NAACP’s Kweisi Mfume at St. Sabina Catholic New World / Michael D. Wamble

The message from some faith-based organizations pondering President Bush’s proposals for financial and administrative assistance to such groups, is: Thanks, but no thanks. But not all feel that way.

Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) officials don’t believe the activist organization will be directly affected by President George W. Bush’s overtures to provide a measure of financial and administrative assistance to faith-based groups providing social services. In fact, the project’s leader said he’d be likely to pass up the opportunity.

“Currently, we receive no government funding and we’d like to keep it that way,” said Matthew McDermott, SWOP executive director. The community group has links to several Catholic parishes on Chicago’s Southwest Side,

“When we see overcrowded schools, predatory lending practices or crime, we try to tackle that problem by encouraging neighborhood folks and leaders to become more active,” said McDermott, stressing the positive aspects fostered by volunteerism and self-sacrifice.

Gary Slutkin, executive director of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, views the yet-to-be-fleshed-out proposal in a different light.

Since 1999, Slutkin and Cardinal George have been very visible in promoting the violence prevention project. The cardinal has helped form a coalition of local religious leaders in support of programs to end gun violence in Chicago.

On Feb. 15, Cardinal George was scheduled to address the topic of “Intensifying Our Efforts in CeaseFire,” as head of the Religious Leadership Task Force, a body within the violence prevention project, at a local Baptist church.

While Slutkin understands the reservations of groups toward the financial aspects of Bush’s proposal, he is optimistic about its long-term results.

“Dependence is something nobody wants, whether it’s dependence on government or private sources. It isn’t healthy. But these aren’t either-or questions,” said Slutkin.

“I wouldn’t receive or reject the proposal out of hand,” he said.

On past occasions, both the violence prevention project and SWOP have received the public backing of the cardinal and local bishops in the effort to reduce gun violence in neighborhoods and end predatory lending practices.

McDermott, the former head of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, is not alone in his reservations.

“The church is higher than government. The cross is higher than the flag,” proclaimed Kweisi Mfume, to a standing-room only congregation St. Sabina Catholic Church Feb. 11.

Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), addressed members of the predominantly African-American parish, along with the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson at a special Mass celebrating Black History Month.

Mfume, a Baptist who declared himself a product of Baltimore’s Catholic schools, criticized the president’s proposal as taking away funds from “an already shrinking pot of public money for education” and other government programs to create murky relationships with churches and faith-based organizations providing social services.

Though Mfume got applause from the congregation, his views on the issue of education and faith-based initiatives differ from those expressed within the Catholic Church.

Concern over the shrinking number of parochial schools and the need to increase funding for charitable activities across the nation has led the church to be “open” to the yet-undefined proposal President Bush announced Jan. 29.

While Mfume characterized himself as a member of Bush’s “loyal opposition,” McDermott, who works with local churches, agreed with some of his concerns.

Both pointed to a time when church and civic leaders joined in decrying the legislative implementation of welfare reform, including food stamps, in state block grants. The reform also targeted mothers on welfare with penalties if they decided to have additional children.

In 1995, Catholic Charities USA was a key voice that illustrated how the welfare reform promoted by the Clinton administration would affect people. At the time, the organization implored the president to be mindful of the “moral considerations” of the government’s actions.

That “voice in the wilderness,” said both men, still is needed in matters of public policy.

“Faith-based groups have a lot to say about issues of justice and how our society should be, telling our government what changes should be made,” said McDermott.

“We all know that organizations like Catholic Charities do good and important work. I think, when funding [for Catholic Charities] becomes an excuse for government not to step in and do its job, it can become dangerous.”

But for Slutkin, the inclusion of the Rev. Eugene Rivers, a Pentecostal minister active in talks with the Bush Administration about the office’s formation, raises his optimism about the proposal.

Said Slutkin, “If Rev. Rivers can influence and motivate those who control resources into moving financial streams into areas we perceive as being positive, that can reap tremendous rewards.”