement in a variety of unscrupulous practices, including cases of alleged embezzlement and voter registration fraud.

In light of the ACORN scandal, Bellarmine Veritas began an investigation of CCHD’s full list of grant recipients. They compiled a report that cited five CCHD-funded groups that had engaged in activities contrary to Church teaching. The infractions ranged from directly campaigning for the legalization of same-sex marriage to being loosely affiliated with pro-choice advocates or organizations that dispense contraceptives.

The Bellarmine Veritas report made no mention, however, of the good works to help reduce and eradicate poverty being undertaken by CCHD’s 245 other grant recipients.

But unlike what some of its attackers seem to suggest, CCHD does not haphazardly hand out donations to suspect organizations under the veil of secrecy. Grant applicants must be approved at four levels – by a diocesan CCHD director, the local bishop, the national CCHD office and finally a subcommittee of the U.S. bishops’ conference.

When applying for a grant, organizations must pledge in writing to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church as a condition of their funding. If awarded a grant, they must again sign a statement promising their adherence to the Church’s moral and social teachings during the year that they receive funding.

Grant recipients are then subject to spot checks and must file reports on their activities. A complete listing of all grant recipients and the amount of funding they have received is also publicly available on CCHD’s website.

So with so many safeguards in place, what went wrong?

Anyone who is engaged in the social outreach effort of the Church knows that it is rarely predictable or pristine or perfect. We cannot bring Christ to people where they are if we are afraid to enter the murky environment in which some of our neediest brothers and sisters must survive. Helping the most vulnerable among us can be an unwieldy endeavor and we are called to bring our best to the effort despite the pitfalls.

CCHD has done no less. With 250 grant recipients to monitor, it has to place some stock in the integrity and good faith of the groups that sign an agreement about their adherence to Church teachings. But CCHD has been proactive in rescinding grants to those who dissent or violate their pledge. In fact, CCHD was the first of ACORN’s many financial supporters to pull its funding. Additionally, CCHD thoroughly investigated all of the groups identified by Bellarmine Veritas and three are no longer receiving grant funding.

The efforts spent by CCHD’s attackers in “exposing” a fellow Catholic group may at heart be well-intentioned, but they are also misguided. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that if a brother sins against us, we are to approach him in private to resolve the matter and to bring others into the conversation only when that brother refuses to listen.

In their response so far, CCHD has shown that they are indeed willing to listen. Instead of beginning a public campaign against CCHD, those concerned about the group’s funding practices could have privately approached the organization and offered to help keep tabs on grant recipients. And rather than defending their reputation in the press, CCHD officials could now be using their energy to focus on the business of aiding the most vulnerable members of society.

As Catholics who follow the Gospel, we are subject to persecution from many outside forces in the world. To point fingers at one another rather than reaching out to help each other not only empowers the Church’s detractors, it prevents us all from being able to carry out our true mission as disciples of Christ.