New charity seeks to protect Church institutions

BY ED WEST
CATHOLIC adoption agencies threatened with closure by the Equality Act are to be supported by a new legal charity modelled on American civil liberties groups.
The St Thomas More Legal Centre, currently applying for charitable status, will aim to fight any test case brought against a Catholic agency that refuses to place children in the care of a homosexual couple.
The 2006 Equality Act’s Sexual Orientation Regulations, which prevent businesses from “denying goods or services to individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation”, affects the 13 Catholic charities currently offering adoption services.
In July Catholic Care in Leeds became the first casualty of the new law when it voted to end its adoption provision rather than accept the new regulations. The remaining 11 agencies have until the end of next year to either conform with the Equality Act, and lose their Catholic identity, or to close.
The Catholic Children’s Society in Nottingham is considering changing its name to “Families Are Best”, but this will mean it will no longer see itself as Catholic.
Cardinal Cormac MurphyO’Connor wrote to the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in January calling the proposals “unreasonable, unnecessary and unjust discrimination against Catholics”, and “an unnecessary tragedy” to the 4,000 children awaiting adoption, when 200 problem children are currently placed by Catholic agencies every year.
He also pointed out that Catholic groups would refer gay couples to other agencies. Catholics and Anglicans are especially threatened by the Act because their centralised structure leaves them exposed to legal action based on the actions of one institution or charity.
The lawyers, clergymen and journalists behind the Thomas More group will remain anonymous until charitable status is confirmed.
But a senior lawyer said: “I disagree that the adoption agencies needed to close. The adoption law says that the interests of the child are paramount, so we need a test case to come up.
“Our group will be a basis to defend individuals who are just being told to do something, and really don’t have the financial resources to fight it. Should one adoption agency have to bear the costs of fighting the test cases alone, then it will be financially hard.” The group takes its inspiration from the American Thomas More Law Center, a non-profit law firm dedicated to the “defence and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians, time-honoured family values, and the sanctity of human life”.
Dubbed “Christianity’s answer to the American Civil Liberties Union”, it was founded in 1999 by Tom Monaghan, owner of Domino’s Pizza, to help fight anti-Catholic discrimination and defend Catholic groups from an increasing number of lawsuits.
The British group will not be formally associated with its American namesake, though members are said to be considering forging links.
The source said: “We chose More because he’s the patron saint of lawyers, and because for some reason not many lawyers are saints.” The group will also provide a “rapid response” service of press releases to counter negative news stories and allegations directed against the Church in a similar manner to that carried out by the Catholic League in the United States.
A priest involved with the group said: “In this country the Church is continually being attacked and calumniated. There are atrocious programmes on television vilifying the Pope, and we remain supine.
“In the history of the Church in recent years, they [the bishops] collapsed over abortion. They collapsed over Humanae Vitae. And they’re now collapsing over the Sexual Orientation Regulations. I thought it’s time we had a body to stand up for the Church and protect it.”