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.
August 2, 2013 at 1:19 pm
Sadly, the Pastor of my parish could have written the last two paragraphs.
August 2, 2013 at 2:37 pm
Daly recognizes the "freedom of the Catholic Church to have its own views on marriage". The sacrament of marriage a "freedom"???? An exercise in the 1st Amendment perhaps??? I submit that Bill Daly is more politician than he is Catholic.
August 2, 2013 at 3:04 pm
We as Catholics are always expected to yield: no public displays of religious articles because it offends others, no prayers in school or at meetings because it offends others, provide funding for contraceptives and abortion because it's not fair to others, etc., etc… When do we get to follow our conscience without judgment?
August 2, 2013 at 4:45 pm
What does same sex marriage have to do with immigration reform etc? If it is an "unrelated" issue, just why are they indorsing it. And just where do groups like that get the right to demand that another organization support them by giving them MONEY? Doesn't the organization that has the money have any rights as to where it should go? This is ridiculous.
August 2, 2013 at 4:46 pm
What does same sex marriage have to do with immigration reform etc? If it is an "unrelated" issue, just why are they indorsing it. And just where do groups like that get the right to demand that another organization support them by giving them MONEY? Doesn't the organization that has the money have any rights as to where it should go? This is ridiculous.
August 2, 2013 at 8:26 pm
"The path of justice should lead the Archdiocese to leave these two issues separate and continue to seek justice through charitable works."
Uhhhh, I know it's hard for a Democrat not to lie and obfuscate and engage in projection, but, for the record, it wasn't the Archdiocese who is guilty of not "leave[ing] these two issues separate".
It was the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights who decided to play politics and link these completely unrelated issues, NOT the Archdiocese.
But you know that, Daley. It's just that you are a liar and a hypocrite and a bad Catholic, which basically can all be summed up by the "D" next to your name.
August 2, 2013 at 11:50 pm
So, another "Catholic" pol is covered by Cdl. Bernardin's interpretation of the "Seamless Garment," and "pays back" with brazen criticism of the Church. Nice when life issues can be "linked" to the social issues du jour. Ain't it, you Catholic pols?
A little on Cdl. Bernardin and his Seamless Garment:
Unraveling the Seamless Garment
And before Cdl. Bernardin, there was the infamous "Hyannisport Meeting" of 1964:
Father Robert Drinan, The Kennedys And The Genesis Of U.S. Catholic Peo-Abortion Politicians