G.S.A, Day of Silence, etc

[Catholig]

I just wanted to post a thread concerning G.S.A, and maybe talk to a few catholic (public) high school students who have the same problem as me. At my school there are a variety of clubs which are allowed to host meetings during lunch, including G.S.A. This alone makes me feel awkward, because I see two of the main members in the club every day, and am left trying not to approve of their action, but also not to hate them or anything like that. This isn’t my first year of high school (I’m a junior) so its not like this is all new, in fact last year a club I was in joined up with Save the Earth Club, and G.S.A, but this year I seem to see their members more often. I simply don’t know what to do but wanted to talk, and maybe colaborate.

Catholig

 

[Traditional_Ang]

I just wanted to post a thread concerning G.S.A, and maybe talk to a few catholic (public) high school students who have the same problem as me. At my school there are a variety of clubs which are allowed to host meetings during lunch, including G.S.A. This alone makes me feel awkward, because I see two of the main members in the club every day, and am left trying not to approve of their action, but also not to hate them or anything like that. This isn’t my first year of high school (I’m a junior) so its not like this is all new, in fact last year a club I was in joined up with Save the Earth Club, and G.S.A, but this year I seem to see their members more often. I simply don’t know what to do but wanted to talk, and maybe colaborate.

Catholig

Catholig:

There’s an old phrase, “Hate the Sin but Love the Sinner.” That doesn’t mean that you will have all sorts of warm feelings for people you know are engaged in Sinful, Self-Destructive ACTIVITIES which separate them from God and make them unable to accept his Grace and Love.

Every time you see them, say,

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Have Mercy on me, a Sinner

Then Change it to:

"Lord Jesus Christ,
Have Mercy on him (or her).

At the same time, try to find other faithful Catholics on Campus you can meet with and see if your parish will sponsor a YOUTH GROUP that emphasizes Bible Study and Prayer under the supervision of a priest, deacon or other religious.

I can safely say the one I belonged to when I was a teenager was a lifesaver. And, I can’t see how “going it alone” is going to help you in this situation.

I probably won’t be easy to find a Catholic group at school, and the Parish probably won’t have a Youth Group meeting and studying the Bible.

If you can’t, meet with other Christians (as long as they aren’t too anti-Catholic), because it’s important in this instance to have support.

And, you might have to ask other teenagers and young adults in your parish to see if they’d attend a group if the parish had one, along with asking the Parish for the group.

Fr. Corapi has a Spirtual 911 you might want to use:

fathercorapi.com/ (Hit the Spiritual 911)

I hope this helps.

Your Brother in Christ, Michael

 

[Exalt]

I just wanted to post a thread concerning G.S.A, and maybe talk to a few catholic (public) high school students who have the same problem as me. At my school there are a variety of clubs which are allowed to host meetings during lunch, including G.S.A. This alone makes me feel awkward, because I see two of the main members in the club every day, and am left trying not to approve of their action, but also not to hate them or anything like that. This isn’t my first year of high school (I’m a junior) so its not like this is all new, in fact last year a club I was in joined up with Save the Earth Club, and G.S.A, but this year I seem to see their members more often. I simply don’t know what to do but wanted to talk, and maybe colaborate.

Catholig

“Most, if not all, gay-straight alliances are aimed at making schools a safe place for all students, no matter their sexual orientation or identity”

You don’t want your school to be a safer place for all students?

 

[David_Zampino]

“Most, if not all, gay-straight alliances are aimed at making schools a safe place for all students, no matter their sexual orientation or identity”

(

Not at the (Catholic) school where I teach. There, the GSA is an active, pro-gay lobbying forum and anyone who disagrees with their agenda is automatically labeled as homophobic.

 

[Karin]

G.S.A. is not allowed at my sons Catholic H.S. I have never heard of this group being allowed at any Catholic school…public school I can see though.

 

[Scottgun]

Reason #342347 for homeschooling.

And what is with the false dichotomy? Anyone not supporting GSA means they don’t want their school to be safe? Agenda pushing.

 

[setter]

“Most, if not all, gay-straight alliances are aimed at making schools a safe place for all students, no matter their sexual orientation or identity”

You don’t want your school to be a safer place for all students?

Lets be honest here: Gay-straight allianceis the product of the gay activists political agenda to normalize and gain mainstream legislative endorsement all variants of deviant sexual behavior, with SSA as the headliner. “Safe place for all students” is code for “buffer from all truth”, with the belief of Relativism and self-serving and self-imposing focus of “me-ism”, with the goal of making prosecutable any contra-presentation of the truth as hostile hate speech inciting violence.

 

[Riley259]

“Most, if not all, gay-straight alliances are aimed at making schools a safe place for all students, no matter their sexual orientation or identity”

You don’t want your school to be a safer place for all students?

The problem is that they often promote an agenda that either implicitly or explicitly says that homosexuality is normal and that gay relations are morally ok. For kids who are going through some confusing sexual feelings (that are more commonly seen in adolescence), groups like this tend to reinforce that being gay is normal and that they should embrace their blossoming sexuality (even if for some it often is only a transient phase during this period in their life).

 

[MikeinSD]

Hi Exalt,
Uhhhhhmmmm… I don’t think posters like S.G.A. groups here. Just a guess.

As for the OP – thanks for your posting. Students can attend the S.G.A. just like other clubs. Even the bible clubs. Like you said, you can’t hate them. And you need to get along with folks who look, think, and act different than you. So you feel awkward. That’s normal. You don’t approve of them but you still want to be civil.

Welcome to one of the hardest lessons of growing up. Getting along with folks who insist on being different from you can get really really annoying. Getting along is also required in high school, college, the workplace, your church, and with your family. You know that awkward feeling – well, it never really goes away. You learn to hide it better. That’s it.

You’ll do ok. Keep a good heart and an open mind.

 

[Catholig]

MikeinSD,

I know that anyone who wants can join G.S.A., and thought I said that in the OP, but my main point is that I don’t agree with this group or its agressive policies, e.g. forcing its way into public schools, sueing people left and right and center, distributing their “day of silence” posters on campus, etc. etc. And wanted to talk to anyone who might have a similar problem, and possibly see if there was anything that could be done. I was thinking about the day of truth bit, but then again I don’t think wearing a bible verse that says their actions are damning them is exactly going to win converts

Catholig

 

[Exalt]

MikeinSD,

I know that anyone who wants can join G.S.A., and thought I said that in the OP, but my main point is that I don’t agree with this group or its agressive policies, e.g. forcing its way into public schools, sueing people left and right and center, distributing their “day of silence” posters on campus, etc. etc. And wanted to talk to anyone who might have a similar problem, and possibly see if there was anything that could be done. I was thinking about the day of truth bit, but then again I don’t think wearing a bible verse that says their actions are damning them is exactly going to win converts

Catholig

Growing up, my high school had Bible studies on campus.

 

[Alterum]

He’s not saying the club shouldn’t exist (he’s in a public school, after all).

Catholig, are there other like-minded people in your school? You are equally as entitled to express your opinion as the GSA – in theory, anyway.

At my school, there was a group of Christian students who put up flyers and held an event for a “day of truth,” or something like that. Basically, they said that God loves all people but that He condemns certain actions, and that Christians need to stand up (which often means, be countercultural) and speak out when these actions are being condoned by a large part of society. We do it for abortion all the time. Why not do it for homosexuality?

It’s a pretty simple message but sometimes it’s rather important to make it known.

 

[a_cermak]

Not all members in a GSA are gay either. They didn’t exist when I was in school, but I probably would have joined one, though I am not gay. In my school, students would taunt each other with being gay or ideas as being gay, which I don’t think meshes with Catholic teaching on the dignity of gay persons.

Many lawsuits are filed because someone refused to follow the law, such as allowing a Boy Scouts troop to meet on campus but not a Bible club or GSA club.

If this is a Catholic school, then that’s another matter as the private school would have the right to discriminate among the clubs it offers.

GSA, though, would not be against the Church teachings as it does not advocate or instruct youth on having gay sex, instead focusing on ensuring that gay students are not deprived of their dignity.

 

[MikeinSD]

MikeinSD,

I know that anyone who wants can join G.S.A., and thought I said that in the OP, but my main point is that I don’t agree with this group or its agressive policies, e.g. forcing its way into public schools, sueing people left and right and center, distributing their “day of silence” posters on campus, etc. etc. And wanted to talk to anyone who might have a similar problem, and possibly see if there was anything that could be done. I was thinking about the day of truth bit, but then again I don’t think wearing a bible verse that says their actions are damning them is exactly going to win converts

Catholig

Sorry I misread yr post. Suggest you talk to students in other public high schools who also have yr problem. What do you guys do with classmate who look, act, and believe, different from you?
Federal law doesn’t help.

§ 4071. Denial of equal access prohibited
(a) Restriction of limited open forum on basis of religious, political, philosophical, or other speech content prohibited
It shall be unlawful for any public secondary school which receives Federal financial assistance and which has a limited open forum to deny equal access or a fair opportunity to, or discriminate against, any students who wish to conduct a meeting within that limited open forum on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings.
(b) “Limited open forum” defined
A public secondary school has a limited open forum whenever such school grants an offering to or opportunity for one or more noncurriculum related student groups to meet on school premises during noninstructional time.
(c) Fair opportunity criteria
Schools shall be deemed to offer a fair opportunity to students who wish to conduct a meeting within its limited open forum if such school uniformly provides that -
* (1) the meeting is voluntary and student-initiated;
* (2) there is no sponsorship of the meeting by the school, the government, or its agents or employees;
* (3) employees or agents of the school or government are present at religious meetings only in a nonparticipatory capacity;
* (4) the meeting does not materially and substantially interfere with the orderly conduct of educational activities within the school; and
* (5) nonschool persons may not direct, conduct, control, or regularly attend activities of student groups.

Sorry dude. It must suck.

 

[setter]

Sorry I misread yr post. Suggest you talk to students in other public high schools who also have yr problem. What do you guys do with classmate who look, act, and believe, different from you?

You are totally missing the point. Tolerance of others is entirely a seperate matter and consideration than that of tolerance for deceit and lies. If someone is living in darkness, then Christians are duty bound to present the truth in all charity.

Federal law doesn’t help.

 

[Karin]

Sorry I misread yr post. Suggest you talk to students in other public high schools who also have yr problem. What do you guys do with classmate who look, act, and believe, different from you?
Federal law doesn’t help.

.

Dude…what does Federal Law have to do with how you personally deal with these types of people?
Most kids IGNORE them or SHUN them…

 

[MikeinSD]

Dude…what does Federal Law have to do with how you personally deal with these types of people?
Most kids IGNORE them or SHUN them…

Why are you telling me that? I’m not in high school. Pls refer yr remarks to the OP who is in high school. Perhaps you can offer tips on how to IGNORE or SHUN.

 

[MikeinSD]

You are totally missing the point. Tolerance of others is entirely a seperate matter and consideration than that of tolerance for deceit and lies. If someone is living in darkness, then Christians are duty bound to present the truth in all charity.

 

[deb1]

setter;1633394:

Non-Christians also attend public school. According to Christian theology, they are hell bound. What is the duty of Christian students in public school?

This is not part of Catholic theology. Please look up the term Invincible Ignorance. It will enlighten you in a positive way as to our beliefs.

 

[setter]

Non-Christians also attend public school. According to Christian theology, they are hell bound. What is the duty of Christian students in public school?

If this is your understanding of the Church, then you are sorely mistaken and ought to takemore responsibility to at least do some minimum education of the Catholic faith (suggest start with the Catechism of the Catholic Church) before posting these distorted and embarrasing posts on a Catholic forum.