Lancaster Diocese has just launched a new website. The old one wasn't bad, actually, but this one ties things in rather better with lots of the key information on the front page. (Incidentally, the new one is lancasterdiocese.org.uk which replaces the old "lancasterrcdiocese.org.uk")One of the most important items which I have not yet got round to mentioning is Bishop O'Donoghue's letter to the Catholic Caring Services of Lancaster. Here is a link to the text of the letter.
The Trustees of the Lancaster Caring Services have voted to go along with the Sexual Orientation Regulations and accept gay and lesbian couples as suitable adoptive parents. Bishop O'Donoghue has responded by explaining the Church's teaching "as bishop and pastor", by insisting that the charity cannot unilaterally change its nature, and advising the trustees to seek an exemption from the SORs under Regulation 18.
He makes it clear that if they insist on considering adoptions from same-sex couples, he will inform the Charities Commission that the CCS Lancaster is no longer considered to be a Catholic charity, and will be required to change its name.
Most significantly, Bishop O'Donoghue says:
Catholic Caring Services will be required to discontinue any association with Catholic churches, parishes, schools or other Catholic organisations or societies, and Catholic Caring Services will no longer be entitled to the benefit of any Diocesan collections.Furthermore, the leases on the three properties currently occupied by the CCS will be reviewed, and the diocese will:
Review the receipt and usage of past and future legacies and/or bequests made in favour of Catholic Caring Services and determine whether it is appropriate for any past legacies and/or bequests to be repaid to the diocese or future legacies/bequests to be retained by the Diocese.
5 comments:
Bravo Bishop O'Donoghue!
No fudging of the question and everything set out clearly.I hope the Trustees are listening to their Bishop, but fear they might not be.
Thanks for this news father. It's very interesting.
I don't have time to look at this now, but a few things are immediately obvious
The web site - at least the home page - is much better presented than its predecessor. And how important that is!
How I prefer the new address! I am always irritated when the bishop is described by local journalists as the "Roman Catholic Bishop of Lancaster", whereas the local protestant assistant bishop is just the "Bishop of Lancaster", as if he were the real thing and Bp. O'Donoghue required some qualifying adjective.
The diocesan newspaper, the "Catholic Voice", which a few years ago dropped "Catholic" to the dismay of many local catholics, has found religion again!
And Bishop O'Donoghue's outstanding letter to the "Catholic Caring Services" is on the front page where it should be.
This website will one one to watch I think.
Yeah he is awesome aint he? :)
An open letter to Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue -
Thank you for your integral defence of the Catholic Faith in the public realm.
Thank you for your solid leadership of Lancaster Diocese; a bright light shining in Britain.
Thank you for engaging the contemporary culture with this new website.
Please don't go!
Alan and Angeline
The one thing I don't understand about this sorry saga is why the trustees of a diocesan charity have put themselves in opposition to the teaching of the Catholic Church. They can't say the Bishop didn't spell it out to them.
The first thing the Bishop of Lancaster will have to do is to reclaim the word "Catholic" from Caring Services. That's straightforward enough. There may follow (I hope I am wrong) a legal wrangle over who owns what. He seems to think he can salvage something from the wreckage. I hope he is successful. This may help other diocesan bishops to move along similar lines. I hope it does.
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