Citing the city’s imminent legalization of same-sex marriage, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has shut down its 80-year-old foster-care program, The Washington Post reports.
Rather than license gay and lesbian couples for the program, Catholic Charities transferred its foster-care services to another provider, the National Center for Children and Families.
The city’s gay-marriage bill was passed and signed in December and is expected to become law in the next few weeks. Catholic Charities, which receives about $20-million from the District to provide various social services, had warned in the run-up to a council vote on the measure that the law would make it impossible for the church to remain a city contractor.
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0 Responses to D.C. Archdiocese Ends Foster-Care Program in Protest of Gay-Marriage Bill
griffin - February 17, 2010 at 2:32 pm
What a very christian thing for the catholic church to do. (Lower case intended.) Make the children suffer because of their archaic perspective. Makes me just want to rush right out and go to church on this Ash Wednesday.
chuckmackinnon - February 17, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Although I disagree with the Church position on the gay marriage bill, I respect the courage of their convictions. They telegraphed their intent well in advance of the Council vote. If the City adequately compensates social agencies for providing foster care services, then there will be plenty of organizations stepping up to grab the public dollars left on the table by the Catholic Church.
wamurray - February 17, 2010 at 2:45 pm
The District Government made their decision to circumvent a public vote on gay marriage and instead link it with human rights legislation and the Catholic Church had to make its own decision about how this decision would effect its ability to act as an employer and social service operator through Catholic Charities. As Chuck points out, there are other providers that will step in. Relax, Griffin. I’d prefer instead to pay tribute to the Church for providing foster care services in the city for 80 years through Catholic Charities and all the good that has come out of that work. Perhaps the archdiocese could have tackled this differently from a PR and lobbying perspective, but I appreciate the firmness of their convictions and the fact that they don’t consult polls before making decisions.
rchekouras - February 17, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Hasn’t this “church” done enough to hurt children? Is their appetite for inflicting harm so without bounds that in addition to being the largest ring of child molesters operating unhindered in the world, that they must now use children as political pawns?
tridentcg - February 17, 2010 at 5:08 pm
The comments of WAMurray pretty much hit the nail on the head relative to this issue and the actions of the Archdiocese of Washington.The Roman Catholic Church is and has been for more than a century and a half the largest private, nongovernmental provider of charitable and social services in the country. That’s a fact too often forgotten by the people who have very little accurate knowledge of the Church but who, nonetheless, thrill at publicly bashing it when they happen to disagree with its theology or doctrine or because they simply enjoy engaging in what is the last socially and publicly acceptable form of prejudice in this country — anti-Catholicism.The Church has no choice but to hold firmly to the scriptural and moral truths upon which it was founded and is built, no matter what popular opinion and culture might hold on moral and social issues. If the Church were to take stands contrary to its own teachings, it would betray the mandate it received at its founding two millennia ago.As was stated by WAMurray, the PR approach and the lobbying tactics might leave something to be desired. Nobody ever said that PR and lobbying were the Church’s strong suits; nor, actually, should they be.Indeed, these are issues for which the Church consults no pundits, media coverage or opinion polls before making decisions or choosing courses of action. Such decisions and courses are driven purely by objective truth as the Church has consistently understood it for more than 2,000 years.WAMurray and ChuckMacKinnon had it exactly right in asserting that the Church deserves to be appreciated and seen as courageous in holding to its core teachings and convictions, especially in a world that has grown morally weak and that glorifies a warped view of liberty.
bububr - February 17, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Interesting….Espesially since the Arch Diosese recieves 20MILLION per year for 43 forster children, 35 placemant families, and 7 staff…..SEEMS a bit much don’t you think???? Thats about 500,000 per child per year…Sorry but I don’t make that much in 10 years…F**k the church and their blood sucking…
phayashida - February 17, 2010 at 10:15 pm
For those who would defend the church for its charity, I would remind them that the institution receives an exemption from taxation in exchange for the value it provides through social services, and is allowed to promote an agenda of intolerance in the process. I don’t think anyone should feel sorry for the Catholic church – it’s an institution with almost $1 billion worldwide. Feel sorry for the kids. It’s the church who turned its back on them.
trandest - February 18, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Obviously bububr did not read the actual Washington Post article. On the other hand, you didn’t have to read the article. Common sense would say that no one would receive $20 million for a program that has 43 foster children placed with 35 families. The funding is for 20 programs operated by the Archdiocese for DC. As previously pointed out, the Archdiocese had no choice in this matter; given its beliefs. Even if you disagree with those beliefs, you have to respect them for sticking to their convictions. (Don’t people respect our current President for sticking to his beliefs, even when the majority of citizens disagree with him?) If the Archdiocese chose to ignore their beliefs, it would have been (rightfully) accused of hypocrisy by the very likes of rchekouras, bububr, and phayashida.BTW, phayashida, did you know that during his presidential campaign Barack Obama almost cost the United Church of Christ its tax exemption. That would have been sad. Of course you wouldn’t have felt badly about that; after all, they had been exempt from taxation.May I suggest to the three mentioned “experts” on the ills of the Catholic Church: Before you resort to childish, baseless and crude comments, turn on your brains and THINK about what you are about to say. You can respectfully disagree or you can be an embarrassment to the Not-for-Profit Community. It’s your choice.
everyman - February 18, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Here’s a “second” to the right-on comments by trandest!It’s clear that people who have little but their own hateful feelings and uninformed opinion to contribute to the discussion will often resort to slander and diatribe when their brains are, indeed, turned off.After an entire professional lifetime spent in the nonprofit sector, I’m disillusioned and disappointed to realize that it’s where I’ve met many of the most intolerant and bigoted people I’ve ever known. Interesting that the nonprofit world, where we find so many of the organizations that preach tolerance and diversity, can be populated by people who operate without any of those virtues. They are, indeed, an embarrassment!If it weren’t so sad and offensive, it could be almost funny that so many of the individuals (“experts”) who have so much to say and criticize about other people and institutions are speaking from a knowledge base that is nonexistent. But, it doesn’t matter to them. Their goal is always to discredit and marginalize, but never to contribute anything of truth, substance and value.
shadow_man - February 20, 2010 at 11:59 pm
To those of you using the Bible as a weapon against homosexuality, you are wrong. Homosexuality is not a sin. The Bible is constantly being taken out of context to support anti-gay views. Any educated Christian would know that. Scholars who have studied the Bible in context of the times and in relation to other passages have shown those passages (Leviticus, Corinthians, Romans, etc) have nothing to do with homosexuality. These passages often cherry-picked while ignoring the rest of the Bible. The sins theses passages are referring to are idolatry, Greek temple sex worship, prostitution, pederasty with teen boys, and rape, not homosexuality or two loving consenting adults.http://www.soulfoodministry.org/docs/English/NotASin.htmhttp://www.jesus21.com/content/sex/bible_homosexuality_print.htmlhttp://www.christchapel.com/reclaiming.htmlhttp://www.stjohnsmcc.org/new/BibleAbuse/BiblicalReferences.phphttp://www.gaychristian101.com/
shadow_man - February 21, 2010 at 12:00 am
For those of you claiming homosexuality is a “lifestyle”, that is a false and ignorant statement. Homosexuality is not a choice. Just like you don’t choose the color of your skin, you cannot choose whom you are sexually attracted to. If you can, sorry, but you are not heterosexual, you are bi-sexual. Virtually all major psychological and medical experts agree that sexual orientation is NOT a choice. Most gay people will tell you its not a choice. Common sense will tell you its not a choice. While science is relatively new to studying homosexuality, studies tend to indicate that its biological. http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/03/differential-brain-activation.pdfhttp://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/dn14146-gay-brains-structured-like-those-of-the-opposite-sex.htmlGay, Straight Men’s Brain Responses Differhttp://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155990,00.htmlhttp://www.livescience.com/health/060224_gay_genes.htmlhttp://www.springerlink.com/content/w27453600k586276/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/06/16/172/There is overwhelming scientific evidence that homosexuality is not a choice. Sexual orientation is generally a biological trait that is determined pre-natally, although there is no one certain thing that explains all of the cases. “Nurture” may have some effect, but for the most part it is biological.
shadow_man - February 21, 2010 at 12:00 am
EMPIRICAL DATAThe National Library of Medicine pubs confirm that sexual orientation is natural, biologically induced in the first trimester of pregnancy, morally neutral, immutable, neither contagious nor learned, bearing no relation to an individuals ability to form deep and lasting relationships, to parent children, to work or to contribute to society.From the American Psychological Asociation: homosexuality is normal; homosexual relationships are normal.The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Asociation and American Psychiatric Asociation have endorsed civil marriage for same-sex couples because marriage strengthens mental and physical health and longevity of couples, and provides greater legal and financial security for children, parents and seniors.America’s premier child/mental health associations endorse marriage equality.