family feud

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Mar 22, 2006

When he was first posted to San Francisco, Archbishop George Niederauer must have been grateful to his predecessor, Archbishop Levada, for arranging the appointment. Now he might be having second thoughts. Archbishop Levada-- in a few days it will be Cardinal Levada-- is now safely ensconced in Rome, while poor Archbishop Niederauer is left to clean up the considerable mess he left behind.

It's not just that the San Francisco office of Catholic Charities had been placing children for adoption by homosexual couples. It's not just that Catholic Charities has an openly homosexual program director and two openly homosexual board members. It's not just that Archbishop Levada, having made the move from country to court, now says that Catholic Charities cannot place children with same-sex couples. Now the staff of the SF archdiocese is squabbling.

Earlier this week, archdiocesan spokesman Maurice Healy said that Catholic Charities would stop the same-sex adoptions. The statement was simple and straightforward. But here's how the head of Catholic Charities reacted:

Mr. Healy is, A, mistaken, B, doesn't speak for Catholic Charities and, frankly, it's clear to me that he's not speaking for the archbishop these days.

Oh, boy. Not even an American archbishop can explain away the conflict there. Looks as if somebody in the archdiocesan bureaucracy is overdue for a trip to the woodshed. But who will it be?

Cahill has taken a stand in favor of homosexual adoption. Healy has taken his stand in favor of Church teaching. If one of them gets a rebuke, who do you think it will be?