Real discrimination

British legislation envisaging the possibility of homosexual couples of being prospective parents contradicts Church teaching and seriously undermines Catholic adoption bodies. Silvia Guazzetti interviewed for SIR Europe Philippa Gitlin, director of the “Caritas Social Action Network”, an umbrella organization of 28 Charities of England and Wales in charge of adoption based on Catholic Church teaching, who gave an overview of the current situation.The Equality Bill, which took effect past April, outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation as relates to requests of goods or services. It ensues that the British State imposed adoption agencies to accept homosexual couples as potential adoptive parents; otherwise the agencies will be shut down. Why? “In Great Britain adoption procedures are under strict state control. Catholic adoption agencies select adoptive parents and prepare them for adoption, but the final decision is the State’s that also provides for part of the agencies’ funding”. What do you expect will happen?“Since they can’t exclude homosexual couples as foster parents, Catholic agencies are faced with a dilemma. The “trustees”, who run these adoption agencies, are obliged to give priority to the interests of agency services’ recipients, i.e. the children. Catholic agencies used to be very popular in the past – there is evidence of this – since additional funding exceeding State grants enable adoptive parenthood support for a longer period than other agencies. Adoption is a very delicate and tiring process that often fails halfway, especially when older children are involved, who are more difficult to follow. Through financial aids, Catholic agencies grant lost-lasting support to parents thus ensuring the positive outcome of the adoption plan”. The Church of England and Wales made clear that if Catholic adoption agencies wish to continue working in accordance with the law, they have to renounce their status as diocesan agencies. What does this entail? “The agencies will no longer collect funds through the Churches, as it used to happen once a year. Many of these agencies also have other responsibilities; they run old-age homes, centres for children with behavioural problems and provide services for people with learning difficulties. The bishops of Nottingham, Cardiff and Suffolk said that Catholics have the possibility of supporting these activities provided they don’t sponsor adoption plans submitted by homosexual couples”. How many Catholic agencies shut down?“The agency of Salford, in Manchester, closed its adoption services due to a low number of requests, while it continues supplying a number of other services. The agencies of Northampton and Nottingham, the “Cabrini Society” agency that covers the dioceses of Southwark, Arundel and Brighton, and Portsmouth along with the agency of Lancaster renounced their status as diocesan agencies. In the past, the diocese had the right to appoint a trustee in the agency’s control commission. But this is no longer the case. The agencies continue drawing inspiration from Catholic ethics based on help to the weakest brackets, and since they are known to be Catholic agencies, not many homosexual couples will submit an adoption request”. What about the other agencies?“The “Father Hudson Society” in Birmingham, the “Catholic care” agency in Leeds and the “Westminster Catholic Children Society” in London appealed to the “Charity Commission”, which controls British “charities”, asking them to change their operative target and carry out adoption plans according to the teachings of the Catholic Church. The appeal was rejected and the three Charities made recourse to the Court and are awaiting a reply”.Do you believe that the clash between the British State and the Church conceals the difficult coexistence of both “politically correct” and “Christian” values? “I think that the United Kingdom is marked by the widespread belief that religious values don’t have a role to play in the public arena where they are viewed as a problem. This is the challenge for religious bodies that ought to be more active and find different ways to contribute to the public good. Church “welfare” activity must gradually change with the times. When National Health still didn’t exist, the Church guaranteed medical care. This today would make no sense. Thus Catholic adoption agencies are no longer based on providing childcare to the offspring of Catholic unmarried mothers whom they cannot raise”. Is it time to change assistance services? “The Church ought to ask herself who are the needy, those whom nobody takes care of. This isn’t the case of children at risk since the law rules that the State ought to look after them, and in fact, local bodies run over 300 adoption agencies. I think that the weakest brackets today are the old people, the immigrants and political refugees”.