Catholic Charities in Boston draws a line in the sand

Catholic Charities in Boston has recently been at the center of a firestorm over the matter of placing children in adoptions to gay couples. While the agency has done it about a dozen times in its history, the bishops of Massachusetts have called for an end to it -- and the state has said that Catholic Charities must continue adopting to gay couples as part of keeping with anti-discrimination laws. On top of that, there have been rumblings that United Way would cease funding Catholic Charities if they did not comply with the state.

So, in reply, Catholic Charities in Boston will cease its adoption services. Archbishop Sean O'Malley had this to say:

Most Catholic Charities in the United States had their beginnings in providing adoption services for children from Catholic working class families who had lost their parents. Prior to Catholic Charities providing adoption services, the state might have placed these children in non-Catholic homes. Excercising constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom, Catholic Charities stepped forward to provide placement for orphaned children in a manner that was in accord with the faith and religious practice of the children´s parents.

Over time, Catholic Charities expanded its adoption services so as to provide placement services for children of many faiths and circumstances, always seeking to care for the children.

Sadly, we have come to a moment when Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Boston must withdraw from the work of adoptions, in order to exercise the religious freedom that was the prompting for having begun adoptions many years ago.

The archdiocese has also posted this article, which I found be of great use in explaing, quite simply, the position of the Catholic Church on this issue:

Catholic scholar explains Church’s position on adoption by same-sex couples