PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

This editorial from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) caught my attention last week as it argues against a certain political identity – a liberal one – that impedes serving “little children.”

The editorial asks, “What’s more important—finding a foster home for needy children, or identity politics? The answer from the political left is exacerbating a crisis in Philadelphia that is leaving hundreds of children to languish in group homes.”

Catholic Social Services has worked in Philadelphia for decades and oversees about 100 foster homes. But, two months ago, the city abruptly halted referrals to the group because the Catholic charity holds Catholic beliefs about same-sex marriage. Last week, several foster parents represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sued in federal court to resume the group’s foster-care placements.

The WSJ reports:

“Catholic Social Services works with children regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. But, on Catholic religious grounds, the charity won’t certify same-sex or unmarried couples as foster parents, instead referring them to another state-approved organization. More than two dozen alternative agencies exist, and Catholic Social Services says no gay couples have even sought its help for certification, much less filed a complaint after being turned away.

“Philadelphia has nonetheless denounced Catholic Social Services as discriminatory and launched an investigation into its practices. Unless the group agrees to provide written certifications for same-sex foster parents, the city will terminate its contract in June.

“The Becket Fund suit argues that this is a breach of contract with Catholic Social Services. It also claims that Philadelphia is violating the group’s right to religious liberty by penalizing it specifically for Catholic beliefs, and that the city is violating the First Amendment by compelling speech that Catholic Social Services opposes.”

Beyond the law, Philadelphia’s coercion hurts the city’s most vulnerable children and the families who want to care for them. One of the plaintiffs in this case is Cecelia Paul, who has opened her home to more than 130 children over the past 46 years. Philadelphia honored her as one of its foster parents of the year in 2015. But because Mrs. Paul is certified through Catholic Social Services, her home has been vacant since April.

All of this recalls to mind the time I worked as a lobbyist for organizations imbued by solid moral and ethical connections to the Catholic Church. Two of them were Providence Health & Services, a major provider of health care services around the state, and Catholic Community Services of the Marion, Polk and Yamhill, which provides services to low-income residences, especially children, in those three counties.

There were repeated threats at the Capitol in Salem to stop services by those organizations because of their “links to religion.” Vocal voices from the left – perhaps that phrase is redundant because such voices always appear to be loud and grating — thought such linkages were, somehow, inappropriate. Better to adopt dogma from the left than serve children and families?

Nothing could be farther from the truth. In my experience, links to the Catholic Church provide a solid ethical and moral base for serving the poor and disadvantaged. The issue is not what you, the server, can get for doing good. It is what you can do to express God’s love for “his children.”

Back to the issues in Philadelphia.

“As the lawsuit notes, the real discrimination here is religious. Philadelphia is penalizing Catholic Social Services because its beliefs about marriage don’t mesh with so-called progressive cultural values.

“To protect the city’s conscience, Philadelphia demands that Catholics violate their own. Who is really intolerant here?”