[Denver] Catholic school boots student with gay parents [AP]

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Fr. Bill’s blog is here:

fatherbillsblog.com/heart/2010/03/what-wisdom-is-at-work-in-not-having-children-of-a-gay-marriage-in-a-catholic-school.html

I noted my opinion: "I totally understand your logic and the terrible position the parents of this child is putting him (or her) in by setting up this conflict with the Catholic community your school represents.

But do you really think Catholic teaching will be the cause of this conflict? Can’t Catholic teachings on gays and lesbians be taught in a kind and loving manner? I would encourage you to let the child in to your school and let him or her learn the Catholic truths we all cherish.

Best of luck with all the crazies here".

And crazies there are. Check out the wild accusations and hatred Fr. Bill has generated. I don’t think a child of a lesbian couple would encounter anything in a Catholic context that would give them pain or difficulty. IMHO. So I would let the little girl (she is 5 BTW) in.

dj
 
i applaud this school for standing behind their beliefs…

my husband and i are thinking about moving our family to colorado…and i have been looking at catholic schools for my daughters…i will be sure to send my children to this school IF we move there:D
 
Beau_Ouiville said:
If my parish school disenrolled all the children from single parent or divorcee households, enrollment would drop by about 50%.

If my parish school disenrolled all the children who are not Catholic, enrollment would drop by about 60%.

However, my parish school fosters Catholic values and religion and requires parents to be involved in the school.

Just stating the experience in my neighborhood.
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I work for a catholic high school. I can personally tell you that it got so bad with the so-called “tolerance” of other beliefs and agendas that at one point a couple years back, they actually voted on whether it should be considered a catholic school anymore.

This is an abomination to have catholics in a watered down catholic atmosphere when they are in a religious school. If you are not catholic, don’t send your kids. Send them to other private schools or public school. Hey, even the internet has charter schools.

It doesn’t matter if parents are involved or not, because most of the catholics send their kids there to be catechized, because they don’t have time or care to do it. The parents themselves are many times clueless as to the fundamentals of the Church. Muslim, Jewish, Agnostic, and Atheist parents know full well what agenda they and their kids are pushing in the school and will push it as far as the catholics will allow them.
 
Abeyta85 said:
9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=134102&catid=339

This is been in the headlines here in Denver, and I can’t understand what is wrong with people? This lesbian couple knew the Catholic school would turn them away, they did this just for publicity.
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Why would they have thought that? Catholic schools are not, generally, in the habit, as far as I know, of screening children in a such a way. I would never have presumed that Muslim children were not welcome at the school, or that the children of divorced and remarried parents were not welcome at the school.

After this action, of course, I might presume both those things! But that is not normally the case for Catholic schools. As I mentioned on the other version of this thread: Muslims, for instance, send their children to Christian schools all the time, without agreeing with fundamental Christian teachings, but also without any desire for confrontation or publicity. They are just looking for quality pre-schools and schools.

Finally, I thought the linked blog entry by the priest failed to address any of the issues concerning who is welcome in the Catholic school system.
 
Here is my issue, The parents knew what the teaching was. Why would the church up and say… ok, Homosexuals are A-OK? Do I think they need to screen, no i do not, but if the parents make it obvious about there sexuality, than I think that is much more easier to address.

Why should the Catholic school accept homosexuality when the bible rejects such? Yes there are people there that are divorced, and living in sin. Is that right? No, but the buck has to stop somewhere.
 
reaganjn said:
i applaud this school for standing behind their beliefs…

my husband and i are thinking about moving our family to colorado…and i have been looking at catholic schools for my daughters…i will be sure to send my children to this school IF we move there:D
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I live in Colorado, Denver actually. Boulder has always been liberal, and the church is sticking to its guns (the Bible) and doing the right thing.
 
In fairness, this statement from the Archdiocese does seem to say that, in general, non-Catholics are not welcome in their Catholic schools…
“Parents living in open discord with Catholic teaching in areas of faith and morals unfortunately choose by their actions to disqualify their children from enrollment,” the archdiocese said in a statement. “To allow children in these circumstances to continue in our school would be a cause of confusion for the student in that what they are being taught in school conflicts with what they experience in the home."
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I can’t even imagine what would be left of the Catholic school system if they tried to seriously apply that statement. Just by being openly Baptist or Muslim or Jewish you are in open discord with Catholic faith, etc. 🤷

On the other hand, that quote above does not necessarily seem to mean the same thing as the quote provided, in the same statement, from the school’s admissions policy…
“No person shall be admitted as a student in any Catholic school unless that person and his/her parent(s) subscribe to the school’s philosophy and agree to abide by the educational policies and regulations of the school and Archdiocese.”
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It would seem to me that I can subscribe to the school’s philosophy and agree to abide by its policies without myself believing that Catholicism is true. Maybe there is something more than that in the handbook, though.
 
DihydrogenOxide said:
This is an abomination to have catholics in a watered down catholic atmosphere when they are in a religious school. If you are not catholic, don’t send your kids. Send them to other private schools or public school. Hey, even the internet has charter schools.
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Well, my parish and diocese have an educational ministry. Catholic hospitals don’t turn away non-Catholics because they have a medical ministry.
Orogeny said:
It doesn’t matter if parents are involved or not, because most of the catholics send their kids there to be catechized, because they don’t have time or care to do it.
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I doubt that. Religious education in parochial schools, even for Catholics, is far different than it was a generation ago. The burden is on the parents for religious education.
 
Beau_Ouiville said:
The archdiocese statement:

"A principal reason parents place their children in Archdiocese of Denver Schools is to reinforce the Catholic beliefs and values that the family seeks to live at home. To preserve the mission of our schools, and to respect the faith of wider Catholic community, we expect all families who enroll students to live in accord with Catholic teaching. Our admission policy states clearly, “No person shall be admitted as a student in any Catholic school unless that person and his/her parent(s) subscribe to the school’s philosophy and agree to abide by the educational policies and regulations of the school and Archdiocese.”

Parents living in open discord with Catholic teaching in areas of faith and morals unfortunately choose by their actions to disqualify their children from enrollment. To allow children in these circumstances to continue in our school would be a cause of confusion for the student in that what they are being taught in school conflicts with what they experience in the home.

We communicated the policy to the couple at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School as soon as we realized the situation. We discussed the reasons with them and have sought to respond in a way that does not abruptly displace the student but at the same time respects the integrity of the Catholic school’s philosophy."
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I’m going to go out on a limb with this…but…my gut feeling is that I dont agree. My thing is this, like the article says, parents place their children into catholic schools for them to recieve/reinforce catholic education, values, etc…

I dont blame these parents for wanting this for their kid. I wish I could afford to send my kid to one.

But no parents are perfect…should the child be punished, or , is their child not worthy of this education, these values, because of THE PARENTS sins, errors…??

So, by the same token, if a kid had gone to that school for YEARS, and one of the married parents had an affair…isnt adultery a sin? Should the kid be kicked out?? See what I’m saying?? Being an active homosexual is a lot harder to hide than being an active drug abuser…or an active pedophile, or an active a lot of things that people are …
 
Charlotte408 said:
I’m going to go out on a limb with this…but…my gut feeling is that I dont agree. My thing is this, like the article says, parents place their children into catholic schools for them to recieve/reinforce catholic education, values, etc…

I dont blame these parents for wanting this for their kid. I wish I could afford to send my kid to one.

But no parents are perfect…should the child be punished, or , is their child not worthy of this education, these values, because of THE PARENTS sins, errors…??

So, by the same token, if a kid had gone to that school for YEARS, and one of the married parents had an affair…isnt adultery a sin? Should the kid be kicked out?? See what I’m saying?? Being an active homosexual is a lot harder to hide than being an active drug abuser…or an active pedophile, or an active a lot of things that people are …

and you dont know that the couple dont want better for their child, maybe they placed thier kid there, to have him taught better than they were, maybe they feel its too late for themselves, but they want their kid to live a holy life…idk…who knows…just doesnt seem fair for the kid to miss out on something he should be entitled to…a warm welcome to our faith…i mean, the kids not the one living an active homosexual lifestyle, right?
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millersatthefar said:
Wow this one is tough! There is a certain logical consistency in stating that children with parents living in a sinful situation should be expelled. However, there is another angle that needs to be addressed. Perhaps the diocese is drawing a line in the sand as if to say “Here is where permissiveness ends.” Certainly it would be logically consistent to preclude all children who’s parents do not believe Church teaching, but in our age of moral and linguistic relativism many Catholics do not know what to believe. I think that the diocese is doing its best to hold some standards. I think we should all pray that the Bishop and leaders of the diocese find the solution that God wants.
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You hit it right on the head with moral and relativistic catholics. Arbp. Chaput is one of a few brave leaders who is willing to take the criticism for tough decisions. If this were a Mo. Synod Lutheran or conservative evangelical Christian school, it would be and open and shut case. Conservative Protestants make it their business to know all about you and let you know up front what they expect of you and of the consequences of breaking that trust in you. This might sound judemental to some, but it justs takes out the “relativism” part.
 
Folks,
Before you start a news thread, make sure there isn’t already a thread on the same subject.
Thanks
 
Bishop Doran of our diocese has made similar statements. From this year’s Catholic Schools Week letter from the bishop:
We must, however, caution that indifferent parents who have no interest in religious values and who seek only a safe, relatively drug-free and relatively well-disciplined school for their children might as well not send them to Catholic schools. I say this because we know that if a child perceives that his mother and father have no religious values, then the child will legitimately ask himself or herself: Why should I? If the school is promoting a set of moral or religious values that the parents do not practice, the child rapidly sees the contradiction and could be worse off than if he had no Catholic education at all.

As Catholic Schools Week begins, let us pray that our Catholic people are rewarded for their fidelity to Catholic education through thick and thin. Let us pray for practicing Catholic parents, that they will be such luminaries in the practice of their Catholic faith that the children who receive it from them will have it reinforced in school and will practice it throughout their own lives. And let us pray that our schools be purged of those who, while observing forms of religion, have no heart for it. These people in our society are the most abandoned of all.
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observer.rockforddiocese.org/Columnists/BishopThomasGDoran/BishopDoran2010Columns/January292010/tabid/2678/Default.aspx
 
The parish has now made the Huffington Post, The reporter was there for the Sunday sermon which rationalized the actions taken.
People who are divorced do not say divorce is good. There are no pro-divorce parades.
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This idea in particular – explaining why the children of divorced and remarried couples won’t be expelled – seems disingenuous. The reason there are no pro-divorce parades is that it is a legal and culturally accepted practice. No one needs to march. Moreover, most people think having the option for divorce is a good thing. And I doubt many of the divorced parents of children from the school think they sinned by getting a divorce and entering into new relationships.
 
Beau_Ouiville said:
Well, my parish and diocese have an educational ministry. Catholic hospitals don’t turn away non-Catholics because they have a medical ministry.
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Yes, but we teach the Catholic faith. Hospitals are different. We teach children their faith at catholic school. If you don’t want to be catholic, don’t come. While we can pray for the child and her “caretakers”, we cannot condone a sin brought on by their selfishness by adopting the poor child.

An agenda is an agenda, and they put a kid there to make it harder for us to say they are pushing an agenda or turn them away. That’s the sick part of it. They’re using that little kid for their own disgusting ends.

You wouldn’t want a catholic hospital to be doing sex change operations or abortions would you? If they want that they can go elsewhere. These people that would try to do this at a catholic hospital have an agenda to push. If they don’t like our stance that’s tough.

You don’t see the Muslims changing their stance, do you? Muslims wouldn’t move an inch. Meanwhile, we’ve allowed ourselves to walked all over as though we’re doormats.
Beau_Ouiville said:
I doubt that. Religious education in parochial schools, even for Catholics, is far different than it was a generation ago. The burden is on the parents for religious education.
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Nope. Most kids that go to catholic schools are rich kids whose parents figure they will cover the bases by letting the teachers teach them catholicism, because they are inept.

I teach catholic school, so I have an idea of who I’m dealing with as parents. Most don’t care what their kid learns. It’s even worse when other religions are competing with us in the catholic school. The other parents know what their religions teach and are very strong in their beliefs, which makes an awkward situation with the other students. I’d love to talk to the Pope about this garbage going on. It turns the catholic students away, even the few who are practicing catholics.
 
DihydrogenOxide said:
An agenda is an agenda, and they put a kid there to make it harder for us to say they are pushing an agenda or turn them away. That’s the sick part of it. They’re using that little kid for their own disgusting ends.
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Your statement is what the Jesuits call: “A leap of faith.”
DihydrogenOxide said:
Most kids that go to catholic schools are rich kids whose parents figure they will cover the bases by letting the teachers teach them catholicism, because they are inept.
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Let’s just say that the parents of Catholic school children in this nation are not a homogeneous group.
 
Beau_Ouiville said:
Your statement is what the Jesuits call: “A leap of faith.”
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Yours is called a red herring.
Let’s just say that the parents of Catholic school children in this nation are not a homogeneous group.
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No, they’re not, but allowing homosexual couples’ children in just to make a point is nothing but sinful. We choose whether they should enter or not. They do not automatically get in to private school.
 
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