Greetings all!

Yes, it’s been a long time. Christopher and I have been busy with other things.
Especially Christopher. A full-time teacher and dad makes for many demands.
Maybe I have just been a tad lazy. But we both have been working on our book.
We have engaged a great editor, Jennifer Hager, who has read the completed
manuscript carefully and given us great feedback. We hope we are on our way to
publication. But books, like children, teaching, life take time.
In the meantime I have to share with you my great outrage. Just yesterday our local
diocese of Buffalo, NY made an announcement. They are going to fire all
pedophile priests? They are going to bring legal charges against them? Oh NO. In
fact just this spring the day after the Bishop was forced to publish a list of 40 some
priests who have had assault accusations against them, he went off to Albany to
lobby. The target of his concern? The Child Victims Act which would have
extended the statue of limitations in New York State Law so that persons who were
sexually abused in their youth could now bring charges against their abusers. That
he did quickly. Lobby against it so the Church would not incur any more lawsuits.
But concern for those abused by priests seems last on his agenda.

No, what the local Catholic Diocese and their Catholic Charities decided was to
stop their foster and adoption program because one gay couple asked to be
parents!! NewYork State law prevents them from discriminating. However I guess
the Catholic Diocese sees the need to discriminate so they just ended the program,
transferring the children in the program to other agencies. They claimed it was
because of the Church’s proscription against same-sex marriage. However I
wonder if prospective parents were screened as to their birth control choices, their
premarital sex activity, or prior divorces, all against Catholic Church law
Christopher’s dad, Bob, called the head of Catholic Charities this morning to
vociferously protest. We are both beyond angry.
We are appalled and outraged. As cradle Catholics we have donated to Catholic
Charities all of our long adult lives. Now we must re-think where our hard earned
money goes. Yes, we know that in other areas of the country Catholic
organizations have discriminated against LGBT people. We know it and we decry
it. But we thought that the local church agencies, despite its hierarchical craziness, did and does serve the poor and forgotten, among them children who need homes.
Yesterday’s local decision touched a nerve for us both. It cuts deep because it is so
personal.

Over the years we have watched Christopher and Patrick parent their children with
total commitment. We have seen their extraordinary efforts to serve their
children’s needs, rooted in their love for each other and their love for their
children. Maybe those policy makers in Catholic Charities should re-read their
New Testament. In Corinthians St. Paul said “And now these three remain: faith,
hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”