According to the Washington Post, the Catholic Church in DC has threatened to stop with all social services if a gay marriage law passes.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.
Now, it's been a while since I went to Sunday School, but I remember there being a lot about how Jesus said to help the helpless, love your neighbor, give all your money to the poor. There were stories about him not getting along with the religious scolds of the day, the Pharisees. He hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors, and lepers. He even provided free health care.
All the while, Jesus said nothing about homosexuality. He made it clear that loving your neighbor was the most important thing to do after loving God.
If the Church is willing to abandon the people it is providing food and shelter and health care to the poorest people because it disagrees with a decision of city council, then I believe they have lost any measure of claiming to be doing Jesus's work.
The ratio of verses about the poor to verses about homosexuality is pretty clear. Homosexuality (or something similar, as the word homosexual wasn't around until the nineteen hundreds) is mentioned 6 times in the bible, and three of those times were references to the others. I've found vastly different estimates for the number of versus about helping the poor, but the smallest number I have seen is 300 (a 50:1 ratio) and the largest is 2,100 (a 350:1 ratio).
The verse in the bible that appears to condemn homosexuality the most is in Leviticus, along with discussions about how shellfish is an abomination, and mixed fiber cloth, and different crops being planted together, and sitting on a chair that had been used by a menstruating woman, and eating rabbits. That's right folks, according to Leviticus your local gay couple is committing the same amount of sin as the televangelist with the bad poly-cotton blend suit, the C-street congressman enjoying a nice lobster, someone with a vegetable garden, and anyone who has ever sat in a chair in a public place. And yet the Catholic Church isn't threatening to put people on the street because the city won't ban blended fabrics or eating rabbit.
If the Archdioceses of Washington puts homeless people on the street in what amounts to a giant hissy fit over not getting their way, then I believe they need to stop pretending they are doing anything that Jesus actually cared about.