The Roman Catholic Diocese of
Sacramento, California will no longer fund a non-profit that serves
homeless people because its director supports gay marriage and
Planned Parenthood, the AP reported.
The Rev. Faith Whitmore runs Francis
House, which provides homeless people with basic services such as
housing and transportation. The agency, now in its 42nd
year, serves upward of 25,000 people and has an annual budget of
about $500,000.
The diocese has donated to Francis
House for at least two decades, supplying the non-profit with roughly
2 percent of its budget.
Diocese Chancellor Kathy Conner said
Whitmore holds positions that are “in direct opposition to Catholic
Church teaching.”
“Hearing a person in leadership make
public statements opposing Catholic teaching confuses them,” Conner
added.
Whitmore, formerly the senior pastor at
St. Mark's United Methodist Church, noted that she has not spoken on
behalf of Francis House.
“Actually, my advocacy, I think, was
before I got here,” she said. “I was just disappointed because I
think we share a common care for the poor. But I do respect their
right not to support Francis House.”
(Related: Missouri
Catholic church fires teacher gay teacher Al Fischer for planning
wedding.)