I've read countless pages of often turgid philosophical prose over the years, but the words that have had the most abiding impact come from, of all people, Descartes. The advocate of "clear and distinct ideas" once said: "Common sense is what is most widespread and least used."

In the midst of the turmoil over same-sex adoptions, a welcome display of common sense appears in a column in today's Boston Globe. Charles Glenn writes: "The public policy issue is not whether Catholic Charities is correct about the harm of same-sex parenting; it is whether an agency with by all acccounts a highly succcessful record of adoption placement is to be prevented by over-regulation from exercising its best judgment about which families are suitable."

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a longtime Commonweal contributor.

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