More on the "Cabrini Children's Society"

Philip at Carpe Canem has an excellent post concerning the recent decision of the Catholic Children's Society (dioceses of Southwark, Arundel and Brighton, and Portsmouth) to give in to the government's demands that they place children with same sex couples, and to change the name of the society to the "Cabrini Children's Society." (Cf. Mother Cabrini must be turning in her grave!)

As Philip rightly says:

This is nothing less than the misappropriation of the good name of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, and the linking of her name to something with which she would profoundly disagree – a complete perversion of her principles! Mother Cabrini spent her life caring for children, rather than seeing them abandoned or given up into dangerous or sinful situations, founding orphanages to protect and care for the vulnerable.

The Catholic Children's Society currently receives income from the following:

• An annual collection at Sunday Mass
• Offerings at the Christmas Crib
• Lenten alms
• Collections made in Catholic schools
• Rescript Mass stipends

I cannot see that any of these sources of funding could legitimately continue if the charity is now no longer a Catholic charity and is prepared to act contrary to the teaching of the Church.

A good alternative beneficiary for all of the above would be the Good Counsel Network which helps mothers who are considering abortion and provides counselling, support and material help. They also seem to me rather more in the spirit of the work of St Francesca Cabrini who wrote in one of her Instructions to her sisters:

“My Daughters, in your hands are the new generations. As educators you are obliged to form not only Christians for the glory of Christ and the perpetuation of Holy Church, but also solid patriotic citizens for the prosperity of the nation and the felicity of the family. Thus it is yours to mould the decorum of spirit, state, family and society.”

She also told them:

"The world today is going back to paganism. In spite of its gigantic progress, in science and commerce, it has forgotten prayer, and hardly recognizes it any more. And that has come about because with pagan materialistic sentiments, man makes a god of himself and creatures, and loses the idea of the relations that exist between himself and God!”