The Boston archdiocese has chosen an odd time to take a stand

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Nov 02, 2016

The Atlantic wonders Why the Catholic Church Is Leading the Fight Against Legal Pot in Massachusetts. So do I.

It’s easy to understand that the archdiocese would oppose the referendum question that would legalize recreational use of marijuana.

But there’s a big difference between opposing a ballot measure and flooding the opposition with cash—$850,000 is a huge chunk of money, especially for an archdiocese that has closed parishes, shuttered schools, and dismantled the palatial archbishops’ residence due to financial strain over the last decade and a half. Financially, things still aren’t great: The archdiocese lost $20.5 million in operating income between 2014 and 2015. And it has spent significant money on legal fees related to sex-abuse allegations in recent years—it came to new settlement agreements with seven alleged victims as recently as March.

Amen to all that. And consider that in these early years of the 21st century, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has decreed:

• that same-sex alliances must be treated as legal marriages,
• that citizens do not have the right to overturn the court’s decision redefining marriage,
• that doctors must provide abortion referrals, and pharmacists must dispense abortifacient pills, regardless of their own moral principles;
• that adoption agencies must provide equal treatment for homosexual couples;
• that public institutions must provide accommodations for biological males who identify themselves as females, and females who identify themselves as males.
• that church-owned buildings, insofar as they serve as public meeting places, must provide the same accommodations for transgender individuals;

So why, at this late date, has the archdiocese—which has mounted only token opposition, at best, to all the above governmental ukases— chosen to take a stand on this issue? The Atlantic poses that question to spokesmen for the archdiocese, and the reply is that the widespread use of marijuana would exacerbate the social problems that archdiocesan agencies are struggling to address. Pot use harms family life, you see. Which is a very reasonable concern.

Still, having watched the all-out assault on marriage and family life for the space of nearly a full generation now, why is the Boston archdiocese now committing its scarce resources to the fight against pot use? The Atlantic asks the right question; the answers aren’t convincing.