Governors blast church over funding threat

WASHINGTON - The governors of Virginia and Maryland blasted the Catholic Church over its threat to stop providing social service programs in the District, if the city's proposed same-sex marriage law isn't changed.

The criticism from the governors came on WTOP's Hands Across the Potomac program Tuesday.

"I'm Catholic, and I think it's wrong. I don't think you take your ball and go home," Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said.

"I think the strategy of threatening to pull back, it doesn't seem like the church I've come up in."

The D.C. bill says that religious organizations wouldn't have to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings, but would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians. The archdiocese wants to be exempt from the law.

District leaders have contacted the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in the hopes of forging a compromise. D.C. Council members want the church to explore what Georgetown University has done. Georgetown provides medical coverage to a spouse or "a legally domiciled adult" in the employee's household.

Kaine, who praised the "remarkable" work of the church, says if the Catholic Church opts to end its charitable work in the District, it would "it would set a very bad example."

"It's really not who the church has been. If you look at the church through history, the church will stand in tough situations and continue to do good," said Kaine, who has worked as a missionary in Honduras.

"I would be very, very disappointed here or anywhere else if the Catholic Church decides 'Gosh, we don't like something that's happening in civil society, so we're going to retreat into our shell.'"

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who also is Catholic, agreed.

"I don't understand how they can possibly do this," O'Malley said.

"I have a hard time believing that the nuns and priests who taught me about the Corporal Works of Mercy would agree that this is an appropriate response for the church," he said.

"I think it would be very, very sad for all concerned, especially for the people who are served by the good work of the Catholic Church acting out the Gospels."

Both governors also say they hope the cuts that may be coming to the area's Catholic schools aren't as severe as reported.

Pastors at 14 Catholic churches in D.C. and Maryland say their schools are in danger of closing or undergoing major changes if enrollments continue to decline. The archdiocese operates 96 schools serving 28,629 students in the District and Maryland. Enrollment is down 2.4 percent from last year.

"It would have a big impact on quality of life in a lot of neighborhoods in the District, and also in Maryland," O'Malley says.

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