inconsistent reasoning at best

archbishop donald wuerl is on a pr campaign to try and make people understand that he was never trying to blackmail the council of the district of columbia into trashing a bill that would legalize marriage between two people of the same gender. the latest effort is a bit in the washington post's "on faith" column. in it, archbishop wuerl restates that the archdiocese was never trying to influence the process and also mentions that he is asking only for the same language that the aclu is recommending including in the final bill.

but, here's where it all falls apart for me ...

each year 68,000 people in the district rely on catholic charities for (fill in the social service here). this assistance is offered regardless of race, religion ... sexual orientation ...

let me get this straight? it's okay to provide social services to and recognize relationships of down-and-out gay people, but not okay to provide equal benefits to lgbt employees or allow lgbt people to adopt? guess it's all about charity and not justice - which, last time i checked, is not necessarily in line with catholic social teaching.

yeah, try again don.

the district is not the nation's practice field

as often is the case, another national group is attempting to influence local district of columbia politics. the nra does it all the time - most recently getting an amendment attached to a version of the dc voting rights act that would repeal all of the district's gun control laws. and now it's the catholic church.

you see, the dc council is this close to approving a law that would allow same sex couples to marry (including the flipflop fed!). and this does not make the catholic archdiocese of washington happy. in fact, they're so unhappy that they're threatening to stop playing with the city and take all of their social services and go home.

my issue is not that a group would assert its principles and declare that it could no longer participate in an activity that may cause it to compromise deeply held beliefs. my issue is that the catholic church would never pull this shit anywhere else. consider canceling all social service contracts with the state of massachusetts? HELL NO. (although they did decide to stop providing adoption services lest, god forbid, lgbt people be allowed to adopt. the irony in it all? over the years, catholic charities in massachusetts has placed several children with gay adoptive families - oops!)

i would expect archbishop wuerl to "play christian," but at this point i'll settle for "playing nice."