Cleaning House

When I read the following in yesterday morning's paper, St. Vincent closing after serving poor since 1896, it brought to mind Mike Huckabee's statement in a Michigan speech. "I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

I realize that Huckabee is not Catholic. However, the closing of the St. Vincent de Paul Family Service Center is a lesson in why the safeguard of separation of church and state is a sound one. Here is a faith based institution that has served over 60,000 people with food and other services during just the past year.

Why is it closing? Because of financial difficulties. It takes a lot of bingo games to make up the $360,000 needed to continue operation. The real reason, however, is that parishoners have been asked to contribute ten million dollars as part of a forty eight million dollar settlement between the Spokane Diocese and child abuse victims!

I personally think it's outrageous that the parishioners are being asked to pay for the "sins of the Fathers" in the first place, but be that as it may, here's a much needed service agency being forced out of business because the church would not keep it's house clean.

Before anyone goes tinkering with our Constitution to bring it closer to God's standards we best be good and sure those who are charged with upholding those standards do!