LGBTQ protest outside of Catholic Charities

Catholic Charities ended its foster and adoptive services program on Aug. 23 after what protestors call a 'queer identified couple' applied to adopt a child.

Catholic Charities say that they couldn't comply with state regulations due to the church's standards, that two unmarried adults regardless of sexual orientation, could adopt a child. 

Tuesday morning angry protestors stood outside Catholic Charities scrutinizing how the organization used public money and demanded Bishop Malone to resign. Catholic Charities Chief Executive Director, Dennis Walczyk, says that the adoptive services took in $800,000 of public funding before it was terminated. 

“We will not have hate in our state, not in our community," Rev. Kirk Laubenstein, Director of the Coalition for Economic Justice, said. “That’s the law of the land and if Catholic Charities wants to discriminate, they can use their catholic appeal money to discriminate but they can’t use our public dollars.”

Walczyk says that the 34 children in foster care back in August will all be transitioned into a new adoptive organization by mid November. 

“I understand the anger, the grief, the sadness, the hurt," Walczyk said. “We are a Catholic organization and in order to exist as that we have to practice how we’re consistent with Catholic teaching and that’s the basis for which this decision was made.”

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