According to an investigation published by the Lepanto Institute, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) are funding organizations that coordinate riots and whose stated goals are to defund, and kill, the police.

“The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), is funding organizations actively involved in calls for revolution, the killing of police officers, and the defunding of police departments,” the research and education organization states.

“All of this follows a long and sordid history of the CCHD providing millions of dollars to organizations that have long served as communist front groups waiting for the right time to spark a Marxist revolution,” it adds. “See our article titled, “The Marxist Core of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.”

The CCHD “is the national anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, working to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ ‘… to bring glad tidings to the poor … liberty to captives … sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free.’ (Luke 4:18),” according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

The CCHD claims to provide “the Catholic faithful with concrete opportunities to live out the love of God and neighbor in ways that express our baptismal call and continuing Eucharistic transformation.” The CCHD, it states, is “pro-life, pro-family, and pro-community and will never do anything to undermine that commitment.”

The latest institute report has identified four groups that have received roughly 680,000 over the last three years from the CCHD.

Workers’ Center of Central New York, received the most, of $200,000 over this time period. On May 29, the organization posted on Facebook that, “these riots and lootings are taking back what the masses of working black and brown communities are owed. Riots and protests are necessary tools and we fully support … An injury to one is a [sic] injury to all.”

The New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice received $150,000 over the last three years, according to a report published by the USCCB Subcommittee of CCHD. The Lepanto Institute published a video posted by the organization on twitter, which records a protest in which members of the group were chanting “Death to the racist pigs,” referring to police.

Both workers’ centers use a communist clenched fist as their logos, “a hallmark of Marxist revolution,” the institute notes.

Chicago-based The People’s Lobby Education Institute received $165,000 from CCHD over the same time period. The group has also repeatedly called to defund the police and prisons on social media sites.

Austin-based The Workers’ Defense Project, a membership-based organization “that empowers low-income workers to achieve fair employment through education, direct services, organizing and strategic partnerships,” also received $165,000 from the CCHD. In a tweet, it accused Houston police of “murdering PoC [people of color] with impunity,” and also demands that police departments be defunded.

The Lepanto Institute argues that “at the very core of the CCHD is a philosophy of revolutionary leftist ideologies.”

In a 2015 investigation into several groups funded by the CCHD, the institute identified how “Catholic money is being funneled to Communist, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual front groups.”

CCHD director Ralph McCloud, while serving as a local government official in Fort Worth, endorsed pro-abortion politician Wendy Davis who at the time was running for a state senate seat held by pro-life incumbent, Kim Brimer.

McCloud also referred to Barack Obama’s 2008 win as “a ‘great day’ where ‘we will see a new Jerusalem, and justice will flow like waters,’” the institute cited in its report.

McCloud is still the director of the CCHD.

“It’s important to state here,” the Lepanto Institute wrote, “that while Ralph McCloud may not be a Communist himself, and may very well have every good intention in serving the Church in the way he believes is best, the network of CCHD-funded groups pushing radical ideological agendas under the banner of justice clearly follows the Marxist paradigm, and has since the founding of the CCHD. And Ralph McCloud is very much a part of that.”

Several other groups funded by the CCHD have signed a Solidarity Letter from the Immigrant Justice Movement, the institute claims. The letter calls for activists “to dismantle the police state by defunding and decreasing police budgets.” The letter was posted by the American Friends Service Members organization.

These CCHD- funded groups are ultimately funded by Roman Catholic parishioners, many of whom are police officers and their families. According to the USCCB, the CCHD is funded, “by the generous support of Catholics in the United States, especially through an annual parish collection.”