Newspaper backs diocese’s decision to withdraw funding from pro-gay marriage group

March 26, 2010

Maine’s leading newspaper has defended the decision of the Diocese of Portland and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) to withdraw their support of Preble Street’s Homeless Voices for Justice because of the group’s support for same-sex marriage.

“Critics of the decision seem to forget that CCHD is an arm of the Roman Catholic Church, a religious organization for which charity is just one way it fulfill its mission, which it defines as ‘spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ,’” the editors of the Portland Press Herald noted on March 26. “The church does not give up any of its right to determine how charitable giving fits with that mission when it determines where its money should go.”

“None of this should be news to the organizations that apply for CCHD grants, including Preble Street,” the editorial continued. “Applicants applying for funding fill out a form that requires them to say if their organization is compatible with the church's moral and social teachings.”

 

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Further information:

• Our View: Diocese well within rights to pull funding (Portland Press Herald)
• Catholic Campaign for Human Development ends grant to group that backed same-sex marriage (CWN, 3/25)