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from Parenting & Family
Boston Archdiocese Drops
Adoption Program Over State Law
March 13, 2006 - The Boston Catholic Charities has just dropped its 100-year old adoption program
rather than comply with a state law mandating that gay couples be allowed to
adopt children in a non-discriminatory manner through the program. The move was
announced by Boston Church officials on March 10.
News reports in November 2005 indicated that the charity had placed several
children in gay households, but the Catholic Church teaches that adoption by
same-sex couples is a form of violence against children.
According to a report in Catholic World News (CWN), Boston's Archbishop Sean
O'Malley had received direct instructions from the Vatican saying that a
Catholic charity cannot be involved in gay adoptions. On February 28, four
Massachusetts Bishops indicated they would seek an exemption from the state's
non-discrimination policy, but have apparently abandoned the effort, according
to CWN.
According to Father J. Bryan Hehir and Jeffrey Kaneb, president and chairman,
respectively of Boston Catholic Charities: "We have encountered a dilemma we
cannot resolve." They indicated they could not "reconcile the teaching of the
Church which guides our work and the statutes and regulations of the
commonwealth."
Additional Reading: Gender Complementarity and Child-rearing: Where Tradition and Science Agree;
Review Of Research On Homosexual Parenting, Adoption, And Foster Parenting.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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