Pro-abortion rights supporter Bill Daley published an open letter to Cardinal Francis George, regarding the Archdiocese of Chicago’s decision to cut off funding to groups that belong to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights because the coalition publicly announced its support for same-sex marriage.
So if you can believe it, Daley scolds Cardinal George. Not only does he scold him, he says Cardinal George is guilty of an “injustice” and then quotes Pope Benedict XVI at him. Can you believe this guy?
Here’s the text, according to the local NBC affiliate:
It has come to my attention that the Archdiocese of Chicago is considering cutting off funding to local groups in the Chicago area that work with the poor for their participation in an immigrant rights coalition that endorsed marriage equality in Illinois.
I am writing you today to urge you and the Archdiocese not to cut off funding to critical anti-poverty programs over a completely unrelated issue. As someone who believes that all people should be treated with dignity and respect, a value I learned in my Catholic upbringing, I am a strong supporter of both marriage equality and immigration reform. I believe we can respect religious freedom, including the freedom of the Catholic Church to have its own views of marriage, while still allowing all people to be treated equally when they go to the county clerk’s office for a marriage license.
But my view on marriage equality and those of immigrant aid groups who have similar views really are irrelevant to our collective duty to help those who are less fortunate. As a Catholic, I have always been proud of my church’s commitment to social justice. Through Catholic Charities, the St. Vincent de Paul Society and other programs, my family and thousands of other Catholics in Illinois have helped our brothers and sisters in need.
I am also proud our church has been such a leader on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform. But for the church to turn its back on its long-standing work with groups that aid the poor over a completely unrelated issue is injustice, plain and simple.
Pope Benedict made the point clearly in 2009 when he wrote, “If we love others with charity, then first of all we are just towards them. Not only is justice not extraneous to charity, not only is it not an alternative or parallel path to charity: justice is in inseparable from charity, and intrinsic to it.” The path of justice should lead the Archdiocese to leave these two issues separate and continue to seek justice through charitable works.
