Abstract
The large humanitarian presence of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in South Vietnam came under attack from antiwar activists after Michael Novak published a series of articles in the National Catholic Reporter. CRS could no longer claim that its work was nonpolitical, argued Novak, because the bulk of its foodstuff went to feed the Popular Forces militia, a village‐level civil defense force created by the government of South Vietnam. The implicit morality of charity was the “latest casualty” of an immoral war, he concluded. CRS defended itself by stating that its mission to the poor and homeless could only be carried out with the cooperation of the U.S. military and the South Vietnamese government. Not to help the needy was immoral, CRS argued. The resulting debate exposed a growing rift among Catholics concerning the Vietnam War, challenged the theological and pragmatic basis on which CRS operated the world’s largest international humanitarian organization, and signaled the end of a close partnership between church and state in the delivery of international humanitarian services.
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