US Catholics face moral dilemma on gay adoption

BOSTON - US Catholics, already divided over the Vatican's ban on homosexuals in seminaries, could soon face another polarizing question: should Catholic charities stand together against gay adoption?

The Boston Archdiocese's Catholic Charities' decision on Friday to end its century-old adoption service rather than comply with state law allowing gays to adopt children is fuelling debate in Massachusetts, a state that is both a bastion of Catholicism and a trailblazer in gay rights.

San Francisco's Catholic Archdiocese said today it was also reviewing its practice of allowing gay adoption through its social service agency after receiving an email opposing it from a former archbishop, who is now a top Vatican official.

A tough stand on gay adoption, while sure to rally traditionalists for upholding Vatican teachings, could alienate liberal Catholics and further choke funding at a time when many US dioceses are under financial stress from declining attendance and multimillion-dollar lawsuits in sex-abuse scandals, religious scholars say.

It adds to the list of sensitive issues - from abortion to stem-cell research and emergency contraception - separating reformers and conservatives among America's 65 million Catholics.

"For some Catholics, this position on gay adoption will be disconcerting. But for those seeking a more conservative path, it will be a good thing," said Chester Gillis, chair of the theology department at Georgetown University.

"For those who take their cues from American society, American laws and so forth, they will be uncomfortable with this. They will be forced in some way to choose between their church and their country or their state."

It is unclear whether other Catholic charities will follow the lead of the Boston Archdiocese's social services arm, which handles 31 per cent of adoptions in the state.

California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and the District of Columbia allow same-sex couples to jointly petition to adopt children, along with Massachusetts, whose lawmakers have been at odds with Catholic leaders since it legalised gay marriage in 2004.

In Boston, the announcement was seen by some as a sign of renewal in Boston's Archdiocese, which has struggled to regain moral authority after a pedophile priest scandal in 2002 forced the nation's fourth-largest diocese to shut more than 60 churches to raise money.

"It's a sign of the strength of the archdiocese and its remarkable strength in spite of the fact that it has gone through two major crises - one over clerical sexual abuse and the second over the closing of the parishes in Boston," said Stephen Pope, a theology professor at Boston College.

In December, Catholic Charities' 42-member board voted unanimously in support of same-sex adoptions. The about-face came after eight board members abruptly resigned following efforts by the state's four bishops to ban Catholic social service agencies from conducting adoptions by gay couples.

"Does this reflect the Catholic Church's ability to impose itself on all its constituent parts, well to a certain extent yes, given the board's position," said Nancy Ammerman, professor of sociology and religion at Boston University.

The end of Boston's 103-year-old Catholic Charities' founding mission of finding homes for troubled children comes amid a Vatican campaign against homosexuality, including a ban imposed in November on most gays from entering seminaries.

In 2003, Pope Benedict, when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, issued a stern document that said allowing children to be adopted by same-sex couples "would actually mean doing violence to these children" and was "gravely immoral".

Catholic scholars said a question for Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley, who was recently elevated to cardinal, is whether the appeal to conservative Catholics will jeopardise millions of dollars in donations at a time when the Boston Archdiocese faces a $93 million bill to settle sex-abuse cases.

"They may lose some private funding," said Pope.

- REUTERS