not just cooperation

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Dec 09, 2005

Father J. Bryan Hehir, the embattled head of Boston Catholic Charities, tells the Boston Globe that in its dealings with government regulators, his office is carefully following Catholic moral guidelines.

'We are using the principle of material cooperation," Hehir said.

Material cooperation? Really?

The evil in which Catholic Charities is cooperating is the placement of adoptive children with same-sex couples. And the degree of cooperation? Well, Catholic Charities is doing the placements.

And why is Catholic Charities been doing this, in clear violation of Church teachings? Because otherwise they could lose government contracts. They've been doing it for the money.

Let's say you supply heating oil for a building which, you realize, is a house of ill repute. You wish the prostitutes would leave. You don't want to help their business. But it's your job to pump the oil, and by keeping the house warm you do, reluctantly, help them. That's material cooperation.

But if you go inside and start turning tricks yourself, please don't call it "material cooperation." It's the world's oldest profession; we all know what to call it.