The Immaculata High School teacher who posted anti-gay remarks on her Facebook page has been placed on administrative leave.
In a letter to the school community on Friday afternoon, Msgr. Sean Brennan, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, and Principal Jean Kline said the postings by religion teacher Patricia Jannuzzi were “completely inconsistent with our policy and position as a Catholic Christian community.” >
< On her now-deleted Facebook profile earlier this week, Jannuzzi said gays or gay activists “want to reengineer western civ (sic) into a slow extinction” as part of their “agenda.”
“We need healthy families with a mother and a father for the sake of the children and humanity!!!” she wrote, adding that the argument that gays are protected under the 14th Amendment is “bologna.” >
< In the “First Thoughts” blog from the Institute on Religious and Public Faith, Matthew Franck wrote that the outcry against Jannuzzi is “rapidly becoming an outrageous assault against a person whose worst offense was to speak with what some (but by no means all) would call an intemperate passion, in favor of the Church’s teaching.”
Franck titled his blog entry as “Could either of the living Popes get a job in a New Jersey Catholic school?” >
What a strange story! The “slow extinction” conspiracy theory is indeed pretty off, and is pretty laughable. However, it doesn’t seem like a call to violence against gay people or anything like that. I’m surprised a teacher would be fired for posting an outlandish accusation like that on her personal facebook page. It really isn’t any worse than any of the obvious exhaggerations that I see politically minded people post online all the time. Whenever I say anything like, “Really? Senator So-and-So regularly hosts parties where people are encouraged to do crack and torture kittens?” The response is always, “The point is, they’re bad.”
I think often they say “administrative leave” to gauge public feedback. If you think it is wrong for her to be treated this way a call or email to the school would probably go a long way to help her.
I thought the States was for freedom of speech . Why fight ISIS etc;, if you deny freedom of expression ?
Funny a group who wish to push the boundaries of 'freedom ’ over the limit ,deny others freedom ,but that is to be expected . As history repeats itself ,and people including catholics never learn ,we can expect more of this kind of thing .
I’ve said it before, (in a different thread on the same subject) but I’ll say it again. It’s outrageous that the intolerance mafia is going after a Catholic school teacher who has taught Catholic theology for 33 years at a Catholic school, because she upholds Catholic teaching.
The teacher was not very smart to post this. She is supposed to be an example to the children. I have attended retreats with high school students and u will be surprised at how a comment like this can be twisted into condoning the hate of gay peole by some less mature high schoolers.
At the very least, she should have put a disclaimer that her extinction comment was an opinion.
Not too long ago, a gay student in a college in nj committed suicide, because of taunts from other students. We should be mindful of how the message is received.
We are to uphold church teaching in a loving manner-and not be quick to post hostile commentary. This was a hostile post.
It is evident that much of what she says is true, if you do your research ,available on the net … It is also this climate of exaggeration of what happens to gays, as apart from the rest of the world, especially the young . For every gay who commits suicide, there are hundreds of people whose suicides are not even mentioned in the media, including several priests in the last two years . Why one might ask ?
I know that there are homosexuals who do not wish to destroy ’ natural families’ ,but that is
the stated intention of many , and the implicit one of all who wish ssm.
When trying to teach others and lead them to Christ, it is always best to show compassion to sinners by using His example.
By posting comments that have a hostile undertone, it is not leading sinners away from their lifestyles. It is just compounding the problem, leading sinners away from the church, and potentially adding to it.
The teacher could have gotten her message across in a kinder way. It is not the message, it is the delivery.
I have not polled each and every gay person on the planet to find out what their agenda is. Until someone does this, the teacher’s post just heresay, speculation and conspiracy theory.
That we need healthy families with a mother and a father to provide for a healthy civilization seems not a particularly controversial statement to me. But the tolerance police will descend with a vengeance upon any denigration of the idea of gay marriage, and has done so in force in Ms. Jannuzzi’s case.
I would not say that it is just gay marriage that tends toward the corruption of civilization; that is merely a marker along the way. The descent of our civilization was begun with the sexual revolution, which, in undermining families, undermines society and culture. But Facebook is hardly a medium for discussing the matter in detail, which is why I don’t use it.
The Marriage Crisis is not all homosexuals fault. I think that Ms. Jannuzzi would probably agree with the statement as well as the linked article. But she will not get the chance to discuss the matter. Since she dared to speak out, she must be silenced.
This isn’t a free speech issue. The government had nothing to do with it. Your complaint is with the school.
If I said something like that I don’t think my employer would like it very much. Especially if there was a direct and easy to find link between me and my employer.
Besides, there is no absolute right to free speech.
Facebook is always a dangerous place to state unpopular opinions, especially when the tolerance police are watching, as they always are, but one can get in trouble without Facebook. The Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, gay men themselves, caused a twitterverse explosion by saying in an interview, “The only family is the traditional one.” (Story here.)
“Her “crime”, her great “sin”? She did not sexually molest anyone, she did not commit a crime - all she did was articulate her opposition to homosexual activity and state that children actually need a father and a mother”
“If there’s a lesson to be learned here, I think it’s this: if you’re an employed conservative and use social media, be extremely – and I mean extremely – careful about what you post, lest you wind up in the unemployment line.”
I would also suggest the lesson is that those who believe in Christ need to start engaging both in our daily lives and as a part of the universal church spreading the Gospel and making more like minded Christians.
It appears that Ms. Jannuzzi’s contract to teach will not be renewed. Speaking out publicly in favor of Catholic teaching cost her her job at a Catholic school. Amazing.
“Over the weekend, the family lawyer announced that Jannuzzi’s contract will not be renewed in the coming school year despite the bishop’s public statement implying that her suspension was only temporary.”
. . .
“In a criticism of the Immaculata decision to suspend the offending teacher, Rod Dreher asks: “Could Pope Francis Teach Here?””
From the article: “What [alumnus Tom] Robinson—and those who have signed the change.org petition—want is for the Immaculata High School to stop teaching what the Church teaches about same sex behavior. For them, Church teachings on homosexual behavior are hateful. He makes it clear in his post.”
The issue is, Catholic teachers are not allowed to publicly defend Catholic teaching.
DISCLAIMER: Catholic Answers has turned over the archive to Catholic-Questions.org and no longer owns, manages, or moderates the forums. For additional apologetics resources please visit www.catholic.com.
