.
Imagine that! Members of the Board of Directors of Catholic Charities (Boston) want to
continue facilitating gay adoptions and gay foster parents, but Rome and the various state Archdioceses are against gay parenting whether adoptions or foster care. And, Massachusetts law specifically forbids gay discrimination in adoptions or foster parents. As well as, financial backers of Catholic Charities (Boston) will buck like hell if Rome and/or the Archdiocese gets its way.
What a self-made conundrum is Roman Catholicism in now! Egads. Can the Church higher-ups do anything correctly?
Follow the money on this baby. Seriously. I'll bet the house that money will be the determining factor w/ this beaut! My dig at the Roman Catholic Church (Massachusetts) is that they sure should get better lawyers to better legally counsel them! BTW, is Rogers still doing his part? Or was he fired when Cardinal Law got fired <cough>?
Bishops to oppose adoption by gays
Exemption bid seen from antibias laws
by Patricia Wen and Frank Phillips, (Boston) Globe Staff |
February 16, 2006The four Roman Catholic bishops of Massachusetts plan to seek permission from the state to exclude gay couples as adoptive parents, according to two board members of the church's largest social service agency who were briefed on the plan.
The decision follows a three-month study of the theological and practical impact of having Catholic Charities of Boston, the Boston Archdiocese's social service arm, place children with gay couples, given the Vatican's teaching that describes such adoptions are "gravely immoral."
This decision to seek an exemption from state anti-discrimination rules pits the bishops against the 42-member board of Catholic Charities of Boston, which is made up of some of Boston's most prominent lay Catholics. The board voted unanimously in December in support of continuing to allow gay couples to adopt children.
In the past two decades, agency officials placed 13 children with same-sex couples, a tiny fraction of 720 adoptions completed by them during that time.
The outgoing chairman of the board, whose term expired earlier this month, expressed strong opposition to the bishops' plan, saying it would undercut the agency's longstanding mission to provide stable homes for as many needy children as possible.
. . . more at . . .
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/02/16/bishops_to_oppose_adoption_by_gays/.
But, oh, what a difference a day will make . . .
Bishops dealt setback in pursuit of gay adoption exemption
by Patricia Wen, (Boston) Globe Staff |
February 17, 2006Governor Mitt Romney and a legislative leader yesterday delivered unwelcome news to the Catholic bishops of Massachusetts, who plan to seek permission from the state to exclude gay and lesbian parents from adopting children through its social service agencies.
The governor said he was not authorized to give such an exemption, and State Representative Eugene L. O'Flaherty, the House chairman of the joint committee on the judiciary, predicted little support among lawmakers for any request by Catholic adoption agencies for an exemption from the state's antidiscrimination policies.
"I would say there would not be an appetite to entertain that," O'Flaherty said.
The comments were made a day after the Globe reported a plan by the four bishops of Massachusetts -- representing Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Fall River -- to hire a Boston law firm to explore legal and political strategies for opting out of gay adoptions. Catholic Charities of Boston, the social service arm of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, has in the past two decades processed a small number of gay adoptions in compliance with state antidiscrimination laws. The Vatican has stated such adoptions are ''gravely immoral."
The bishops' plans are at odds with the 42-member board of Catholic Charities of Boston, which voted unanimously in December to continue the practice of allowing gays to adopt.
. . . more at . . .
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/02/17/bishops_dealt_setback_in_pursuit_of_gay_adoption_exemption/.