I had a few minutes with Bishop Edward Braxton of the Diocese of Belleville, Ill., during a coffee break at the conference.
The fight for religious freedom has became a high-stakes battle that could force Catholic leaders to choose between maintaining critical social services or upholding Catholic teaching on marriage and life.
And no one knows that better than Bishop Braxton, who has witnessed the closure of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Belleville. The staff and clients of the agency are in the process of shifting to a secular entity, Christian Social Services of Illinois, that is likely to be established in February, according to the bishop.
Once the state required all foster care and adoption agencies to allow same-sex couples and those in civil unions to adopt and serve as foster parents, Bishop Braxton stressed that “every diocese in Illinois that provided these services looked for solutions and sought to challenge this law.”
“But while the Dioceses of Joliet and Springfield did not depend so heavily on state funds, Belleville is poor,” he explained. “We have a large geographic area with a relatively small population. There are a high number of prisons in the diocese as well and many foster children.”
Bishop Braxton expressed anguish as he described the search for options. He noted that the agency staff is primarily Catholic and did not want to separate from the diocese, but they feared that the state would be unable to manage the sudden increase in foster-care cases: “The state programs are not as strong as our program.” He acknowledged that the staff was also concerned about holding on to their jobs.
When the agency staff determined that the only way to maintain the services was to spin off the program, they sought his approval. “But I told them that while I understood their problem, I could not approve or have anything to do with this new entity. They wanted to call it ‘Christian,’ but I told them that they would have no long-term control over what that agency might become, once it was cut off from the diocese.” (See diocese’s statement on the diocese’s website.)
Bishop Braxton has concluded that it’s time for U.S. Church leaders to reassess their dependence on government funds: “While many Catholics still advocate for government-funded vouchers to cover tuition at parochial schools, I am wondering if this even remains an option, when government funds comes with strings attached.”
That said, the struggle to keep the parochial schools open also reveals that it is tough for Church leaders to keep up with rising expenses, he noted.
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Strange, isn’t it, that the biasness the bishops have towards the Republican Party, in favor of the Democrat Party reflected in the bishops’ so-called “social justice” issues, has enabled them, and most of the Catholic laity, to remain in and vote for the pro-abortion party which has produced the dilemma the bishops now find themselves in concerning religious liberty. If a party is full of people who don’t think the unborn have a Right To Life, which has resulted in the murder of 52,000,000 American babies, how in the world would you think they would believe in a right to religious liberty? It’s mere common sense, Mr. Watson. Unfortunately, the bishops were too pre-occupied with cents instead of common sense.
I can’t believe this Bishop! Does he not see that social justice cannot take the back seat to life? He is allowing his Catholic workers to keep their jobs and yet they will be required to work in an atmosphere that will require them to aide and abate sinful lifestyles. Perhaps, if the politicians saw the value of what Catholic Charities did and what their constituents would lose maybe THEY would think twice about their unjust laws, and the attached money strings. Once again, the love of money, is the route of all evil….
Bishop Braxton made a huge mistake! I am ashamed of him!
It’s way past time for all Catholic Church leaders in the U.S. to understand that Bishop Braxton’s conclusion: “It’s time for the U.S. Church leaders to reassess their dependence on government funds….” is way overdue! It is the view of many of the people in the pews that the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. has long been coerced into politically correct decision-making, contrary to the Gospel, for fear that the government would cut off funds for its charitable causes. They also wonder aloud that, if the Cardinals and Bishops no longer feared the loss of government funds, whether or not the U.S. Church would no longer have to worry about major issues such as abortion, euthanasia, homosexual marriage, and the loss of family values, for a strong and united Catholic Church would be a powerful force in creating one nation under God. Perhaps, if we connect the dots, we can see God working in our midst by encouraging us to totally abandon reliance on all government funds, and rely on Him. Wasn’t it God who said, “Fear is useless; what is needed is trust”? Getting rid of the scourges of these major evils would certainly be a cause for celebration.
Then the question becomes, “Will the people increase their giving to cover the loss of government funds?” It is our belief that the people in the pews will be more than willing to pick up the monetary slack if the Church divests itself of government funds. For we’ve witnessed that scenario in our lifetime with positive results, and it is also consistent with “walking the talk” of the Church’s teaching on subsidiarity. We can, and will, take care of those in need.
I’m going to quote St. Jeanne Jugan here and say, “Give, give us the house; if God fills the it, he will not abandon it.”
What we need to do is to rely more on God and less on the government… I’m glad that this Bishop is taking a stand!
I’m not in favor of the vouchers for schools because of the fact that the government always attaches strings. I can see Planned Parenthood moving their agenda into Catholic schools through the voucher program or the government saying that Catholic schools can’t teach that homosexuality is wrong because it goes against the government agenda.
This is what you get when you dance with the Devil for so many years. Many of our Bishops have allowed many so called “Catholics” to go against the teachings of there Church and vote for people who just don’t care about Heaven or Hell. There God is of this world, POWER!!. The power to force people to go against what they believe and cherish. You will now see the systematic persecution of the Church. It has started. For the first time you see a government founded on religious liberty start to undermine it. This is all our own fault due to our compromising of the faith. Many of our Bishops are at fault. They due nothing to correct “Catholic” politicians and professors who blatantly go against the teachings of the Church which Jesus founded.When half the so called Catholics vote in politicians who hate or even openly oppose our teachings, this is a direct result of weak Bishops and priests who water down the faith. Here is the fruit of your labor. You reap what you sow.It’s going to get worse until we are willing to uncouple our Church from the government trough.Jesus have mercy on all of us.
I honestly have know idea how you could possibly call an organization named “Christian Social Services of Illinois” a “secular entity”. You do realize that even to faithful Catholics this rings false and untrue and jeopardizes the ability to take anything else in this article seriously. Can you imagine what it looks like to others outside our faith that read this?
Many other bishops are of no help. And many priests/nuns/brothers/lay “c"atholics.
Certainly, not the bishop of Boise, ID and priests, et al.
Please pray for them…PLEASE!!!
Years ago, also in Illinois, we got “state aid” to “help” us buy textbooks for our Catholic schools. Bye bye, Catholic textbooks. Except for religion, that was it for a formal tilt toward Catholicism in history, reading, etc. But the church was so happy to get the free money, they made no gripe. We didn’t learn.
Catholic Charities has been compromised for years by state money. And why not? This is not Catholic Chrities, it is a state agency that works for cheap.
I say good riddance to public funds. Now we can have our own charity. As we should.
we do not look to govt to advise on CATHOLICISM WE SHOULD NOT LOOK To govt for financial assistance
Amen!! Get rid of ALL government funding to the Church—or any Church-related organization—-schools of any and all levels, hospitals, you name it.
If the Lord wants these things to operate, then He will provide for them—however, that will mean we ALL (including the bishops!!!) have to have genuine faith.
Exposing the False Teaching and Lies of Bishop Edward K. Braxton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihh47r3jLDU&feature=channel_video_title
And how many of our priests and bishops compromise what they can say for fear of the GLORIOUS “Tax Emempt Status”?
I meant “Tax Exempt”. Sorry about that.
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