Thanks to Illinois’ passing a same-sex marriage bill, which would afford homosexuals the same marital rights as real married couples, Catholic Charities may — out of religious principle — drop its adoption and foster care services.
According to LifeSiteNews.com, state officials in Illinois are reviewing the state’s relationship with religious organizations that provide such services. Because those organizations receive taxpayer funds, they must either adopt children out to homosexuals or lose state funding.
The battle against against permitting homosexuals and other deviants from adopting children is being lost in state after state, with Illinois being just one of those that would rather see Catholic Charities stop helping children who need parents than permit the organization to follow the teachings of the Church.
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No More State Funding
Leftist lawyers say religious organizations have a choice: remain true to their teachings or give up state funds they use help place children with families.
According to the Windy City Times, a homosexual news newspaper, lawyer Jill Metz says the handwriting is on the wall.
“These agencies get huge Illinois tax dollars that everybody in Illinois contributes to,” Metz said.
“If we start allowing organizations to say they have a problem with doing this or that because of their religious beliefs while they’re taking state dollars, we exclude people from the fairness and equality that are required under our Constitution.”
“These functions are not religiously connected, but they are contracts they enter into with the state of Illinois,” she added.
An official with the state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union agrees. ACLU torpedo Benjamin Wolf said the law is clear: “These agencies turn away people who could provide good, loving, long-standing homes and we think that’s a bad policy. You can have your own private religious views to the extent that you want, but when you are caring for state wards, you need to prioritize that role first.”
The trouble for Catholic Charities began when Illinois’ Catholic governor signed a homosexual marriage bill. He said he had to “follow my conscience,” a familiar refrain from renegade Catholics, despite the clear teaching of the Church and an admonition from the state’s ranking bishop.
In November, that archbishop, Cardinal Francis George, warned of the attack that was sure to be launched if the bill passed.
Wrote George:
There is an inherent conflict between this legislation and religious liberty. Language in the bill offers little protection in the context of litigation that religious institutions and individuals will face if this bill is adopted. With no explicit protections for religious liberties, it will not take long before the General Assembly or the courts:
- Mandate that faith-based institutions providing adoption or foster care services be required to place adoptive or foster children with couples who have entered into a same-sex civil union.
- Require that Catholic parishes or Catholic agencies providing social services (including retreats, religious camps, homeless shelters, senior care centers and community centers) be compelled to provide these services to individuals who are in a same-sex civil union.
- Refuse to protect small employers who do not wish to extend family benefits to employees in a same sex civil union.
George’s prediction came true. Now that homosexuals have locked up control of marriage in Illinois, its legal and legislative janisaries have gone to war against Catholic Charities and other Christians who believe homosexual behavior is intrinsically immoral and disordered.
Catholic Charities and other religious organizations will not change their poliicies, the Windy City Times reported. However, a Lutheran adoption service will likely surrender on the matter to keep the state money rolling in.
Illinois Following Boston, D.C.
Catholic Charities in Illinois isn’t the first to have been attacked by the organized “gay” agenda.
In 2010, Catholic Charities in Washington, D.C. shut down its adoption service after the the city legalized homosexual marriage. That law required any religious organization with municipal contracts to hand children over to homosexuals regardless of religious teachings.
In 2006, Boston’s Catholic Charities dumped its adoption services after the state passed a law forcing adoption agencies to give children out to homosexuals.
The controversy also highlights the problems inherent in any religious organization accepting government funds, as government ultimately controls what it subsidizes.
