Catholic Charities Demands Adherence to Principles

Nonprofit organizations—and their staff/boards—which are part of the institutional Catholic Church should clearly support the teachings of the Church, just as employees/board members of any nonprofit have to be supportive of the mission of the nonprofit they serve.

This story from the Washington Post reports on the issue.

An excerpt.

“Shortly after imposing limits on spousal health benefits for employees, Catholic Charities of Washington has begun requiring new employees to promise they will not "violate the principles or tenets" of the church.

“That language was added March 3 to a hiring letter that new employees are required to sign, according to spokesman Erik Salmi. He said the move did not reflect a policy change because employees have been told during training that the organization is Catholic in more than name.

“Catholic Charities, one of the region's largest nonprofit organizations, has been trying to develop a way to continue its multimillion-dollar social service partnerships with the District while not recognizing the city's same-sex marriage law, which the D.C. Council approved in December. Employees were told this month that the agency was changing its health-care coverage to avoid offering benefits to its workers' same-sex partners.

“Salmi said the addition of the clause to the hiring letter was not a result of the new law but rather reflected a longer-term concern that employees adhere to the organization's Catholic philosophy.

“Salmi said the new language "is more of an expectation than a condition. It's letting people know this is the culture." Asked if that meant employees could speak or act against the church without being fired, Salmi said: "We can't speculate on the hypothetical. It's handled on a case-by-case basis."

“A former vice president of the organization's human resources department, however, said the new language appeared to be a change.

"Putting it in a letter and requiring a signature, that's a condition of employment. There's no way to dance around that," said Wayne Swann, who served 3 1/2 years on Catholic Charities' board of directors and an additional four years as its vice president.

“Shortly after imposing limits on spousal health benefits for employees, Catholic Charities of Washington has begun requiring new employees to promise they will not "violate the principles or tenets" of the church.

“That language was added March 3 to a hiring letter that new employees are required to sign, according to spokesman Erik Salmi. He said the move did not reflect a policy change because employees have been told during training that the organization is Catholic in more than name.

“Catholic Charities, one of the region's largest nonprofit organizations, has been trying to develop a way to continue its multimillion-dollar social service partnerships with the District while not recognizing the city's same-sex marriage law, which the D.C. Council approved in December. Employees were told this month that the agency was changing its health-care coverage to avoid offering benefits to its workers' same-sex partners.

“Salmi said the addition of the clause to the hiring letter was not a result of the new law but rather reflected a longer-term concern that employees adhere to the organization's Catholic philosophy.

“Salmi said the new language "is more of an expectation than a condition. It's letting people know this is the culture." Asked if that meant employees could speak or act against the church without being fired, Salmi said: "We can't speculate on the hypothetical. It's handled on a case-by-case basis."

“A former vice president of the organization's human resources department, however, said the new language appeared to be a change.

"Putting it in a letter and requiring a signature, that's a condition of employment. There's no way to dance around that," said Wayne Swann, who served 3 1/2 years on Catholic Charities' board of directors and an additional four years as its vice president.”