Re: “Ottawa had no reason to slash CCODP funding” (WCR, Jan. 28).

It is not surprising that CIDA would sound such a ringing endorsement as “CCODP is Canada’s most experienced development organization supported exclusively by Canadians.”

(They disregarded Chalice, a Catholic sponsorship program top-rated three years in a row by MoneySense magazine.)

CIDA and CCODP bureaucracies shared the same world view of “social justice” in the Global South: “development” and “peace” would only be achieved when the marginalized would share in the economic power of the countries.

The road to this outcome required women’s empowerment, including “reproductive health” as defined by our secular brethren: free-for-all contraception, abortion, earliest possible sex-ed, etc.

I don’t know what got into Bev Oda to write the famous “no” on that file, but I strongly believe there was a great dose of divine intervention involved.

This reduction in taxpayer funding of D&P was a wake-up call for all involved in that remnant of the ’60s Marxist/Christian “theology of liberation” style of “class struggle.”

All of a sudden, D&P had to rely on their Catholic supporters for funds, which put them under the scrutiny not only of the bishops, but also of individual Catholic parishioners.

Michael Casey, D&P executive director, said: “We’ve adapted, restructured. It puts more emphasis on our support from the Catholic community.” Well, it was about time.