Marquette Law School Faculty BlogWhat could be done to fix WIS. STA. 48.92? A whole new statute allowing and facilitating adoption by same-sex partners would be the best solution, but one fears the state’s current hostility toward expanding gay rights would make this difficult to achieve. Alternatively, one could change the existing statute to create an exception for same-sex partners seeking to adopt their partners’ children. As noted above, the statute already includes a comparable exception for stepparents adopting their spouses’ children. Stepparents, after all, would also consider it absurd if the act of adopting their stepchildren terminated the parental rights of the pre-existing parent in the relationship.
A PhD from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine thinks those "hostilities toward expanding gay rights,"(or common sense as it was once called) are well founded.
We have a secular institution refuting a "Catholic" institution on homosexuality. If Catholic institutions completely abandon science, law, and the common good, then when is it time to work to shut them down?
4 comments:
Matt,
With all due respect, this post is wrong.
The MULS blog clearly states that "The opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views of Marquette University or its Law School."
Don't take what one professor says to be a statement on behalf of the entire law school.
There are plenty of problems at Marquette (defying the Church on civil unions), keep getting the word out about them, but don't get sidetracked into seeing problems that aren't there.
By the way, while you won't find a Tridentine Mass on Campus you will find this kind of thing...
"Prospects for Women in Tomorrow’s Church” to be discussed by Sister Anne E. Patrick
Sister Anne E. Patrick, SNJM, Ph.D., Laird Professor of Religion and the Liberal Arts (Emerita) at Carleton College of Northfield, Minn., will present “What In God’s Eye [S]he Is: Prospects for Women in Tomorrow’s Church” Wednesday, April 6, at 7 p.m. in the AMU Ballrooms.
Sister Patrick is a member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, a past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and a founding vice president of the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology. She has been a director of the Society of Christian Ethics, an editor for the Religious Book Club and a columnist for Liturgy. Her writings on religious, ethical and literary topics have appeared in many books and periodicals, and she is the author of Liberating Conscience: Feminist Explorations in Catholic Moral Theology and Women, Conscience, and the Creative Process.
The program, which will be followed by a Q&A session and reception, is sponsored by the offices of Mission and Ministry and the Provost."
Wow I bet this will really get the young Catholics fired up about orthodoxy, loyalty the Holy Father, devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, Marian Piety, etc... or not.
Okay, fair enough, I updated the title to reflect that.
But, David Papke is a professor that teaches at Marquette's Law School correct?
http://law.marquette.edu/cgi-bin/site.pl?10905&userID=766
I mean that is still a "problem" to me, at least it seems that way. I read it a few times to make sure I wasn't getting tangled in some legalese, but it appears a Marquette instructor is advocating for legal homosexual adoption. Yes, he is speaking of children already under guardianship of one parent, but doesn't specify that this doesn't apply to any domestic partnership. The ramifications could include shutting down Christian adoption agencies in the state who will not participate in something like this(ala the situation in the UK).
I get emails often on bad things at Marquette but I usually just post the big ones(believe me, I'd rather be posting the good things). Several times I've heard good things about the Law School there(at least how it used ta be good), which is why this seems so out of place(like the Feingold hire).
Maybe I'm missing something from the article?
Matt, thanks for updating the title to reflect what I brought up in my earlier post.
Yes Professor Papke is a professor that teaches as Marquette Law School as the blog post would indicate.
While I share your concern pertaining to situations like what happend to the Catholic adoption service in the U.K. I don't think one can draw that conclusion from Papke's post.
I think basically what he is talking about here is that as adoption law is currently understood an adoption terminates all legal relationship with the biological parent.
As Prf. Papke says, such an adoption would involve terminating the child's relationship with the "pre-existing parent in the relationship." I am not totally sure but I think the change he is suggesting would protect the legal relationship between a biological parent and child when the same-sex couple (other biological parent+ boyfriend or girlfriend) moves towards adoption.
I guess you could say that currently the way it stands the left-over biological parent has an increased incentive to oppose the adoption for fear of termination. In all reality though, these terminations do happen, maybe it would be best for the child if dad still has some legal standing in their life even after mom moves in with girlfriend and adopts child.
Isn't homosexual adoption basically legal in most states anyway (except Florida?) That ship has sailed. It is hard to undue stuff like that (though I guess the Russians did.)
Marquette is a law school, it is fair to have professors consider all sorts of things about the law.
Also as to the law school, you said "how it used ta be good," please do write more about this as I am quite curious? Are we talking about like in the 1930s?
I posted additional commentary here:
http://badgercatholic.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-on-marquette-instructors.html
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