Last February, Catholic Charities in Washington, D.C. halted its foster care and adoption services after it was deemed ineligible for public funding over its stance against the district's same-sex “marriage” law.
Catholic adoption programs in England and Wales faced a similar fate. Last August, a local commission ruled that the last remaining agency, Catholic Care, was not justified in its refusal to place children with same-sex couples because of its religious beliefs.
“They're really hurting the children – at the end of the day, that's who is really getting hurt,” Gilligan told CNA in a previous interview on April 17.
“If we have layoffs, that will be painful, but the real losers – if we can't continue providing this care – are the children.”
Gilligan explained that the state of Illinois has a history of dependence on faith-based organizations.
“It's a shame that the state of Illinois can't recognize that valuable contribution that we have been providing to the citizens of Illinois even before the Department of Children and Family services was established,” he said.
Gilligan recalled that in the 1990s “the department was in disarray, so the state turned to Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish and many good private agencies to help them.”
The state went from having 46,000 children in the foster care system in 1997 to 16,000 today.
“The reason that is, is because the private agencies stepped up to the plate and they cooperated with the state to provide adoptive homes for children that were lingering in foster care far too long,” Gilligan said.
The conference director called it a “tragedy” that the same religious principles held by faith-based agencies that were so helpful to the state in the past could now be rejected under the new civil unions law.
Marianne is a journalist with a background in writing and Catholic theology. When not elaborating on the cinematic arts, she enjoys spending time with people, reading thick books and traveling anywhere and everywhere.