Point of Contention

So the San Francisco Chronicle has weighed in on Archbishop George Niederauer's (alleged) kiboshing of Catholic Charities adoptions by same-sex couples there.

According to the Chron, the archbishop's statement read in part:

"We fully accept and faithfully teach what the Catholic Church teaches on marriage and family life. In light of these convictions, we currently are reviewing our adoption programs to determine concretely how we can continue to best serve children who are so much in need of a home."

Going forward from that, archdiocesan spokesman Maurice Healy told the paper:

"These kinds of adoptions are not in sync with church teaching, and we've committed ourselves to being in sync with church teaching," Healy said.

The head of San Fran Catholic Charities, however, feels compelled to call for clarification:

Brian Cahill, executive director of Catholic Charities for San Francisco, said Niederauer did not explicitly ban same-sex adoption.

"This is an outright statement that is false," Cahill said of Healy's assertion. "Mr. Healy is, A, mistaken, B, doesn't speak for Catholic Charities and, frankly, it's clear to me that he's not speaking for the archbishop these days."

Somebody please tell me what on earth is going on out there. This is... I just don't know what it is.

Bizarre? That's a start.

Poor Niederauer. Barely a month in, now this.

In related news, this nugget popped in earlier this morning from the Bay Area:

5 people... have departed for Rome to be part of the coronation ceremony for Levada:

* 1 gay men
* 2 lesbian couples

The man and one of each of the couples are members of the board of Catholic Charities in SF.

The man is collecting congratulation cards from [gay and lesbian] families who have adopted kids (mostly thru CC) to present to Levada as a wee reminder of what was OK with him while he was here.

To think: Boston was simply the prelude....

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