CATHOLIC HYPOCRISY! On Frightful Display In Washington, D.C. -- NO CHARITY FOR ALL!
James Fenimore
importance of anti-discrimination."
"I don't get it. What do gay people have to do with the shelters?
They're the Church; that's what they do. They help. That don't make no
sense." -- D.C. woman relying on Catholic Charities
-------
The Roman Catholic Clergy can molest children, but refuses to give
them shelter!
Actions beyond mere SHAME!
But then, the "Church" has been abysmally false and dissembling during
its entire existence.
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"Catholic officials shouldn't forsake D.C.'s poor in gay marriage
fight"
By Petula Dvorak
Friday, November 13, 2009
IN THE GRAY RAIN -- where the only burst of color comes from the flash
of an ambulance scooping up someone who is cold, sick and wet --
threatening to shut a door is the cruelest answer.
"They want to stop helping us?" asked the woman tucked completely
inside her wet jacket.
She is staying at the nearby John Young women's shelter run by
Catholic Charities on First Street NW. She'd heard that the Church is
threatening to stop taking millions of dollars of the District's money
for services such as this shelter, adoption and medical care unless
the D.C. Council changes the same-sex marriage bill it is preparing to
pass next month.
For folks on the street, those words are nothing more than the sound
of a door slamming shut.
"I hear they gonna put us out," she told me.
"I don't get it. What do gay people have to do with the shelters?
They're the Church; that's what they do. They help. That don't make no
sense," the woman said.
That's right.
By trying to play political hardball with the District, no matter how
carefully they word their objection to the bill, officials at the
Archdiocese of Washington and Catholic Charities are telling our
city's most vulnerable people -- homeless families, sick children, low-
income mothers -- that they are willing to throw them on the table as
a bargaining chip.
What the Church is doing is an uncharitable and cruel maneuver.
Amid a recession and on the cusp of a winter that is expected to be
harsh, the number of homeless women and children in the city "is
skyrocketing," said D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) when he
spoke at a panel on homelessness this week.
According to the Interagency Council on Homelessness, 434 families in
the District are on a waiting list for emergency shelter. This number
jumped by about two dozen in just one week. For most people working in
this field, it is the highest number in recent memory.
Catholic Charities runs nine homeless shelters using at least some
money from the city. This is not a time to threaten any of the
services those provide.
Although it won't be forced to perform same-sex marriages or make
space for such ceremonies if the marriage bill passes, the Church
would have to abide by city laws. In this case, that would mean
extending employee benefits to same-sex married couples.
"If the city requires this, we can't do it," Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman
for the archdiocese, told our reporters Wednesday. "The city is saying
in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us,
that's really a problem."
The problem is that taking a stand like this goes against the mission
of the Church and the important lessons it has taught millions of
followers.
I'm not going to make this an argument in favor of same-sex marriage.
Anyone who opposes such basic civil rights will find themselves on the
wrong side of history. It's a civil rights issue, and I believe the
argument should end right there.
But in this case, the message the Church is sending with its actions
is wrong, and it has left me and countless other Catholics
heartbroken.
I am not much of a churchgoer these days. But I will always hold dear
the lessons I learned from the Church I attended in my younger days.
When Father Joe went bicycling and skiing with us, he taught us to
love and respect the Earth. Father Grace, with his white hair and an
Irish accent so hard the younger kids in catechism called him "The Big
Leprechaun," was stern enough to make me think twice before sweating
through another confession where I had to admit all the terrible
things I had done to my little brother the week before.
But he was gentle in reminding us of the simple rules of forgiveness,
love, tolerance and charity.
When I was about to snark about the folks coming for help at the
church food bank, the priests told me not to judge, only to help. When
I smugly pointed out the inappropriate wrap shorts someone wore to
Mass one summer day, someone told me, "She is here at church; judge
her no further."
I'll even thank the choir director, who told me it was very important
that I sing "pianissimo" during Mass, because she taught me that
someone as tone deaf as I should never attempt karaoke. Thank God for
her, too.
In that awful rain Thursday, I talked to Eric Seegars, who is 47 and
living in a family shelter on the old D.C. General Hospital campus.
There is nothing pianissimo about the way he feels and expresses
himself.
His wife, twin 8-year-olds and 15-year-old have been there for three
months. The neighboring shelter is a women's place run by Catholic
Charities, and they know the people who stay there.
"Where will all those people go?" Seegars asked. "They can't put
people on the street."
I just pray he's right.
[E-mail me at dvo...@washpost.com]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111210561.html?nav=emailpage
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"D.C. Council digs in on same-sex nuptials"
"Showdown with church 'I don't know where the compromise would be'"
By Tim Craig, Michelle Boorstein and Carol Morello
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, November 13, 2009
D.C. Council members are hardening their opposition to the Catholic
Archdiocese of Washington's efforts to change a proposed same-sex
marriage law, setting up a political showdown between the city and one
of its largest social service providers.
Several council members said Thursday that Church officials
miscalculated by saying this week that their Catholic Charities
organization will have to end its contracts with the city if the
proposal passes without changes.
"It's a dangerous thing when the Catholic Church starts writing and
determining the legislation and the laws of the District of Columbia,"
said council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), chairman of the Human
Services Committee.
Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, countered that the
city is "the one giving the ultimatum."
"We are not threatening to walk out of the city," Gibbs said. "The
city is the one saying, 'If you want to continue partnering with the
city, then you cannot follow your faith teachings.' "
Under the bill, headed for a council vote next month, religious
organizations would not be required to perform or make space available
for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws
prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians. Church
officials say Catholic Charities would have to suspend its social
services work for the city, rather than provide employee benefits to
same-sex married couples or allow them to adopt.
Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), one of two openly gay members of the council,
said Thursday morning that he hoped to reach a compromise with the
Church. He noted that it is a major provider of services for
immigrants in his ward.
Late Thursday, however, Graham said he had changed his mind after
reviewing same-sex marriage laws in New Hampshire, Connecticut and
Vermont. He asked why the Church has not abandoned services in those
states.
"If the Catholic Church has been able to adjust in Connecticut, I
think they can certainly adjust here," Graham said.
Catholic Charities in Boston halted its adoption programs with the
city because Massachusetts requires that agencies not discriminate
against same-sex couples as potential parents.
D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) said he plans to meet with
his colleagues Friday to discuss the issue. But he added, "I don't
know where the compromise would be.
"It seems to me if they choose not to provide those services, we will
have to find someone else," Gray said.
At issue is $18 million to $20 million in city funds for 20 to 25
programs run by Catholic Charities, said Edward J. Orzechowski, the
charity's president and chief executive officer.
Among the programs he said were vulnerable:
-- A medical clinic at the Spanish Catholic Center serving 3,000
people, which gets 60 percent of its budget from the District, much of
it in reimbursements from the city-run HealthCare Alliance insurance
coverage.
-- Tutors for people preparing to take GED tests under a program in
which the city subsidizes more than 35 percent of the cost.
-- Foster care and adoption placements for about 100 children a year,
none of them to same-sex couples, more than 90 percent funded by the
city.
In addition, Catholic Charities gets city funds to offer mental health
services, to operate nine homeless shelters and, during the winter
months, to run several hypothermia shelters.
"We're going to continue to serve those in need," Orzechowski said.
"But how we do that, where we do it and the manner in which we do it
is what's at risk."
Orzechowski said many of the people who work for Catholic Charities
and receive its services are from the gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender community, but giving same-sex spousal benefits to staff
members or placing adoptive children with gay couples would violate
Church tenets.
Linda C. McClain, a law professor at Boston University who is studying
the same-sex marriage debate nationwide, said the outcome of the
standoff between the District and the Church could have far-reaching
implications for other states.
"This case really pits the commitment to religious freedom against the
importance of anti-discrimination," McClain said. "The courts have
been pretty clear that you can't force a religious organization to
express a message it doesn't agree with. . . . But it's a tougher case
to say you won't be able to provide services to the poor because of
this."
More than 200 members of the city's clergy who support same-sex
marriage issued a statement Thursday denouncing Church's stance. "To
hold hostage the rights of human beings over this, I think, is just
really despicable," said the Rev. Dennis W. Wiley, co-chairman of D.C.
Clergy United for Marriage Equality. "There are others who can step up
to the plate who would love to have the contracts."
Some Catholics also expressed their frustration with the Church. "It's
totally embarrassing," said Kathy Boylan, a member of the peace
movement Catholic Worker.
The dispute sparked debate at Catholic University. "That's incredibly
unfortunate" that services are threatened, said Erin Kilroy, a senior
at Catholic who heads the College Democrats. "It's sad to see that the
Church would cut off benefits to everyone because we don't want to
give them to you and you."
But Alexandra Smith, who heads the College Republicans, said, "The
Church, like any other private institution, has the right to operate
freely and in a manner that is in accordance with its principles."
Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl was not available to comment
Thursday.
Several council members said the Church is asking them to undermine
the 1977 Human Rights Act, which protects gays and other minorities.
"It's not even a slippery slope. It's a wire that would be tripped,"
Wells said.
Council member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) said the Church, which has tax-
exempt property and often interacts with the city government, should
be wary of picking a fight.
"I am proud they have done so many community service things, but I
would hope this would not be a line in the sand," he said.
[Staff writer Susan Kinzie contributed to this report.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111210789.html
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http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2009/11/the_archdioceses_ultimatum.html
Truth Galore
> The Roman Catholic Clergy can molest children, but refuses to give them shelter!
Aww come on - Father O'Pedophile would LOVE to give them "shelter".
Especially the little boys.
I heard there's this "secret sacrament" they do. In secret, of
course.
Heh heh heh .. remember the post that said "mamas don't letcha babies
grow up to be altar boys" ...
James Fenimore
Christians.
Thus, we have nearly half the world's population -- 3 billion --
socially and psychologically enslaved by and in the two most
laughable, hypocritical, hate-filled, racist, and war-loving mass-
cults -- at each others' throats in an insoluble religious war!
Forever, it would seem.