{"id":71887,"date":"2018-06-05T08:30:30","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T12:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=71887"},"modified":"2018-06-05T06:07:14","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T10:07:14","slug":"gerard-bradley-the-city-of-philadelphias-recent-decision-about-catholic-social-services-learning-to-live-with-same-sex-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=71887","title":{"rendered":"(PD) Gerard Bradley–The city of Philadelphia’s recent decision about Catholic Social Services: Learning to Live with Same-Sex Marriage?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The everyday challenge of\u00a0Obergefell\u00a0<\/em>is whether those of us who hold the \u201cdecent and honorable religious\u201d conviction that it is\u00a0impossible\u00a0<\/em>for two persons of the same sex to marry will be accorded the legal and social space we need in order to live in accord with our convictions. The question at hand is whether we will instead be forced to contradict our convictions in word and deed, day in and day out. Chief Justice Roberts wrote in\u00a0Obergefell:<\/em><\/p>\n

Hard questions arise when people of faith exercise religion in ways that may be seen to conflict with the new right to same-sex marriage\u2014when, for example, a religious college provides married student housing only to opposite-sex married couples, or a religious adoption agency declines to place children with same-sex married couples.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just so.<\/p>\n

Catholic Social Services vs. the City of Philadelphia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last week (on May 16), Catholic Social Services and several foster care parents sued the city of Philadelphia to settle one of those \u201chard questions.\u201d CSS was recently ranked\u00a0by the city\u00a0<\/em>as the second best of the twenty-eight agencies with which it contracts for foster care placement and support. Its record of finding homes for difficult-to-place children is unsurpassed. On March 15 of this year the city announced that it was nonetheless suspending referrals to CSS. Because the city monopolizes these referrals, its decision was tantamount to closing down CSS\u2019s foster care operation.<\/p>\n

The hanging offense? Even though CSS avers in its complaint (prepared by lawyers from the Becket Fund, the great religious liberty firm) that it has never received a complaint from a same-sex couple, it\u00a0does<\/em>\u00a0adhere to Church teaching about marriage. The complaint makes clear enough that CSS would conscientiously refuse to do the work prescribed by law to certify a same-sex \u201cmarried\u201d couple as foster parents. CSS would, however, refer them to other agencies that would.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia is trying to drive these \u201cdecent and honorable\u201d people from the field. The mayor is quoted in the CSS complaint as declaring that \u201cwe cannot use taxpayer dollars to fund organizations that discriminate against\u201d people in same-sex marriages. \u201cIt\u2019s just not right.\u201d The city council professed to be shocked\u2014shocked!\u2014to discover that some contracting agencies have policies, rooted in religious beliefs, that prohibit placement of children with \u201cLGBTQ people.\u201d But the Catholic Church\u2019s position on marriage is no secret. The CSS complaint even points out that the \u201cCity has been aware of Catholic Social Services\u2019 religious beliefs for years.\u201d For example, the city waived repeatedly for CSS the obligation of city contractors to provide benefits to same-sex spouses of employees.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The everyday challenge of\u00a0Obergefell\u00a0is whether those of us who hold the \u201cdecent and honorable religious\u201d conviction that it is\u00a0impossible\u00a0for two persons of the same sex to marry will be accorded the legal and social space we need in order to…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

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