Posted on 05/20/2015 7:07:10 PM PDT by ebb tide
BALTIMORE, MD, May 19, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Breaking a month of silence on the scandal created by one of its high-level executives living in a homosexual “marriage,” the head of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) said the organization has yet to decide whether it should employ someone who violates Church teaching in this manner.
The US Bishops’ international relief agency is working on it, CRS President and CEO Carolyn Woo told Aleteia’s John Burger in an interview published May 18.
“CRS has a senior person who is in a civil gay marriage,” Woo said, “and the question is, ‘Is that a violation of Church teaching?’ I just want to say we are working through this.”
“Gay marriage,” she stated, “of course, is a very complex issue.”
News broke April 20 of CRS Vice President of Overseas Finance Rick Estridge entering into a homosexual “marriage” in the same month of 2013 that he was promoted to vice president by CRS.
CRS has avoided commenting since the revelation surfaced, for example, refusing to acknowledge requests for explanation from LifeSiteNews prior and subsequent to word of the matter becoming public.
However after the initial inquiry, Estridge’s social media profiles were taken down just before the story broke.
The relief agency acknowledged the situation the day it became public to another news agency, and indicated later in the week to a third media outlet that nothing had been done about it and there would be no further comment.
One CRS critic, Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute, which published the report on Estridge, criticized Woo’s remarks.
"Dr. Woo's question about whether or not CRS's having a vice president in a same-sex ‘marriage’ violates Catholic teaching is greatly troubling,” he told LifeSiteNews. “CRS is ostensibly a 'Catholic' organization, and to have a high level executive on board who so violently opposes the Mystical Body of Christ is to poison the Catholic identity of the organization itself.”
“Would Dr. Woo be wondering about this if Mr. Estridge was a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan or a practicing Satanist?” Hichborn asked. “Just how much evil is CRS willing to tolerate within its executive ranks?"
Estridge, already a long-time employee of CRS at the time of his 2013 promotion to vice president, also publicly advocated for homosexual “marriage” on social media, something Woo did not address in the Aleteia interview.
Woo did acknowledge Church teaching on marriage in her deferred remarks to Aleteia.
“The Church is very clear that marriage as a sacrament is between a man and a woman open to procreation. There’s also the Church teaching on natural law. Those are the teachings,” she said.
But she questioned whether the Church had a defined expectation to uphold Church principles in hiring its people, specifically in situations like that of CRS and Estridge.
“Does it mean that the Church should not employ anyone who is in a gay marriage? Are we giving a blanket ‘No’?” she asked. “If it’s not a blanket ‘No,’ are there particular positions, such as positions that are ministerial in nature, positions which relate to the formation of the faith of young children at school?”
“While the teaching is clear, as it translates into practice there has not been defined a common approach for dealing with employment, particularly when the position is non-ministerial, when the person is not a Catholic, when the agency is not a school,” she said. “So we’re in that area when there have been various steps forward, but not a clear path.”
Further complicating the issue for CRS as an employer, Woo said, was the legal recognition of homosexual “marriage” in 37 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.
She also insisted that the bishops and CRS board were kept aware of these matters, stating, “We have had regular and consistent meetings with our board on these issues.”
While some have attempted to dismiss the problem posed by a Catholic organization’s executive publicly violating Church teaching, saying it’s a superfluous concern and fabricated controversy, CRS critics maintain this is serious, and their motivation is for the US Bishops’ to uphold Catholic principle and identity in its charitable ministry.
"At a time when bishops across the country are working to maintain the Catholic identity of their dioceses, chancery offices, schools, and parish choirs by denying employment to individuals engaged in same-sex ‘marriages,’” Hichborn told LifeSiteNews, “CRS is wondering whether retaining a same-sex ‘married’ vice president violates Catholic teaching."
And torturing children for sexual gratification may also possibly be against Church teachings ... but we’re not sure. We’re gonna look into that, and we’ll get back to you after we figure out if it’s wrong.
And that is exactly why I don't give one thin dime (or one red cent) to any charity sponsored by USCCB.
Little Sisters of the Poor...check.
Commissariat of the Holy Land (Custodia Terræ Sanctæ)...check.
CRS...not even.
Catholic Charities...no way.
CCHD...you've got to be joking.
It is not a marriage as defined in YOUR Bible and it is wrong as defined in YOUR Bible. That is also my Bible.
The problem is the constant practice of deferring to national law, even if a practice is contrary to Catholic teaching. Carry this to its logical l conclusion and the Church will have to defer to the state’s choice of clergy. It sure happens in China, and the sad truth is that a “democratic state can be as totalitarian as a “dictatorship.”
No it's not. Homosexuality, cut and dry is an abomination. "Gay" marriage is ridiculous. Bishop's annual appeal is on, I don't think I'm giving to it.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
|
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. |
Seconded.
Yes, it is wrong, outside of Catholic teaching. It’s contrary to Natural Law.
“‘Is that a violation of Church teaching?’”
Yes, it is contrary to Catholic teaching.
It is wrong for me to support an organization that promotes an inherent evil? YES.
Not one thin dime. Not one red cent. Period. Ever again. Done.
but I've stopped that....
I'm not supporting obviously leftist leaning organizations.....plenty of other groups to give to...
I wrote those operations off my list long ago. All of them provide funds for decidedly non Christian purposes, especially CCHD which was not quite even sub rosa about it.
I used to confine my charitable giving to Catholic organizations until I learned about where CCHD money went and did some research on the others. I still give but it is personal. I see where my dollar is going and none of it pays any salaries in getting there.
I was a monthly contributor for several years, but this was the absolute last straw. No more. Am looking for another charity where one won’t have to worry about their commitment to the entirety of the teachings of the Catholic faith.
What Bible is this lunatic reading?
From the comments. Anyone think this would be occurring under B16? Just call it more of the “Francis effect”.
Unbelievable!! The president of CRS asks is a sodomite “marriage” a violation of Church teaching!! Utterly unbelievable. She should get the boot along with him. CRS will not get any more of my money until this diabolical situation is resolved.
No, it is not.
It is an abomination; a sin against God and a violation of nature.
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