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Peoria diocese drops adoption, foster-care services to resolve conflict with state law

October 06, 2011

The Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, has dropped a legal challenge to a state law requiring equal treatment for same-sex couples in adoption and foster-care services.

The Peoria office of Catholic Charities, which faced the loss of government contracts because it would not comply with the new state law, has chosen to set up a new organization, without formal ties to the Catholic Church, to handle adoption and foster-care cases. The staff of Catholic Charities will join the new organization, which will abide by the new regulations.

“I have a responsibility to assure that Catholic Charities operates consistently with the teachings and values of the Church,” said Peoria’s Bishop Daniel Jenky in explaining the decision to drop the legal case. The newly established office will not follow the precepts of the Church, but it will not operate under the “Catholic” label.

Peoria had been one of four Illinois dioceses whose offices of Catholic Charities challenged the new regulations, arguing that they were an infringement on religious freedom. The other dioceses—Belleville, Joliet, and Springfield—plan to persevere with that legal challenge.

 


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  • Posted by: LPFM - Oct. 07, 2011 10:42 AM ET USA

    Looks like and is a conversion to secular standards.

  • Posted by: FredC - Oct. 07, 2011 9:13 AM ET USA

    Does the bishop want Catholics working for Catholic Charities to join the new organization and thereby want them to put children up for adoption by homosexual couples?

  • Posted by: BobJ70777069 - Oct. 06, 2011 7:25 PM ET USA

    What a pusillanimous non-solution! We'll do everything the state wants us to do that is contrary to Catholic teaching, We'll just say we're not acting as Catholics, but in our seculat capacity. Disgusting!