North Carolina Catholics leave council of churches

At a time when Pope Francis is calling for the church to give up its obsession with homosexuality and abortion, North Carolina’s Roman Catholic dioceses are severing a long-held ecumenical bond over those issues.

Unable to resolve their differences, the dioceses of Raleigh and Charlotte have decided to withdraw their membership from the North Carolina Council of Churches effective at the end of the year.

For more than 30 years, North Carolina enjoyed a unique ecumenical alliance between Protestants and Catholics.