PETITION CLOSED

  • The time period for signing this petition has ended.
Protest Termination of Catholic Foster Care Program in DC
  1. Signatures
    132 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. Archdiocese of Washington (+ 1 other)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Archdiocese of Washington (The Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl)
      • Catholic Charities President and CEO (Mr. Edward Orzechowski)
  2. Created By
    Ray in DC
    Washington, DC
About this Petition Petition Letter

As reported in the Washington Post, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has ended its 80 year old foster care program in the District of Columbia because it was not willing to accept the "risk" that some same-sex couples might participate in the program. The 43 children, 35 families, and seven staff members that made up the program have been transferred to another foster care service provider, the National Center for Children and Families.

During the City Council's deliberation of the DC marriage equality bill, the Archdiocese demanded exemptions from non-discrimination laws in order to allow it to deny services to same-sex couples, and threatened to close down all of it's DC-based social services if the bill was passed without such exemptions, potentially affecting 80,000 low income people. In fact, exemptions for faith-based organizations were included in the bill, but the Archdiocese complained that they were not broad enough.

Now the Archdiocese has carried through with its threat with its foster care program. Please sign the petition below to tell Archbishop Donald Wuerl and Catholic Charities President and CEO Edward Orzechowski to let them know that you condemn this action and the Church's use of the foster care and other services as a political tool. If you are Catholic, a DC resident, gay, and/or a foster parent, by all means edit the letter to mention that as well.

For more articles on this issue and other similar actions by the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington (as well as a series of protest poems on the subject), visit http://newsericks.com/tag/wuerl.

Recent Signatures

Termination of Foster Care program

Dear Archbishop Wuerl

To: Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl, Archdiocese of Washington
Cc: Mr. Edward Orzechowski, Catholic Charities President and CEO

I am writing in condemnation of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington’s decision to end its 80 year old foster care program in the District of Columbia because of unwillingness to potentially allow same-sex couples to participate in the program.

I believe firmly in the separation of Church and State, and in the Catholic Church’s legal right to terminate its involvement in any city-funded program which it no longer wants to be involved with, or to end any or all of its social programs at any time that it chooses to do so. I also support the Catholic Church’s religious freedom to uphold the tenet that homosexuality is a sin, even though I and many others (including many Catholics, other Christians, and Christian Biblical scholars) disagree strongly with that view.

However, in spite of my full support for religious freedom, I can only condemn the callous action taken by the Archdiocese in this case. It saddens me that the Archdiocese apparently places greater importance on it’s “freedom” to discriminate against gays than it does on the welfare of foster children, and on the Church’s religious duty to care for those in need.

Allow me to also express my regret that with this and other actions the Church has taken (e.g., denying communion to politicians that do not legislate Church doctrine), the Catholic Church is marginalizing its own religious and social impact. I therefore urge you to step back from this increasingly dangerous political and moral precipice and take no action to further worsen the situation.

Finally, allow me to close with a simple question: What would Jesus do? In this case, I believe the answer is clear. He would suffer the little children to come to Him.

I hope that you and the Church also eventually come to that same conclusion.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

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