From the USCCB.
Local Catholic Charities agencies around the country have long provided adoption and foster care services to the neediest children. Catholic Charities agencies often take on the most difficult placements, including older, abused children and children with disabilities and special needs. When placing children with couples, Catholic Charities makes sure those children enjoy the advantage of having a mom and a dad who are married.
In 2006, Catholic Charities of Boston, which had been one of the nation’s oldest adoption agencies, faced a very difficult choice: violate its conscience, or close its doors. In order to be licensed by the state, Catholic Charities of Boston would have to obey state laws barring “sexual orientation discrimination.” And because marriage had been redefined in Massachusetts, Catholic Charities could not simply limit its placements to married couples. Catholic leaders asked the state legislature for a religious exemption but were refused. As a result, Catholic Charities of Boston was forced to shut down its adoption services.
Later that year, Catholic Charities San Francisco faced a similar untenable choice and was forced to end its adoption services as well.
Read more examples of religious liberty violations here.
