What could go wrong?
This evening at a parish I went to at the end of Mass they passed around letters to be signed to go to our to Senators in support of the Global Poverty Act. The Senate Bill was introduced by U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Reading through the bill it sounds like another boondoggle in support of the The United Nations Millennium Development Goals which will be just as ineffective and wasteful as President Johnson's "War on Poverty." The bill mentions HIV/AIDS and prevention several times and since abstinence and faithfulness are free you can easily imagine how the money would be directed towards condoms and "reproductive health." Especially since part of the The United Nations Millennium Development Goals includes the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which is cover for abortion rights.
I just don't see how further funneling our money via the bureaucracies of our government and the United Nations is going to be all that effective in reducing poverty other than filling the pockets of bureaucrats. Remember the U.N. Oil for Food program and how that money ended in so many peoples accounts while food was not delivered to Iraq?
Known as 
The UN doesn't even 'cover' their push for abortion. They have been quite blatantly using their access to funds (such as were solicited in that parish you mentioned) to pressure those who need the funds to provide access to abortion. They have also been using oppressive measures to force all members to comply. Some countries have said 'NO' and received threats of sanctions. Some have been sold out by their governments, in spite of massive public protests or against the opposition of their own Medical Assoc!! The only good sign is that there is starting to be a bit of a backlash within the UN. Some are questioning why abortion gets added to every agenda.
Perhaps the parish should be collecting for a charity who works in a country/countries and actually gives hand to hand help to the most needy. (Missionaries of the Poor comes to mind.)
I would raised holy heck about it. Or at least I tell myself as much.
Give, Jeff, give. Zimbabwe needs your money. The thugs who beat the political opposition with truncheons don't pay themselves, you know.
It reminds me of this NFP video on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=TN8j2ILe_Gc&feature=user
(or search for NFP vs. Contraception VI)
It's so ridiculous that won't even give people food until they force their own agenda on them.