and if the bugle gives an indistinct sound,...

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jul 28, 2007

Father J. Bryan Hehir, once memorably described by Ralph McInerny as the eminence chauve behind the US bishops' pastoral letter on nuclear weapons, has now become the eminence chauve behind public policy of the Boston archdiocese. To fill his old spot as head of the local office of Catholic Charities, he has selected Tiziana Dearing, executive director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University.

So what do we need to know about this new appointee? The Boston Herald tries to anticipate that question:

Dearing said she has no plans to revive Catholic Charities’ adoption service, which the agency’s board voted to end last year under pressure from the Archdiocese of Boston to refuse to place children with gay couples.
“Catholic Charities’ policy on gay adoptions is set by the church,” she said.

Good; the Boston office of Catholic Charities won't blatantly defy Church teaching-- as it had done in the past. But do you know what Tiziana Dearing personally thinks about same-sex adoptions? Nope. Not on the basis of that statement, at least. She might well support the Church's teaching, but she didn't see fit to defend it.

Welcome, Tiziana Dearing, to the Boston archdiocese. You'll fit right in.