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Mandated Homosexual Adoptions Forces Catholic Church to Quit Adoption Agencies in England

Cardinal says its adoption agencies 'cannot remain Catholic and conform to the Sexual Orientation Regulations"

By Jenna Murphy 

WESTMINSTER, May 26, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Under the leadership of Cormac Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, the Catholic Church in England has recently disaffiliated itself from three of the country's largest adoption agencies. The Church stated that its adoption agencies 'cannot remain Catholic and conform to the Sexual Orientation Regulations."
 
In an effort to put an end to discrimination against same-sex couples, the British Government released an official statement in 2007 declaring that all adoption agencies must allow same-sex couples to adopt children with equal consideration, regardless of the sexual orientation of the adopting couple. At the time of the statement, Tony Blair and his cabinet gave a 21-month "delay" as a "sensible compromise" to allow Churches to adjust their respective protocols to become more 'tolerant' of same-sex couple adoption.
 
This past week, the Church in England cut ties with the Surrey-based Catholic Children's Society; one of the country's largest adoption agencies, with operations covering much of the south-eastern region of the country. As well, the dioceses of Northampton and the diocese of Nottingham have ended their involvement in all adoption agencies in their respective locales. There remain ten other adoption agencies in Britain and Wales whose decisions are due to be released in the coming weeks as the 21-month period comes to a close.
 
When Blair, who has since inexplicably become a Catholic, first announced the new attempt at opening the doors for adoption to both homosexual and heterosexual couples, many MPs were aware that this move towards 'political correctness' posed several implications.
 
At the time of the statement's release, as well as throughout this past year, Cormac Cardinal Murphy O' Connor made several attempts to compromise with the government on this point, hoping for some kind of exemption for the Catholic adoption agencies, but was met without sympathy.
 
 "Here the Catholic Church and its adoption services are wishing to act according to its principles and conscience and the government is saying: 'No, we won't allow you to ... you have no space, you have no place in the public life of this country,'" said Cardinal Murphy O'Connor in an interview with the BBC last winter.
 
As has often been said, the government's promotion of homosexual "rights" will inevitably lead to discrimination towards people of faith.  Catholic adoption agencies are known for providing care for the hardest cases, particularly disabled children, and forcing them out of adoption services will be a great blow to these children.  Moreover, with the closure of these Catholic-run adoption agencies, there will be more incoming children elsewhere than accommodations permit.
 
In a 2005 interview with Fides (Agenzia Fides, Vatican news), the late Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, former President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, was adamant on the need to hold fast to the family unit "in its traditional sense" to ensure healthy children and a healthy society.
 
"[Adoption by homosexual couples] would destroy the child's future, it would be an act of moral violence against the child. The United Nations Convention dated 1998 says that the greatest principle is the good of the child, the rights of the child. This is a central principle in the constitutions of the many countries which signed the Convention," said Cardinal Trujillo.
 
The Cardinal went on to speak about the sacred right of each child to belong to a "real family" where the child is loved and enabled "to grow and to develop harmoniously". Cardinal Trujillo then noted that when he presented these points to the United Nations Convention of The Hague in 1996, he was met with unanimous accord.
 
"Now I am criticized for my work which is something the Church has always preached to the whole world. It has been preached by John Paul II, the then-Cardinal today our beloved Pope Ratzinger, the Bishops Conferences. It is not a personal opinion it is my duty because my mission is to promote and protect the family", said Cardinal Trujillo.
 
In a Vatican document released in 2005 entitled "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 Church is not only being forced to abandon its own adoption charities in England, but she has also been subject to much "moral cornering" in Massachusetts.  The state has experienced similar government 'strong-arm' tactics, causing the Church to scramble in implementing adoption restrictions that ensure healthy family lives for the adopted children.
 
To see Vatican document and interview transcript, respectively:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/docum...
 
See previous LifeSiteNews.com article:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/may/050504a.html
 
More British Catholic Adoption Agencies to Close Doors instead of Bowing to Sexual Orientation Regulations
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08042306.html
 
Experts Worldwide Find Gay Adoption Harmful for Children
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/may/05053106.html
 
Archdiocese of Denver Calls Homosexual Adoption Demand "Imprudent and Wrong"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06031602.html

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