Charlotte Diocese

[Dave123]

Hello Everyone!

First off, let me introdice myself. My name is David and I am a 17 year old who lives in Charlotte. I attend a Catholic High School, the only one in the ciry actually. I am a senior and looking forward to college. I am very involved in school and extracurricular activities. I know all of my teachers well and even the rest of the school staff.

Now the ‘problem’…

1. Over the summer our cleaning crew was fired. Just like that. No prior warning. Our administration at our school has almost no power and didn’t have a say in this. It was directly from the Diocese. A few of us, who knew some of the cleaning crew well, decided to investigate this. What we found out was a little unsettling, in our opinion. They were fired, not because of poor work, but because the Diocese found a cheaper crew. So, their way of saying thank you for all your years of service was firing them out of the blue. We got a petition going and got well over 500 signatures from various alumni, students, and faculty. Everyone was on our side. My friend, who is an alumni, did everything by the book and brought the petition uptown to the Diocese. After weeks of getting meetings, he had to stop. He was treated awfully by the people up there. All of the people running this treated him like nothing and didnt listen to anything we had to say. Our Bishop, Bishop Jugis, did not see him so I can’t say anything about him. I have names but I won’t name them as of now.
2. Now we are starting school and things have gotten worse. We have a new Vicor (sp?) of eductaion appointed directly by Bishop Jugis. He is very conservative but has changed so much. I guess he has the power…but why? Our HIGH SCHOOL is now only allowed to show G rated movies. We also can no longer have anything that could be a controversial subject in our SCHOOL NEWSPAPER! Noting related to politics or economics or anything.
3. This is what I heard from a teacher today. I heard the new Vicar went to his church and told all of the women servers and alter servers they could no longer do it. For some reason he wants it like how it used to be. Thats just a rumor now though.

I might be overreacting with this but I am pretty angry right now with our Diocese. I don’t want to say its corrupt but I think there are some major issues with it.

Is there anything I can do? I want to call Bishops Jugis’ boss but I know its not like a business so thats probably not how it works. Am I picking the wrong battle to fight? Is there anything I can do? Maybe all I can do is pray but…BUT this is my senior year and I don’t want any of this new conservative old school stuff to affect our school!

Thanks for listening…any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Cluny]

The firing of the cleaning crew sounds like a rank injustice, but there may be more to this story than you all know. It does sound to me like you tried to do the right thing and to through channels.

Bishop Jurgis is his OWN boss in matters concerning the Diocese and its administration.

As regards school entertainment, the Vicar for education and school administration may be subjected to pressures you don’t know about. However, you are 17 and are free in most localities to see any movie you like at your local theatres.

Whether school is the proper place to show movies for entertainment is another question.

As far as articles in the school paper. the courts have ruled that the SCHOOL is the publisher. In the real world of journalism when the publisher says, “Kill the story,” the story is killed and that’s that.

But there’s nothing to stop you and your friends from publishing anything OUTSIDE of the school that you have the money to publish. Remember, freedom of the press belongs to the person who owns the press–and in the case of the school papter, it’s the school, in effect.

But I agree with you in principle. High school students today are more knowlegeable and sophisticated than yesteryear. Whether this is a good thing is debatable.

 

[thunderballs75]

-The cleaning crew thing was unjust and corrupt.
-I think they’re going a little overboard with the movie and politics thing.
-However, with the “altar server” thing, they are correct in their decision. The reason for altar boys is mainly for the purpose of giving them practice for the priesthood. It’s not supposed to be about “participation” or “equal rights”. It has nothing to do with sexism or gender discrimination.

God bless.

 

[TamaraSieja]

-However, with the “altar server” thing, they are correct in their decision. The reason for altar boys is mainly for the purpose of giving them practice for the priesthood. It’s not supposed to be about “participation” or “equal rights”. It has nothing to do with sexism or gender discrimination.
God bless.

I agree. I know where you’re coming from though. It’s hard to see changes in a school during your Senior year, especially when you’ve been there all the way through. I had to move in July before my Senior Year so not only was I a total stranger but I had to start over in all of my sports and music activities.

There are plenty of other ways that the young ladies in your school and parish can continue to participate in. They could lector, they can cantor, be part of the choir, there’s always a group that meets to put flowers in the Church on Saturday before the services. But being an acolite has historically and until sometime around the Second Vatican Council been exclusivly for boys and men. In the same way that women can’t be priests, women shouldn’t be acolites.

 

[MercyMia]

As far as the firing of the cleaning crew, I think you, as students should get a copy of the latest Encyclical by Pope Benedict and highlight the points about fair business practices and avoiding the “heartless” side of business. Then, ask for a time to present your findings to the new school head as a case for why the old cleaning crew should be restored. Point out ways that you, as a school, can implement what Benedict is calling faithful Catholics to do. If you do this in a mature and educated way, you just might get him to change his mind. I think there is a thread on here discussing the Encyclical, so that might be a good place to start.

 

[Cluny]

The reason for altar boys is mainly for the purpose of giving them practice for the priesthood.

Wrong.

The reason for altar servers is to assist the Celebrant in liturgical functions.

It has nothing to do with “practice for the priesthood.” There is more to a being priest than simply celebrating Mass.

 

[m134e5]

There are plenty of other ways that the young ladies in your school and parish can continue to participate in. They could lector, they can cantor, be part of the choir,

there’s always a group that meets to put flowers in the Church on Saturday before the services.

You mean the altar society? I guess that’s fine if you don’t mind being the only one there under 70. Altar societies do great things for the Church, but I have to admit they just don’t have the appeal that they used to. The younger generations are looking for something different. Altar societies *could *be given a make-over and tailored to attract younger generations, but I am afraid that won’t happen- at least not around here- until the older generations are gone.

But being an acolite has historically and until sometime around the Second Vatican Council been exclusivly for boys and men. In the same way that women can’t be priests, women shouldn’t be acolites.

Only men who are on their way to the priesthood are instituted as acolytes, technically speaking. Boys are allowed to be altar servers (to do the same thing an acolyte does), and in the early 90’s, the pope allowed bishops to allow girls to serve.

 

[Langdell]

Try not to jump to conclusions about the firing of the cleaning staff. (Strictly speaking, they probably weren’t fired. Instead, my guess would be that their contract wasn’t renewed.) There are a lot of possible circumstances that might have gone into the diocese’s decision:

• A lot of non-profits are struggling financially more than ever right now, because giving and the value of endowments have dropped substantially. The diocese may be trying to cut costs wherever it can, and finding a cheaper cleaning service was probably preferable to, say, canceling an educational offering.
• The cleaning service may have been unwilling to continue working at its previous rate, so the diocese looked around for another service.
• There may have been problems with the service that you might not know about. Maybe its insurance lapsed. Maybe there were reports of bad acts by some employees that the diocese doesn’t want to repeat, because doing so could subject the diocese to liability. Maybe the management had become too difficult to work with. Who knows?
  .

 

[wisdomseeker]

Hello Everyone!

First off, let me introdice myself. My name is David and I am a 17 year old who lives in Charlotte. I attend a Catholic High School, the only one in the ciry actually. I am a senior and looking forward to college. I am very involved in school and extracurricular activities. I know all of my teachers well and even the rest of the school staff.

Now the ‘problem’…

1. Over the summer our cleaning crew was fired. Just like that. No prior warning. Our administration at our school has almost no power and didn’t have a say in this. It was directly from the Diocese. A few of us, who knew some of the cleaning crew well, decided to investigate this. What we found out was a little unsettling, in our opinion. They were fired, not because of poor work, but because the Diocese found a cheaper crew. So, their way of saying thank you for all your years of service was firing them out of the blue. We got a petition going and got well over 500 signatures from various alumni, students, and faculty. Everyone was on our side. My friend, who is an alumni, did everything by the book and brought the petition uptown to the Diocese. After weeks of getting meetings, he had to stop. He was treated awfully by the people up there. All of the people running this treated him like nothing and didnt listen to anything we had to say. Our Bishop, Bishop Jugis, did not see him so I can’t say anything about him. I have names but I won’t name them as of now.
2. Now we are starting school and things have gotten worse. We have a new Vicor (sp?) of eductaion appointed directly by Bishop Jugis. He is very conservative but has changed so much. I guess he has the power…but why? Our HIGH SCHOOL is now only allowed to show G rated movies. We also can no longer have anything that could be a controversial subject in our SCHOOL NEWSPAPER! Noting related to politics or economics or anything.
3. This is what I heard from a teacher today. I heard the new Vicar went to his church and told all of the women servers and alter servers they could no longer do it. For some reason he wants it like how it used to be. Thats just a rumor now though.

I might be overreacting with this but I am pretty angry right now with our Diocese. I don’t want to say its corrupt but I think there are some major issues with it.

Is there anything I can do? I want to call Bishops Jugis’ boss but I know its not like a business so thats probably not how it works. Am I picking the wrong battle to fight? Is there anything I can do? Maybe all I can do is pray but…BUT this is my senior year and I don’t want any of this new conservative old school stuff to affect our school!

Thanks for listening…any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

my advice to you son is that you stay calm and listen to our superiors for they give account of our souls.

the Church has been through dificult times since VII. what we dont want is to give a hard time to our priests and bishops. we want the True Catholic Church back. support this bishop, he seems to be a Saint like man. the CC has gotten a bad reputation for the last 40 years. love and support those who are working to bring the Church back to what it is supposed to be. as we know the Church is facing many opposition from those who want to make the Church their own playground. support those who are conservative and Orthodox. God will bless you for this. Catholics reclaiming their identities. we are in the world but not of this world.

God bless.

 

[Dave123]

Thank you all for your answers. Yes, I am staying calm and taking things one step at a time.

I will look up the Encyclical and check that out as well. I do know a fair amount about the cancellation of the cleaning service. From what I know, it wasn’t anything on their part. However, I don’t know it all so maybe there were some good reasons.

My friend who really started the petition couldn’t get many people of the Diocese to see him. I do not know why but some refused to speak with him. He also said that one of the fathers, the one that hands us our diploma, pretty much lied to him. Its a long story but the short version is that he spoke with him once and the priest said he would “figure it out and do his best to help the cause” and then later when Pat (my friend) went back he told him he just didn’t have the time and to leave. I was not there so I can’t say this is all true bu what really hit me hard was when Pat, who is the kindest, most loving person I know, said “No wonder so many people dislike the Catholic Church”.

I really don’t mean to offend anyone on here so I hope no one is. I just wanted to rant a little I guess. Thank you all for listening, and yes, I am still 100 percent supportive of the Faith and our Bishop. So I will try and keep as cool as I can while also trying to do the right thing.

 

[corsair]

Also, remember that this is just a step in your life. God never promised us a rose garden.

I know, you’ve heard all this before, but its still true. High school is not the “be all, end all”.

Let it go, there are a lot more important things in life that need answers.