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Boston Archdiocese Includes Gay “Couples” in Catholic Charities Adoptions

BOSTON,  October 24, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Boston Globe reported Saturday that the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has assisted in the adoption of 13 children by homosexual partners in the last twenty years out of a total of 720 children adopted. Archdiocesan spokesman, Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, said that state regulations prohibit the agency from discriminating based on “sexual orientation.”

“We have to balance various goods,” said Fr. Hehir. He said if they did not comply with the state's nondiscrimination clause, the Catholic agency would not be able to do the work of placing other foster children into good homes.

The agency however, was acting outside its mandate as a Catholic organization since the Catholic Church specifically condemns the adoption of children into the invariably unstable homosexual partnerings as “gravely immoral,” a technical Catholic theological term for a mortal sin.

In a document issued before he was elected Pope, “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons,” then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote, “Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in (homosexual) unions would actually mean doing violence to these children, in the sense that their condition of dependency would be used to place them in an environment that is not conducive to their full human development.”

The comments of Fr. Hehir, contradictory to Catholic theology though they may be, are mild compared to those of Catholic Charities’ Chairman, Peter Meade, who indicated to  the Globe that the organization ought to welcome adoptions by homosexuals.”

“What we do is facilitate adoptions to loving couples," he said. ''I see no evidence that any child is being harmed.”

Fr. Hehir told the Globe that to his knowledge, Catholic Charities of Boston had never sought an exemption from the state requirement based on freedom of religion.

In-house blogger and celebrated satirist for Catholic World Report magazine, the pseudonymous “Diogenes,” summed up the Boston Archdiocese’ position from the perspective of Catholic teaching. “Fact: The Catholic Church teaches that allowing homosexual couples to adopt children ‘would actually mean doing violence to those children.’ Fact: The Boston Archdiocese arranges adoptions by homosexual couples. Conclusion: The Boston archdiocese does violence to children. QED.”

Diogenes writes, “See if I have this right; we (Catholic Charities) have to harm some children, otherwise we'd lose the (state) contract and wouldn't be able to help children in our uniquely Catholic way. Can't help thinking there's a flaw there somewhere.” 

Read Boston Globe coverage:s
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/10/22/archdiocesan_...

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