The Boston Archdiocese's Catholic Charities said Friday it would stop providing adoption services because state law requires them to consider gays and lesbians as parents. The social services arm of the Roman Catholic archdiocese has provided adoption services for about a century. But it says state law allowing gays to adopt runs counter to church teachers on homosexuality. "The world was very different when Charities began this ministry at the threshold of the twentieth-century," the Rev. J. Bryan Hehir and trustees chairman Jeffrey Kaneb said in a joint statement. "The world changed often and we adapted the ministry to meet changing times and needs. At all times we sought to place the welfare of children at the heart of our work. But now, we have encountered a dilemma we cannot resolve," they said.The state's four Catholic bishops said earlier this month that the law threatens the church's religious freedom by forcing it to do something it considers immoral. Eight members of Catholic Charities board later stepped down in protest of the bishops' stance. The 42-member board had voted unanimously in December to continue considering gay households for adoptions.
Sounds like it's time for them to re-create the orphanage. Orphanages were always supplemental to adoption, and would still provide a safe, nuturing, and supportive environment in the absence of acceptable adoptive parents. They represent the acceptance of the idea that there will always be more children than good adults to take care of them.
| When the state starts deciding a church's theology, you're in just as much trouble as you'd be in if the theologians were deciding what the state can do. It's the reverse of South Waziristan or Iran, but neither condition is a good thing. |
| This is a real shame, because Catholic Charities has been a good force for getting difficult-to-place children placed in that state. CC isn't always on the good side in adoption/foster disputes, but getting older and special needs children placed is something they do well. The state is gonna miss them when they pull out, and pull out they will. On the other hand, the state has a law to enforce. Both sides, regretably, are going to take what each thinks is the correct decision. As an aside, I would not want to see orphanages return. They were, for the most part, ghastly places and ruined a lot of kids. Every child needs a home. |