Posted on 11/15/2011 4:53:59 AM PST by markomalley
Bishops in three Illinois dioceses announced Nov. 14 that they have dropped their lawsuit against the state and will shut down their adoption and foster care programs, after a civil union law required them to provide their services to same-sex couples.
“The decision not to pursue further appeals was reached with great reluctance, but was necessitated by the fact that the State of Illinois has made it financially impossible for our agencies to continue to provide these services,” said Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Bishop Edward K. Braxton of Belleville, and Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Joliet.
“Since we now need to close offices and lay off employees, further appeals would be moot,” the bishops said.
Catholic Charities branches from the dioceses of Belleville, Springfield, Peoria, and Joliet had filed a lawsuit in June 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.
Peter Breen, an attorney with the Thomas More Society, which represented the charities in their lawsuit against the state, called the news “tragic.”
In a Nov. 14 statement, Breen said the situation “stands as a stark lesson to the rest of the nation that legislators promising 'religious protection' in same sex marriage and civil union laws may not be able to deliver on those promises.”
In their remarks, the bishops noted how the Church has “successfully partnered with the State for half a century” and lamented the fact that the “the losers will be the children, foster care families and adoptive parents who will no longer have the option of Catholic, faith-based services.”
“We are sad to lose the dedicated employees who have served our Catholic foster care and adoption services so faithfully for so many years,” the bishops added. “We are grateful to them and reluctantly bid them farewell with our prayers and best wishes.”
Bishop Paprocki clarified that despite the loss of foster care and adoption services in his diocese, “our Catholic Charities in the Diocese Springfield in Illinois will continue to address the basic human needs of the poor in central Illinois in other ways.”
“The silver lining of this decision is that our Catholic Charities going forward will be able to focus on being more Catholic and more charitable,” he said, “while less dependent on government funding and less encumbered by intrusive state policies.”
The news of the decision to close the programs follows the Nov. 11 announcement by the Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois that will it separate from the Belleville diocese and offer adoptions and foster-care services to same-sex couples.
The Catholic Social Services agency, which had been operating at the Belleville diocese since 1947, said 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.
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 non-profit 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.
Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Illinois Catholic Conference, summarized what he believes to be the underlying problem in remarks to CNA on Nov. 11.
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,” Gilligan said.
so....the Ill. gummint will be OK if an organization like 2nd Mile ‘fills the void’.
It is only just beginning...
Queer bastards. Despicable.
Christian are under attack in the United States of America. The Government is not your friend.
At this time probably 90% of all babies born to Illinois residents are birthed in Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin or Iowa.
Virtually all Illinois babies born to residents of Southern Illinois are born in Vincinnes, Indiana.
Adoption services can continue unabated in the other states but the trial lawyers have driven the relatively low-cost and "not worth suing" Catholic operations out. Whoever is left is going to be a cash cow for the lawyers.
You might think this is incredibly short-sighted of interests in Illinois, but if you lived there and needed a heart transplant you'd quickly find that you needed to meet with your surgical cardiologist in Louisville, KY. For lesser needs you could meet him in Gary, Indiana! But Fur Shur, you'd not find him risking his malpractice insurance rates by meeting with you in Illinois.
The folks running Chicago, and thereby the state of Illinois, are C R I M I N A L S.
They are like Obama. He is like them. His entire crowd are C R I M I N A L S.
They don't think like normal people. They don't see churches as having a good purpose since they may well provide charitable support at a lower cost than the mob protected operators they bleed for vigorish.
Gay mafia takeover of a Catholic ministry
The Catholic Social Services agency, which had been operating at the Belleville diocese since 1947, said that it will now be called Christian Social Services of Illinois.
Gay mafia co-opting "Christian".
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.”
Gay mafia mole. Mission accomplished.
Little did we know what the Left really meant when they said “It’s for the children!”
Individuals must step in to fill the void for funding.
"The silver lining of this decision is that our Catholic Charities going forward will be able to focus on being more Catholic and more charitable," he said, "while less dependent on government funding and less encumbered by intrusive state policies."Yup, freedom has its price.
The radical homosexuals are sick and wrong but they got lots of money—and money wins lawsuits.
Just another day in the People’s Republic of Illinois. Thank you Comrade Quinn and Comrade Madigan.
The Government is in league with homosexuals.
and this is why the definition of marriage is so important.
It isn’t about “live and let live”
See what happens when they win the debate?
“Live and let live” doesn’t apply now does it? Not when a church is attempting to exercise freedom of religion.
What a backhanded way to promote more abortion!
The question is: Have they already won the war without the definition in Illinois? Homosexuals in this state now have the right to adopt children.
This happened some time ago in Massachusetts. I believe it happened over in the UK too. And the left claims that gay unions/marriage won’t change anything. It’s causing Catholic adoption agencies to shut down because they are practicing their faith!
as long as they have the “right” to adopt....it seems they have the “right” to shut down institutions who have a religious-based definition.
And as this article points out...it isn’t so much the “law” as it is the harrassing lawsuites that breaks the bank account of the adoption agencies before the case even makes it to court.
Sounds like what I am reading in Jude and 2nd Peter.
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