Catholic High School Teacher Forced Out over Flag

[Monica]

A Catholic high school teacher has been dismissed because he did not want the American flag displayed in his classroom. He has long disagreed with the high regard placed on the flag within a Catholic classroom. Seems he wants no competition with Jesus. Anyone have any thoughts on this issue?

progressive.org/mag_mc101705

 

[geezerbob]

Seems he simply refused to submit to authority. The Catholic faith and the American flag are not mutually exclusive. There was no reason for his defiance other than his taking an “either or” stance instead of embracing both. In any other job, you have to do what the boss says. Should he be any different?

 

[snowman10]

This seems to be against what the Church teaches according to Outlines of the Catholic Faith.

On page 56 it states:

"This Commandment (Honor your mother and father) obliges all citizens to contribute to the good of society.

i. We should serve our country in gratitude and charity.
ii. We do this by exercising our right to vote, by paying taxes, and by defending our country.

1. However, citizens are obliged to refuse obedience to laws contrary to moral order".

This is from *Outlines of the Catholic Faith *published by The Leaflet Missal Company. I obtained it at RCIA.

peace,
dxu

 

[Guar_Fan]

 They watched him closely and sent agents pretending to be righteous who were to trap him in speech, in order to hand him over to the authority and power of the governor.
They posed this question to him, "Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is correct, and you show no partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful for us to pay tribute to Caesar or not?" 
Recognizing their craftiness he said to them, "Show me a denarius; whose image and name does it bear?" They replied, "Caesar's." So he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

Luke 20:20-25

It is unfortunate that the diocese lost a teacher with 25 years experience. But perhaps this loss could have been avoided with a little more flexibility on his part.

Clearly he views the flag as a symbol of division in our Church. And he feels that giving prominence to the flag encourages that divison, that it encourages us to think that being American is equally important as being Christian. But there are ways he could have complied with the letter of the law and yet still teach according to his beliefs.

 

[koda]

*Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it. If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience. In such a case, “authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse.”*From CCC - Article II - Participation In Social Life, #1903

Perhaps he believes that some of our laws/actions are unjust and immoral.

 

[Libero]

Perhaps he believes that some of our laws/actions are unjust and immoral.

Maybe he does not agree with the law or abortion, or something similar. I think its a bit of a shame really, why is the flag so important anyway?

 

[harinkj]

Libero:

…why is the flag so important anyway?

The flag isn’t important. What it stands for is important. :clapping:

• Kathie :bowdown:

 

[Monica]

i. We should serve our country in gratitude and charity.
ii. We do this by exercising our right to vote, by paying taxes, and by defending our country.

1. However, citizens are obliged to refuse obedience to laws contrary to moral order".

We should serve our country–lots of legitimate disagreement over how best to do that

paying taxes for stem cell research and abortions along with anti-Christ public schools, and many other sinful deeds

Defend our country or our countryman and again against whatever the government decides we should or a legitimate threat to citizens??

 

[mark_a]

snowman10:

This seems to be against what the Church teaches according to Outlines of the Catholic Faith.

On page 56 it states:

"This Commandment (Honor your mother and father) obliges all citizens to contribute to the good of society.

ii. We do this by exercising our right to vote, by paying taxes, and by defending our country.

I gotta vote?

 

[Monica]

I guess it really shouldn’t be any surprise that no one really cares about this. I hope this line of thinking isn’t an indication of what’s to come. Our country has lost its way and soon so will the Church I am afraid.

 

[koda]

Monica:

I guess it really shouldn’t be any surprise that no one really cares about this. I hope this line of thinking isn’t an indication of what’s to come. Our country has lost its way and soon so will the Church I am afraid.

I do not think that this country has only recently lost its way - any nation as large and powerful as this one does not get or stay that way by always being the good guy, regardless of what many chose to believe (example: our treatment of the Native Americans, or treatment of minorities - including even the Irish Catholic immigrants of the 19th century, etc…). God is not an American. We are no more special to Him than people of any other nationality. When we do wrong, God is not on our side.

 

[Guar_Fan]

koda:

God is not an American. We are no more special to Him than people of any other nationality. When we do wrong, God is not on our side.

I agree! But I would change the wording of the last sentence: When we do wrong, we are no longer on God’s side.

 

[snowman10]

mark a:

I gotta vote?

Unless the candidates positions are contrary to moral order…so I do not vote. And I have been thinking up of a way to not pay taxes by arguing that I do not want my money going to abortion clinics and whatnot. I am working on this idea and maybe petioning the government or threatining a suit. I think it has a good chance. I do not mind paying taxes, I just want to choose what they go to.

dxu

 

[Chris_Jacobsen]

This incident shows that when a Catholic stands up for what is right, he stands alone.

The officials at this high school make it very clear they believe that the nation state is superior to God.

And they may be right. Judging by the beliefs of the typical Catholic, God simply can’t hold his own against the values of society and the laws of the Federal Government.

50% of all Catholics believe that it should be perfectly legal to hack babies to death. And almost 100% of Catholics believe it is wrong to stop the baby killers. And a large percentage Catholics believe that taxpayers should pay to massacre the innocent.

Wave a U.S flag in front of a Catholic’s face and a Catholic cannot tell the difference between right and wrong.

 

[Jeffrey]

WoW… your post is so wrong I don’t even know where to begin.

You are taking this way outta context. Most Catholics I know are wholeheartily AGAINST abortion.

The ‘Catholics’ that are for abortion aren’t Catholics/Christians IMO. Almost 100% don’t want to stop the baby killers? Where do you get your numbers? Outta thin air?

And yes… I can tell the difference between Ol’ Glory and God thank you very much.

The school did the right thing IMO.
Chris Jacobsen:

This incident shows that when a Catholic stands up for what is right, he stands alone.

The officials at this high school make it very clear they believe that the nation state is superior to God.

And they may be right. Judging by the beliefs of the typical Catholic, God simply can’t hold his own against the values of society and the laws of the Federal Government.

50% of all Catholics believe that it should be perfectly legal to hack babies to death. And almost 100% of Catholics believe it is wrong to stop the baby killers. And a large percentage Catholics believe that taxpayers should pay to massacre the innocent.

Wave a U.S flag in front of a Catholic’s face and a Catholic cannot tell the difference between right and wrong.

 

[Fitz]

A private school has authority to do as it wishes. They can demand many things. My guess is that the teacher had other issues. Why not allow a flag? I think the teacher was making his statement, and he was not very professional in what he did. I would not have allowed the last day where he was able to give dissent to the students. I would not have appreciated this if it were my child’s school.

The teacher has issues IMHO. I don’t necessarily think he is mentally ill, but he is being extreme. He had 25yrs. of experience but only 6 at that school. I don’t understand his position one bit. Most churches used to fly the American flag in church years ago. Now our church flies it outside, but really this teacher is a bit dramatic.

I think he taught his entire class about protest and nothing more. I don’t think he was courageous.

 

[adstrinity]

Monica:

I guess it really shouldn’t be any surprise that no one really cares about this. I hope this line of thinking isn’t an indication of what’s to come. Our country has lost its way and soon so will the Church I am afraid.

The Church will NEVER lose the way.

 

[koda]

Guar Fan:

I agree! But I would change the wording of the last sentence: When we do wrong, we are no longer on God’s side.

That is excellent - a real improvement on what I said! I will remember that for future use! Thanks!

 

[mark_a]

snowman10:

And I have been thinking up of a way to not pay taxes by arguing that I do not want my money going to abortion clinics and whatnot.

I think this is a key, although seldom discussed, part of the abortion issue.

I don’t want taxes to fund abortions period.

But many seem to think that laws against abortion will end abortion.

Abortion will never end. But what kind of government funds it?

 

[snowman10]

mark a:

I think this is a key, although seldom discussed, part of the abortion issue.

I don’t want taxes to fund abortions period.

But many seem to think that laws against abortion will end abortion.

Abortion will never end. But what kind of government funds it?

If, and this is a big if, we can follow the paper trail of our tax dollars to something such as a government organization promoting and performing abortions, we could file a suit claiming our religious freedom has been disrupted or interfered with, we could win it. But how?

dxu

p.s. I know this is idealistic but millions of innocent lives have been taken, this is a real possibility.