A Massachusetts couple is in a legal dispute with the state’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) after learning why they would be unable to foster kids.
Mike and Catherine “Kitty” Burke, who are both Catholic, initiated a federal lawsuit this week in collaboration with Becket Law, an organization focused on safeguarding religious freedoms. The couple alleges that their application to become foster parents was declined by the state based on their unwavering adherence to Catholic principles regarding gender, sexuality, and matrimony. The couple said that the state provided just one reason for the application’s denial. The couple admitted that they would not provide affirmation to a child identifying as LGBTQIA.
The lawsuit, filed against Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families Linda Spears, and others, includes a copy of the denial letter they received. Within the letter is a short clause stating, “every child “shall be treated with respect by DCF staff, foster parents, and providers without regard to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and/or disability.”
In an interview, the couple revealed that they were told the application was denied because they “didn’t follow the LGBTQ+ policies of the state.” Mike Burke feels that the deeper truth behind the denial is that the couple is Catholic.
The couple told the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families that if the child wanted to identify as LGBTQ, they would still love the child unconditionally regardless of their religious beliefs.
The application’s denial was even more heartbreaking because it followed months of training and interviews as part of the state’s process for fostering. After struggling with infertility, the couple was delighted to finally become parents and share their home and love with a child in need.
The war on Catholicism is not a new one, but in February of 2023, the extent of the anti-Catholic sentiment was fully revealed. A leaked FBI document was discovered that labeled traditional Catholics as potential terrorists. The memo was titled, ‘Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities” The document outlined a plan to monitor “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists” (RMVE) and their interests in “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” or RTCs.
Per the leaked memo, RTCs adhere to “anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT and white supremacy” ideology and prefer a “traditional Latin mass.”
The document, dated January 23, 2023, went on to list Catholic organizations that the biased Southern Poverty Law Center defined as hate groups.
The FBI used undercover employees to infiltrate Catholic churches and report on “suspicious activities” within parishes. Per the leaked document, recruits were used to “engage in outreach to the leadership of other chapels in the FBI Richmond to sensitize these congregations to the warning signs of radicalization and to enlist their assistance to serve as suspicious activity tripwires.”
Once the FBI learned its anti-Catholic intentions had been uncovered, it went in to overdrive to cover its tracks. It immediately removed the document because it allegedly did not meet the FBI’s “exacting standards” and pleaded ignorance about the origins of the memo.
In August, the House Judiciary Committee ramped up its investigations into the matter, revealing that it had uncovered multiple instances of FBI field offices working together to uncover “RTCs.” The investigation into this abuse of FBI powers is still ongoing.
In Massachusetts, the Burkes were surprised that the state would rather children stay in institutions and hospitals rather than in a loving home with a Catholic. In the lawsuit, the Burkes reinforced their position that all kids should be supported and that no child placed in their home would face rejection.
Unfortunately for the couple, however, they believe that kids shouldn’t have medical procedures to change their biological sex and, even more damning for their foster chances, they “uphold Catholic beliefs about marriage and sexuality.”
The couple’s attorney, Lori Windham, said the state is already dealing with a shortage of foster homes and can’t afford to keep religious families from offering loving homes to kids in need.
Windham also observed that the Burkes are most likely not alone and that the state is most likely excluding any family with a religious stance that includes traditional values on sexuality, gender, and marriage.
Progressives claim to be concerned about the children yet would deny a kid a loving home with a family who would not allow physical mutilation of the child.
It’s no wonder that abortion is a better option for progressives. To a liberal, It’s better to never be born at all than to believe in God.
