Educators taking up Catholicism to get teaching jobs

[jazzy_987]

Sinning for job security? Educators taking up Catholicism to get teaching jobs

TORONTO - Unemployed, non - religious educators are turning to Catholicism in an attempt to secure a coveted teaching position, even it means lying in confession about whether they’ve had pre-marital sex, some have revealed.
“I don’t particularly like going (to mass) every Sunday, but if this is what I have to do, then I’ll do it,” said a Toronto-area woman, who didn’t want to be identified.
“I just really want to be in a career. I just want it so badly.”
The teacher said she has also been going to confession regularly and speaking with a priest on a weekly basis in order to receive the documents she needs to apply to the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
She is not Catholic. In fact, she doesn’t consider herself religious.
The oversupply of qualified, unemployed teachers in Ontario has been a well-documented problem. According to the Ontario College of Teachers, there were about 12,200 new teachers in the province in 2009, but only about 5,000 positions. more …

 

[PA650]

“That was one of the things he mentioned at the end. I said no,” said the teacher, who admitted she felt guilty for lying to a priest.

You’re lying to God, not just a priest. Much pray is needed for this situation.

 

[JimG]

The whole thing just sounds strange. Parishes have records of Baptisms, Confirmations, First Communions, marriages, as well as parish rosters. They don’t know who is Catholic? And why would someone trying to be a fake Catholic even go to confession? The priest can’t reveal who she is anyway, and there are no records of confessions. Doesn’t make sense to me.

 

[jmcrae]

The whole thing just sounds strange. Parishes have records of Baptisms, Confirmations, First Communions, marriages, as well as parish rosters.

Unless someone actually mentions that they’re not Catholic, it would never occur to most priests that they weren’t. With the poor state of catechesis over the past forty-fifty years, the fact that they don’t know how to go to Mass or to Confession isn’t actually the tip-off that you might expect it to be, that they aren’t Catholic.

I’ve even heard parents of First Holy Communion kids call it “the bread thingy,” so that wouldn’t necessarily be a tip-off, either.

I think that if the Catholic schools consider this to be an issue of concern, they need to be asking for Baptismal certificates from prospective employees, as well as pastoral letters, and of course, making sure they know at least some of their Catechism.

 

[jazzy_987]

I thought that the article implied teachers were going through RCIA to become Catholic… I know of one family who was considering doing this just so they could send their kids to Catholic school The first teacher said that she was speaking to a priest weekly …

Elementary school students here who apply to Catholic elementary schools need to show their own baptismal certificate or the certificate of one parent. So I assume that teachers need to show some proof too

 

[JimG]

Unless someone actually mentions that they’re not Catholic, it would never occur to most priests that they weren’t. With the poor state of catechesis over the past forty-fifty years, the fact that they don’t know how to go to Mass or to Confession isn’t actually the tip-off that you might expect it to be, that they aren’t Catholic.

I’ve even heard parents of First Holy Communion kids call it “the bread thingy,” so that wouldn’t necessarily be a tip-off, either.

I think that if the Catholic schools consider this to be an issue of concern, they need to be asking for Baptismal certificates from prospective employees, as well as pastoral letters, and of course, making sure they know at least some of their Catechism.

Well, if Catechesis is that bad, it sounds as though the Catholic schools aren’t doing their job anyway.

 

[Lutheranteach]

An hour in the library and you can fake it without much problem. IF you are Lutheran or Anglican you’ll know 99% of the mass to the word. No problem.

 

[WatchingMedia]

As someone said, Confession has nothing to do with getting a job. So this sounds fishy.
Nothing can be revealed from the Confessional.

Baptismal Certificates don’t guarantee a good Catholic or a Catholic who knows what they are doing or that someone is leading a good life.

Any one who knows the contents of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” and is willing to abide by the teachings of the Church’s Magesterium in this Catechism should be hired. Nothing like a good contract.

 

[liznicks]

The article is definitely referring to people who are converting to Catholicism (via the RCIA) not people “faking” a confession etc.

I read this article and shook my head. I’m not surprised at all by this news. In the early 1990s, I recall Ontario teaching jobs being scarce and I knew several young teachers who deliberately converted to Catholicism to increase their chances of getting a teaching job. So to see this news item today - it all sounds so familiar!

The scary thing is the people who thoughtlessly convert - they’ll be teaching our Catholic children!

 

[WatchingMedia]

These days, Parents have to be careful even with cradle Catholics to make certain that their children are taught correctly regarding Faith and Morals. Even some Nuns and a few Priests are in error. Which means that Parents need to know their Religion according to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” first printed in US in March of 2000.

In the US - remember the 80 or so Nuns who went against our Bishops to support the health care bill which allows for tax dollars to: support abortions through Planned Parenthood, euthanasia through government rationing, and removed the Hyde Amendment “conscience clause” for health care workers, so that some could have insurance when many were getting free health care by walking into hospital emergency rooms.

To the best of my knowledge none of the Nuns organizations have asked to be removed from this press release, left this lobby organization, nor sent out a press release that their name was placed on this letter in error.
These are the Nuns Orders that I would be very concerned about teaching your Children:
networklobby.org/press/3-17-10HealthcareSistersLetter.htm

 

[Soutane]

In the Catholic highschool in our town I would estimate 20% of the teachers as being devout chuch going Catholics.About the same as the general population of CatholicsOnly 3% of the kids attending the Catholic Highschool attend mass outside of school.Probably 1/3 of the student population is non-Catholic and there have been a number of genuine cionversions from that population some to the chagrin and some to the delight of those non-Catholic parents who sought a superior education for their children.All pupils MUST attend school masses and it is quite touching to see the great numbers in the communion line who with crossed arms receive the priests blessing which is not mandatory.
As usual newspapers scramble about 50% of reality as they are reporting on a subject they know nothing about.I doubt very much a potential teacher could just declare themselves catholic and that they would have to present bonafides such as baptismal certificates,letters of attestation from priests or evidence of RCIA completion and this does sound like the latter.
Who knows this duplicitousness could end uo biting them in the butt and there could be eventual genuine conversion of the soul.
By no means rely upon Catholic schools to catechise your children.Parents must assume that responsibility and small children should attend the children’s liturgy.

In Ontario Catholic schools are fully funded just as public schools are due to a codicil in the British North America Act that was designed to protect the religious rights of French Canadians in Quebec.This is quite ironic as Quebec was once the most Catholic of all provinces and is now almost totally Apostate with the lowest Church attendance in Canada and the lowest birth rate.During its surge of nationalism in the "50’s and '60’s there was much reference to the "revenge of the cradle"a la “je me souviens” mentality in the province.
Because of their abandonment of Catholicism "Pure-Laine"Francophonie is dying out and the Allophones will eventually take over ensuring that Quebec’s seperation from Canada will remain the pipe dream of academic and elite demagogues,such as the leader of the Bloc Quebecois who is a self-professed Marxist-Atheist.

 

[jmcrae]

Well, if Catechesis is that bad, it sounds as though the Catholic schools aren’t doing their job anyway.

I’m not sure how they can. A school setting isn’t really conducive to the necessary elements of a true conversion of heart. I really don’t think you can impart religion in the same way that you can impart mathematics, or English, or even auto mechanics.

I strongly believe that religion is really learned in the home, and at Church. The best the school can do is support the parents and the Church, and try not to get in their way.

 

[DianeGee]

You don’t have to be Catholic to send your children to Catholic schools in Canada. Something’s not right with this article.

And that Confession thing…weird.

 

[jmcrae]

You don’t have to be Catholic to send your children to Catholic schools in Canada. Something’s not right with this article.

And that Confession thing…weird.

Totally.

If she really *was *making a First Confession in preparation for Confirmation and First Holy Communion, there was no reason for her to lie about pre-marital sex - and, actually, lying about it just voided her whole Confession, and she’s going to have to do it all over again. Not real bright. And I have no idea why anyone would make a “fake Confession.” To what purpose?

 

[chaunceygardner]

Canada must allow employers to ask about an applicant’s religion and to make hiring decisions based on it. That is against the law in the U.S.

What seems strange to me is that if there is such an oversupply of teachers, you would think that a Catholic school would not have much difficulty finding qualified teachers who were already Catholic.

 

[jmcrae]

Canada must allow employers to ask about an applicant’s religion and to make hiring decisions based on it. That is against the law in the U.S.

Catholic schools are not “businesses” - they are entities of the Church, so they are exempted from discrimination laws. Jewish and Protestant schools are also exempt from these laws, and are permitted to hire within their own religion only.

What seems strange to me is that if there is such an oversupply of teachers, you would think that a Catholic school would not have much difficulty finding qualified teachers who were already Catholic.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Petergee]

The whole story sounds fabricated. The writer implies that Catholic school principals hire people to spy on each of the school’s teachers over the weekend to make sure that they are all going to Mass and confession. Absurd.

In Australia and Iguess also in Canada, you don’t have to be a Catholic to get a job in a Cathollic school. You just have to promise not to do or say anything contrary to Catholic doctrine in front of the kids. Unless he is one of the one or two teachers in the school who actually teaches religion, he doesn’t even have to know the details of what Catholicism teaches.

 

[graceandglory]

Sinning for job security? Educators taking up Catholicism to get teaching jobs

Sounds like a call for missionary teachers. Canada. The new mission field.

 

[Rich_Olszewski]

An hour in the library and you can fake it without much problem. IF you are Lutheran or Anglican you’ll know 99% of the mass to the word. No problem.

Indeed! I and some people from work went to the funeral of a co-worker’s mother who was an Episcopalian. Everyone was some variety of Evangelical except for me, a Catholic. At the Mass, I was able to join in the prayers aloud from memory because they were exactly the same as those recited at Catholic Mass. The words of the Consecration were a bit different, as were a few other prayers, but the order of the Mass was the same, and otherwise, “you cudda fooled me.”

 

[Elizabeth502]

I don’t really agree with post #12. In the Catholic schools that I attended as a child & teen, the nuns were amazingly holy role models, and prayer was integrated into the school day. (No one but me remembers holy water fonts inside every classroom door? Daily visits to Chapel?) You were aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit pretty palpably. I’d call it something of an immersion – something that a busy mother of many children, whose husband was not Catholic and a naval officer, and who therefore was often busy moving us – could never have maintained on any consistent basis on her own. I’m so thankful for that school altmosphere of my youth.

The First Communion preparation of my own children was done by their Grade 2 Catholic lay teacher who is herself an ex-nun who married, but remained very true to her faith. We felt blessed in this environment, as well. The preparation was truly special.

Perhaps unlike many on CAF, I see faith formation as something that requires a triangulation: home, school, parish – or at least benefits from that Modern lifestyles being what they are, I don’t see faith formation as being contained or limited to home and still being effective. It didn’t work that way when I was a child, and I see that being even less true now. I think there have to be serious contact points outside of the home as well.