A Roman Catholic adoption service, Catholic Charities of Boston, said a Massachusetts anti-discrimination law makes it impossible to adhere to the church’s teachings that prohibit the placement of children with same-sex couples. Rather than challenge the law in court, the agency opted to end its 103-year-old tradition of facilitating adoptions. The agency’s president said in a statement: “In spite of much effort and analysis, Catholic Charities of Boston finds that it cannot reconcile the teaching of the church, which guides our work, and the statutes and regulations of the commonwealth.” Adoption by same-sex couples is against the law in three states: Utah, Florida, and Mississippi. Another 16 states have introduced legislation that would make it illegal. (RNS)
The Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Malawi announced that it will build a prison to ease congestion and “inhumane” conditions for current prisoners. Although the plan has been criticized by some, the CCAP’s Andrew Maere said, “We have plans to construct a prison as a way of heeding a call from prison authorities who told the church that prisoners are kept in subhuman conditions in the country’s prisons because of congestion.”
In early January, The Nation newspaper reported that Malawi’s prisons have a capacity for 4,500 prisoners but are currently housing more than 10,000 inmates. The main prisons were built before the 1960s and are in various stages of disrepair. (ENI)
