Bishop criticises Government as diocese pulls out of adoptions
By Simon Caldwell
2 May 2008

Bishop Doyle told priests in an ad clerum letter that the St Francis Children's Society will become independent

A bishop has hit out at the Government after his diocese became the second in a fortnight to pull out of adoption work because of Labour's new gay rights laws.

Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton said the Government had left the diocese with no choice but to cut ties with the St Francis Children's Society, a Catholic adoption agency which has placed children with new families for more than a century.

The agency will become an independent institution from January 1 next year because it cannot reconcile the moral teachings of the Church with the Sexual Orientation Regulations that compel them to place children in the care of same-sex couples.

Bishop Doyle said: "The society has decided that in order to operate it has to comply with these new Government regulations. The diocese has decided that if it complies with these regulations it can no longer be a Catholic society because it operates in a way which is not in line with the teaching of the Church, in relation to our understanding of moral teaching.

"It is extremely sad that this has come about and it's really the fault of neither the society nor the diocese that these regulations have been forced upon us by the Government."

The bishop announced his decision in an ad clerum letter to priests of the diocese, which encompasses such towns as Slough, Northampton, Luton, Kettering, Corby, Aylesbury and Milton Keynes.

"Because the society is conforming with the regulations, it will not be possible for the society to make appeals at Masses in the parishes," he said. "However, it is hoped that a restricted fund can be established to finance the society's heritage work."

His remarks echo those made last week by the Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham, who also criticised the Government when he announced that his diocese was pulling out of adoption work.

The Catholic Children's Society (Nottingham), founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace 60 years ago, will become a secular institution by October, after formally severing ties with the Church in order to stay open, continue to provide services and to stave off redundancies.

Bishop McMahon also said that he and the agency trustees felt they were being forced by the laws into releasing a charity that was.

"We have been coerced into this, I am not happy about it at all," he said. "The regulations have coerced the children's society into going against the Church's teaching and we don't wish to do that."

A year after Britain allowed gay couples to adopt a Vatican directive of 2003, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - now Pope Benedict XVI - said it was gay adoption morally wrong for gay couples to adopt children.

But last year the Government refused to exempt about a dozen British Catholic adoption agencies from regulations introduced under the 2006 Equality Act. Instead, the Catholic agencies were granted until the end of 2008 to comply with the regulations.

The Catholic Care adoption agency of Leeds, which placed 20 children a year with new families, became the first to close its doors last July after deciding it could not comply with the law and remain a Catholic institution.

The Northampton and Nottingham agencies, which placed a combined 30 children a year with new families, announced within two weeks of each other that they would break with the Church.

With just seven months remaining, time is running out for the other Catholic adoption agencies that are still considering ways of remaining open in spite of the regulations.