Robert Gilligan of the Illinois Catholic Conference
Posted on 11/12/2011 12:55:49 PM PST by NYer
.- Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois announced that will it separate from the Belleville diocese and offer adoptions and foster-care services to same-sex couples.
“What you're seeing at the state level in Illinois, what you're seeing at the national level in Washington, D.C., is a consistent promulgation of policies and laws that are making it very difficult for faith-based agencies that believe that marriage is between one man and one woman,” Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Illinois Catholic Conference, told CNA on Nov. 11.
The Catholic Social Services agency, which had been operating at the Belleville diocese since 1947, announced on Nov. 11 that it will now be called Christian Social Services of Illinois.
Gary Huelsmann, the agency’s executive director, called the move a “solution” that will be “best for the children” as it ensures “their continuity of care.”
The Diocese of Belleville said in a Nov. 11 statement that the agency was unable “to remain faithful to the moral teaching of the Catholic Church” while adhering to the state's civil union law enacted in June.
“The message in Illinois from the state government—and increasingly from the national government—is that you (religious groups) cannot interact with the state” and receive public funds from it to assist “the most poor and vulnerable among us,” Gilligan said.
“That's a tragedy because our country has a long history of interaction with faith-based organizations
for social services.”
The Catholic Social Services of Bellville had previously joined Catholic Charities branches from the dioceses of Springfield, Peoria, and Joliet in a lawsuit against the Illinois Attorney General's Office and the state’s Department of Children and Family Services to prevent them from ending state contracts for foster care and adoption programs with the charities.
The department told the agencies that it was ending their contracts over their alleged refusal to obey the 2011 Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act, which established legal privileges for same-sex and opposite-sex couples in civil unions.
Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Peoria announced in October that it will withdraw from all state contracts and transfer its staff to a new nonprofit organization with no affiliation to the Catholic Church.
The new organization, titled the Center for Youth and Family Solutions, will take on the caseload of foster children from Peoria Catholic Charities starting Feb. 1.
US Bishops to discuss gay marriage (at upcoming Fall Conference)
Rule One: NO POOFTERS!
Doesn't matter what sort of church, school, civic organization or whatever ...
Infiltration by poofters invariably leads to all sorts of malfeasance.
Gotta keep those gub’ment dollars flowing in, doncha know.
Isn’t it nice to know what is REALLY important to them?
Fixed.
do doubt
Gilligan, is that you little buddy?
OTOH, they have the indecency to put the word "Christian" in their new name, so they're still guilty of false advertising.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
..will now be called Christian Social Services of Illinois.
..called the move a “solution” that will be “best for the children
Now way that ‘sin’ is Christian or helpful to children. This move is an abomination and all about the $$$.
Seems to me that if they were part of the lawsuit their not waiting until it was through the system before they decided to break their relationship with the Church indicates they didn't take that relationship seriously anyway.
JMHO
Perhaps he doesn’t want to lose his job. I suspect that’s more important than doing the “best” for children who will now be adopted by perverts.
What an outrage for this agency to call itself CHRISTIAN.
Good for Bishop Braxton for not caving in to the homosexual agenda.
Then they can no longer call themselves Catholics, can they?
That was my very first thought as well.
Well, when the first lawsuit alleging sexual abuse on the part of a homosexual ‘couple’ against a child placed with them by this ‘enlightened’ group hits the courts, they won’t be able to blame it on the Catholic Diocese.
If they split, then they are no longer Catholic.
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