Springfield, Ill., Aug 19, 2011 / 04:12 am
An Illinois judge has ruled that the state has the right to end its foster care partnership with Catholic Charities in four dioceses, despite the Church ministry's contention that it was being dropped on religious grounds.
In his August 18 ruling, Illinois Circuit Court Judge John Schmidt held that “no citizen has a recognized legal right to a contract with the government.”
Thus, he explained, the state had no obligation to renew a long-standing arrangement with Catholic Charities in the dioceses, as it had annually for over 40 years.
But Catholic Charities argued that the state refused to renew the contracts because of the ministry's policy of adopting children only to married couples or single non-cohabiting adults, in keeping with Catholic teaching. Attorneys from the Thomas More Society maintained that Catholic Charities was illegitimately losing its contract due to its exercise of religion.