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AP: Rhode Island football field fight highlights church-state issues

Posted on December 29, 2009 by Kendall Harmon

A fight over athletic fields in this city goes beyond who gets to play soccer where and raises thorny questions about separation of church and state and public aid to religious institutions ”” divisive issues that have flared repeatedly in heavily Catholic Rhode Island.

Parents of public school students accuse the city of favoring Saint Raphael Academy ”” a prominent Catholic school and alma mater of city and state power brokers ”” by granting its football team exclusive use of a public field. They say it’s unconstitutional to give a religious school priority access to a field meant for public use.

“It’s a long-standing and troublesome issue,” said Maggi Rogers, whose two children played tennis for a public high school here and is among the parents suing the city. “I have a strong belief in public education, and I know that public education suffers when public resources are diverted into private education.”

Read the whole article.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, America/U.S.A., Church/State Matters, Law & Legal Issues, Religion & Culture

3 comments on “AP: Rhode Island football field fight highlights church-state issues”

  1. Archer_of_the_Forest says:
    December 29, 2009 at 10:03 pm

    Well, it’s the same story as the Catholic social charities taking federal money, and then balking when the government wanted them to let gay couples adopt children or whatever.

    If you take Caesar’s coin or benefice, you have to dance to Caesar’s tune.

  2. Branford says:
    December 30, 2009 at 1:40 am

    Read “Render Unto Caesar” by Archbishop Chaput of Denver for an historical and logical understanding of the social work of all churches, and in particular the Catholic Church, in the U.S. Or check out his article here in First Things:

    . . .Historically, Americans have been—and remain—a religious people. They have found it quite normal for religious charities, including Catholic ones, to make use of public monies in serving the poor, the homeless, and other needy populations. This arrangement has worked well for everybody. Government gets skilled, cost-effective, and compassionate help in meeting social needs. The Church gets funds for her works of love demanded by faith in Jesus Christ.

    But Americans have always known that the Church’s charitable purposes are religiously inspired, not merely humanitarian. They’ve also understood that the Church is an independent partner in helping the government to meet its charitable goals. She is not an arm of the government. She is not a private contractor on the state payroll. The tax exemptions offered by the state to religious charities to help their work are not a gift or a display of kindness by civil authority. They are nakedly practical. Religious charities typically do better social-service work than government agencies and at lower cost.

    In other words, the government benefits from the partnership and usually gets more than it gives. Unfortunately, these understandings have broken down in recent years. Too often, public officials no longer respect the Church’s service to the common good or the guarantee of her freedoms under the Constitution. More and more, Catholic ministries find themselves bullied by civil authorities that seek to meddle in their operations and dictate the terms under which they provide their services. What these public authorities often demand would result in bad public policy. It would also cripple the Church’s character and mission. . .

  3. Branford says:
    December 30, 2009 at 1:41 am

    That said, I have no idea about the football field problem – it seems as though everyone in this instance should be operating from the same rules.