JACKSON, Miss. — Dealing with infertility was difficult enough. But not being considered by their town's Christian adoption agency because they were Catholics painfully reminded Sandy and Robert Stedman how misunderstood Catholicism is in the South.

The Jackson, Miss., couple decided to use the media to describe their plight, and the coverage caused the agency's national headquarters to step in and the local agency to reverse its policy of excluding Catholics as adoptive parents.

Here's how the story unfolded:

About a year ago, the Stedmans decided they wanted to adopt a child. They found out that the best place, locally, was the Jackson office of Bethany Christian Services of Mississippi, which is an independently operated office affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of America.

Bethany, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., has about 80 branch offices in 32 states. According to its website, it bills itself as a “not-for-profit, pro-life, Christian adoption and family services agency.”

Bethany's national office requires that all applicants sign a “statement of faith” to ensure that the prospective parents share the Christian mission of the organization.

But the statement has one paragraph that prevents Catholics from signing it, according to Father John Trigilio, president of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy.

The paragraph states that “in all matters of faith and life, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the final authority. The Scriptures point us with full reliability to Jesus, God's Son. The Scriptures tell us that we receive forgiveness of sins by faith in Jesus Christ, and that God provides salvation by grace alone for those who repent and believe.”

Father Trigilio said the excerpt presents the typical Protestant axiom, sola scriptura.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “The inspired books teach the truth. Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the sacred Scriptures” (No. 107).

But since there are different interpretations of the meaning of Scripture, says the Catechism, “all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (No. 119).

The Catechism quotes St. Augustine saying: “But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.”

Those theological points “do prevent Catholics from signing since they would deny the teaching authority of the Church in doing so,” said Father Trigilio. “It is not that the Church or her magisterium are superior to the Word of God; rather, Jesus Christ himself founded the Church and authorized her alone to faithfully interpret the Word of God, both the written word (for example, sacred Scripture) and the unwritten word (for example, sacred Tradition).”

Bethany has no current plans to revise the statement of faith, said John VanValkenburg, national spokesman.

“The ‘Statement of Faith’ reflects our beliefs as an agency,” he said. “This is who we are.”

The Stedmans would have signed the statement — if they had been given the chance, Robert said. But they never did because they heard from a Catholic friend that the Jackson office did not accept applications from Catholics.

“I was speechless,” Robert said. “I just kept saying over and over, ‘But they're a Christian service.’ It didn't make sense.”

So they found another agency and applied there. This summer, Sandy found a Bethany pamphlet tucked away in a desk drawer.

“The sick, sad feeling” from a year ago returned, Robert said.

This time, Sandy called the director of the Bethany office in Jackson and was told that the agency's “statement of faith” did not agree with Catholicism, Robert said.

He decided to write about Bethany's policy in his local paper, where he is a contributing writer.

“It was a matter of principle,” he said. “If you're Catholic, it's hard to find an agency to place you [locally] if Bethany is not going to help you.”

The local and national press picked up the story and the resulting furor resulted in the board of directors of Bethany's Jackson office voting on July 19 to accept Catholics as potential adoptive parents, which is the national board of directors’ policy, said VanValkenburg.

Bethany's Jackson office issued an apology on July 20, saying it regretted “any pain caused to families, especially to our Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ” in its “too narrow a view in assessing adoptive applicants.”

Meanwhile, the national board also issued a statement after its regularly scheduled quarterly board meeting in July, re-affirming its policy that all branch offices should follow the national office in allowing all families who sign the “statement of faith” — including Catholics — to be eligible to adopt, said VanValkenburg.

In an interview, Glenn DeMots, president and chief executive officer of Bethany Christian Services’ national office, emphasized that Catholics had not been excluded in other branch offices. During 2004, out of all the children placed by Bethany, 16% ended up in Catholic families, he said.

He also said that the Jackson office was not excluding Catholics because they were not Christians, but because they were “trying to serve the families which they considered most close to their historical roots and identity of their office.”

He added that it was important to point out that “it was not a negative attitude” toward Catholics that made the Jackson office follow their previous policy.

The Stedmans were pleased by the change of heart.

Ada White, director of adoption services for the Child Welfare League of America, said it is not against the law for faith-based adoption agencies to place children with adoptive parents who have the same religion as their birth parents. She said it is also legal for agencies to have a “statement of faith” for prospective applicants to sign.

The Catholic Charities’ office for the Diocese of Jackson accepts applicants of all faiths, as long as there is a demonstrated spiritual foundation, said Linda Raff, the executive director. She said the publicity about the plight of Catholics in Jackson has turned out to be beneficial.

She pointed to an article the local paper is going to publish on the history of Catholicism in Mississippi, mainly because so many people discussed the Bethany situation on radio talk shows and in the papers.

Catholics make up about 3% of the population in the state, and, as a result, the religion is misunderstood, Raff said.

“There are some old line ideas about Catholics worshipping Mary,” she said. “That's the information that's out there … It's turned into a positive educational opportunity for the Catholic Church.”

Carlos Briceño writes from Seminole, Florida.