£10m stolen from Catholic charity

Briefing: in renaming the 'Catholic Children's Society' the 'Cabrini Children's Society' the trustees want to perform the usual trick: change the name to exclude the word 'Catholic' but include a really obscure Catholic reference (how many English Catholics know about St Frances Xavier Cabrini?); keep assets (£10m) entrusted to them for Catholic charitable purposes and use them for something else; and to add insult to injury, continue to tap the Catholic community for donations by talking about the organisation's Catholic past. It's the Catholic future we're interested in, actually! Donations and official connections from the Church should cease. Perhaps readers could say a prayer to St Frances for the conversion of the people in this organisation. Hat-tip to Carpe Canum.

From Fr Finigan: Philip at Carpe Canem has reported on the change of name for the Catholic Children's Society which operates in the south of England:

In response to the Sexual Orientation Regulations, and hoping to continue to benefit from the generosity of the Catholic faithful, the Society is now to change its name to the "Cabrini Children's Society" (same initials, geddit!) As Philip comments:

The Catholic Faithful need to know that they’ve just lost £10 million (the society's assets), and been sold down the river of political expediency as it is now technically outside Church jurisdiction. Is there not something in canon law about alienating property?

Maggie Clitherow has some good comment on this issue from her own experience (Don't Know What I'm Doing: So-Called Catholic Adoption Agencies.

I am very pleased to hear that one of the Auxiliary Bishops in Southwark, Bishop John Hine has resigned from the board of the society. This action is very much to be commended.