PREFECT SAYS CATHOLIC AGENCIES SHOULD NOT ALLOW GAY ADOPTIONS, SAN FRANCISCO RECONSIDERS POLICY

EWTN.com ^ | 14 March 2006

[Aussie Dasher]

San Francisco, Mar. 13, 2006 (CNA) - The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has said Catholic social service agencies should not place children with same-sex couples.

In light of this, the Archdiocese of San Francisco is currently reviewing its practice of permitting homosexuals and lesbians to adopt children through its local Catholic Charities.

Maurice Healy, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the decision to review the policy came after Archbishop William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said that bishops must not permit children to be adopted by same-sex couples.

Healy contacted Archbishop Levada at the Vatican after a Boston Globe journalist asked him if the former archbishop of San Francisco had permitted gay adoptions and if the archdiocese would continue to do so after the bishops of Massachusetts decided to forbid them.

The bishops of Massachusetts cited Church teaching in their recent decision to no longer permit Catholic social service agencies to place children with same-sex couples. They said they planned to seek an exemption from state anti-discrimination policy.

In his e-mail response to Healy, Archbishop Levada acknowledged that Catholic Charities San Francisco had allowed three “difficult to place” children to be placed with same-sex couples during his 10-year tenure there. He explained these placements involved “prudential judgments” about the children’s needs, Church teaching, and the agency’s mission.

He added, however, that a 2003 Vatican document clearly indicates that “Catholic agencies should not place children for adoption in homosexual households.”

“The reasons given in the document, as well as the potential scandal for the faithful should an archdiocesan agency act contrary to the clear teaching of the Church's Magisterium, require that a Catholic bishop follow this clear guidance from the Holy See in his oversight of Catholic diocesan agencies,” he wrote.

Prior to receiving the archbishop’s e-mail, Healy had defended the practice of allowing gay adoptions in a Globe interview.

[Aussie Dasher]

Sounds like SF is more than ready for a "B"-bomb!!!!

[FormerLib]

I wonder if those homosexual-agenda thugs in Boston are happy they forced the issue in court and got this whole response going.

[starfish923]

The Catholic Church in San Francisco has been a beacon of conservativism. Archbishop William Levada was the archbishop there for MANY years.

Pope Benedict just CHOSE Levada to fill his old position in the Vatican.

I know it's tempting to smear the ENTIRE city of San Francisco aand everyone in it for the loud left wing politics in the news, but it's the WRONG thing to do with its Catholicism.

Also, probably because of the increased Chinese population (1/3 of the city is Chinese) politics are getting more conservative, financially, especially.

[starfish923]

Besides, this article was posted a few days ago, I think.
I'm getting deja vu all over again. :o) Yogi Berra.

[Galveston Grl]

I think, as with the Boy Scouts the Supremes will find that Catholic Charities does not have to act in violation of it's faith when ordered to by the State. On the other hand, we recently saw a court uphold the right of a city in California to cut off city facilities to the Scouts because of their stand of not putting homos in the tents of little boys. States can can cut off all support for Catholic Charities but they can not force humanist beliefs and activities on the Catholic church.

However, for those in the adoption business, who would you take your baby to for adoption: the homo adoption service or the Catholic Charities? This is going to ultimately aid and uplift the reputation of Catholic charities and harm secular and State adoption services. Which is why liberals want choice and diversity banned in this case.