Homosexual lobby successfully closes down century old Illinois Catholic Charities

The purpose of Gay Marriage

Putting an end to legal efforts to keep Catholic Charities in the foster care business, the Roman Catholic dioceses of Joliet, Springfield and Belleville have dropped a lawsuit against the state of Illinois, agreeing to transfer thousands of foster care children and staff to other agencies.

The end of the lawsuit brings to a close nearly a century of foster care services provided by Catholic Charities in Illinois.

Since March, state officials have been investigating whether religious agencies that receive public funds to license foster care parents are breaking anti-discrimination laws if they turn away openly gay parents.

After the civil union bill went into effect in June, Catholic Charities told the state that accommodating prospective foster parents in civil unions would violate Catholic Church teaching that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Catholic Charities said it would instead refer gay couples elsewhere and only license married couples and single parents living alone.

The agency has pointed to a clause in the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act that they believe protects religious institutions that don't recognize civil unions.

But lawyers for the Illinois attorney general said that exemption only shields religious clergy who don't want to officiate at civil unions. The policy of Catholic Charities violates state anti-discrimination laws that demand couples in civil unions be treated the same as married couples, they said.

A transition plan for cases had already begun with a deadline of Nov. 30. But Peter Breen, an attorney for Catholic Charities, said the state had delayed payments for foster care services, which delayed payments to foster care parents working for the social service agency.

“The action of the state forced the end of this case,” Breen said. “Time was our enemy in this unfortunately.”

Chicago Trib

And we are the bigots for proposing marriage amendments.  This is precisely why marriage amendments are necessary.  A private matter between two people... ha, indeed.  Coming to you soon New York. 

MNCathConf: Catholic leaders will not be silenced

It is not surprising to see the Star Tribune continue to beat the drum in opposition to the marriage protection amendment that will appear on the November 2012 ballot ("On gay marriage, state is out of step," Oct. 1).

What is troubling is the paper's attack on the Catholic Church's participation in the public debate -- an attack that should concern all Minnesotans as out of step with this country's most cherished traditions of free speech and religious liberty.

The Star Tribune sees in the church the specter of a looming theocracy, but this could not be further from reality. The church only proposes; she imposes nothing.

Legislators and the public are free to accept or reject her witness, and Catholics who participate in the public square are fully conscious that they must make arguments that are persuasive to people of faith and those outside religious communities.

So why are some eager to silence the church's voice?

The church's public witness in helping to shape a public order that is just, protects authentic rights, serves the common good and promotes human flourishing is not in any way different from what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did when he, a Baptist minister and theologian, fought for just laws.

His civil rights advocacy was grounded in biblical conviction, the natural law, and the Declaration of Independence, much like Catholic advocacy today. In his words, "a just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God."

Would the Star Tribune criticize Dr. King for imposing his religious views on others?

To be clear: There is such a thing as a healthy secularism that guides the respective roles of church and state.

But what animates the Star Tribune and other purveyors of a false secularism is a politically correct rewriting of the First Amendment, in which the newfangled concept of "freedom of worship" is substituted in place of "religious freedom" -- a move that seeks to "protect the public" by enclosing religious people and their evangelical witness within their own walls.

continue at Star Tribune

I've never heard a Catholic Conference proclaim the truth so boldly. 

HT Bliss

State of Illinois severs foster-care ties with Catholic Charities

Who else will the State of Illinois look to shut down?

The state of Illinois has declined to renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities across Illinois, possibly ending a historic public and private partnership initiated by the Roman Catholic Church a half century ago and potentially severing the relationship between 2,500 foster children and their caseworkers.

Lawyers for three of the Catholic Charities agencies will seek an injunction from a Sangamon County judge on Tuesday.

In a letter sent last week to Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Peoria, Joliet, Springfield and Belleville, the Department of Children and Family Services told all four agencies that the state could not accept its signed contracts for the 2012 fiscal year because “your agency has made it clear that it does not intend to comply with the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.”

“That law applies to foster care and adoption services,” each letter stated. “Thus, there is no meeting of the minds as to the [Fiscal Year 2012] Foster Care and Adoption Contracts.”

Last month, Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Springfield, Peoria and Joliet sued the Illinois attorney general and DCFS for threatening to enforce new policies that accommodate civil unions. The three agencies asked the court to declare that they are legally justified to preserve their current policy of exclusively granting licenses to married couples and single, non-cohabiting individuals and referring couples in civil unions to other child welfare agencies.

the rest at Chicago Trib