Governer takes stand against Catholic Charities

The State Journal-Register reports today that Governor Pat Quinn, himself a Catholic, will not sign contracts with Catholic Charities of the Dioceses of Springfield in Illinois, Joliet, Peoria and Belleville, with my emphases and comments:

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is defending the state's new civil unions law in a dispute over adoptions with Catholic Charities [while at the same time ignoring the state's new religious freedom protection law, which are, strangely, the same piece of legislation].

State officials say they won't renew foster care and adoption contracts with the group that has received state money for placing children [but has never been required to place them with non-married couples until now, seemingly against the new law regarding the protection of religious freedom].

Quinn has sent letters to the four remaining Catholic Charities agencies that place children letting them know Illinois won't accept contracts because they won't comply with the civil unions law [the law itself says, "Nothing in this Act shall interfere with or regulate the religious practice of any religious body."  Quinn and others are attempting to do just that in what seems to be a violation of the new law]. The agencies are in the dioceses of Peoria, Joliet, Springfield and Belleville.

Some Catholic groups say the new civil unions law, which gives gay couples many of the same rights as married couples, threatens their religious beliefs [which, clearly, it does].

Quinn says Catholic Charities has "made a choice" and Illinois has a law and isn't going back [quite wrong.  The practice of Catholic Charities has not changed.  It is the State that has "made a choice"].

Effectively, then, the Governor is ignoring the first part of the title of the Act that made civil unions in Illinois legal: Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act.  What happened to the protection of religious freedom?

Catholic Charities has asked to continue State contracts as they have been, by which Catholic Charities has only placed children for adoption and foster care with married couples.  By not allowing Catholic Charities to continue with its placement Catholic Charities is being forced out of adoption and foster care services.
 
For more background information, see Bishop Paprocki's column in which he explained the four Dioceses are seeking clarification on religious freedom protection.

Update: I was just informed that Catholic Charities does place children with single people, but not with cohabiting couples.

Bishop: Quinn's animating faith is certainly not the Catholic faith

The Catholic News Agency reports on Governor Quinn's statement that his "religious faith animates" him to sign SB 1716 that will legalize same-sex unions in Illinois, and Bishop Paprocki's response (with my emphases):

Springfield, Ill., Dec 2, 2010 / 08:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Illinois' legislature passed a bill on Dec. 1 that will establish same-sex civil unions in state law. While the state's Catholic governor Pat Quinn said his faith prompted him to support the bill, his bishop has warned that the governor's actions clearly contradict Church teaching.

“If the Governor wishes to pursue a secular agenda for political purposes, that is his prerogative, for which he is accountable to the voters,” said Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., after the contentious vote.

“But if he wishes to speak as a Catholic, then he is accountable to Catholic authority,” he continued, “and the Catholic Church does not support civil unions or other measures that are contrary to the natural moral law.” In the governor's case, the local “Catholic authority” is Bishop Paprocki himself.

The Springfield Journal-Register quoted the governor as saying, “My religious faith animates me to support this bill.”

“He did not say what religious faith that would be,” Bishop Paprocki noted. “But it certainly is not the Catholic faith.”

Governor Quinn has promised to sign the civil union measure into law, following its passage in the state's House and Senate. Local reports indicated that the Democratic governor received a standing ovation from members of his own party, following the 61-52 vote in the Senate.

The governor joined Democratic Representative Greg Harris, the self-described “highest ranking openly gay elected official in the State of Illinois,” in supporting the initiative.

The bill drew opposition from Chicago's Cardinal Francis George, as well as the Catholic Conference of Illinois, due to its potential impact on the Church's work in adoption and foster care.

Cardinal George and the conference also expressed concerns that the bill would diminish the status of marriage in public life, by granting most of its benefits to any two consenting adults. They warned that the bill could substantially alter the law's definition of what constitutes a “family,” and said its supposed provisions for religious liberty were vague and subject to restrictive readings.

Robert Gilligan, Executive Director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, spoke to CNA Dec. 1 about the new law. He predicted that future generations might have to learn some harsh lessons about the unintended consequences of using the law for what he called “social engineering.”

Civil unions, he said, indicate America's trajectory toward a European model of living, in which adult romantic relationships have little or nothing to do with family or a lifetime commitment.

He noted that although individuals might enjoy this lifestyle or even deem it a “right,” a culture cannot sustain itself by functionally equating such arrangements with marriage. In time, he said, societies that choose to diminish marriage in this way will face the effects of shrinking populations and family breakdown.