Wow. These Catholic Bishops are really, really vicious. In DC, they stopped funding benefits for their own employees. In Maine, they’re ending funding to a homeless aid group. And, the it’s all because of the church’s fierce homophobia. This is appalling:
A social service agency’s support for same-sex marriage has cost it local and national funding from the Catholic Church’s anti-poverty program.
Preble Street’s Homeless Voices for Justice program has lost $17,400 this year and will lose $33,000 that it expected for its next fiscal year.
Officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and the Washington-based Catholic Campaign for Human Development say that Preble Street violated its grant agreement by supporting Maine’s “No on 1” campaign last fall.
No on 1 opposed a ballot proposal to overturn the new state law legalizing gay marriage. Voters approved Question 1 on Nov. 3.
I had three calls about this from my family before 9:00 a.m. Preble Street is an institution in Portland. It is one of the biggest and most important social service organizations in the city, which means the state, too.
Here’s the website for Preble Street. Portland is my hometown so I just donated and noted that my contribution was on behalf of their support for No on 1.
Yesterday, the Catholic Bishops proudly touted a new report stating that child rape had dropped in the U.S. — even as the scandal engulfs the Pope. Not everyone believes the Bishops’ numbers and given their track record, that’s a very valid concern:
David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, reiterated victims’ skepticism about self-reported abuse figures. He said it’s naive to think an institution that has concealed abuse and protected its own for so long would suddenly be honest and forthcoming.
In the U.S., the Bishops have already had to pay victims of abuse more than $2.7 billion. Now, these enablers and protectors of child rapists have decided to stop funding social services for the homeless. It’s like the Bishops go out of their way to show how hateful they’ve become.
I grew up Catholic and I seem to recall that it was Jesus who said, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.” But, the Catholic Bishops have decided those words don’t apply if anything gay is involved.
