San Francisco Catholic schools to host pro-condom play

[JReducation]

Here is my opinion. This is just my opinion, not the Church or my religious community. If I were part of an organization that felt very strongly about a particular point, I can see tyring any possible marketing strategy. Therefore, I’m not going to go out and attack the gay community for their strong marketing strategy, which is also proving quite successful, even though I disagree with the product that they are trying to sell.

I have a stong disagreement with the consumer of the product, in this case the school. Everyone knows that anyone who can will try to sell you something, from ultrasonic roach repellents that don’t work to same sex-marriage. But if you’re dumb enough to buy it, then there is something wrong with you.

I don’t know how the school system works in the San Francisco Archdiocese. In most diocese the Office of Catholic Schools would call a meeting of the principals and presidents of the schools and place the problem on the table. That would be the first step. They would explain that the schools cannot present this play and use the title Catholic at the same time. They would help the school principals, assuming that there are parent groups or other strong presures from outside the school itself. But it would be a team effort to stop situation. If there is a principal who dissents, then other steps are followed, depending on the relationship between the diocese and the school.

You really don’t have to find the cause, you have to find enough authority to stop it. If it’s the archdiocese’s school, then the power is in the hands of the Office of Catholic Schools. If the school is parrochial, the pastor has the authority. If the school is religious, the religious community who owns it has the authority. Nonetheless, the Office of Catholic School is commissioned by the USCCB Department of Education to broker these deals and negotiate through these problems.

This is an unacceptable situation and they have the authority to ask anyone in their Archdiocese to come to the table for a strong talk. They don’t have to be nasty to be firm. Maybe this is being done as we speak. Who knows?

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Elizabeth502]

But if you’re dumb enough to buy it, then there is something wrong with you.

But we’re talking about minors, who are more susceptible to marketing, not to mention more vulnerable (e.g., also cigarettes, alcohol, soda, fast food, and “energy” drinks).

If you’re dumb enough to allow it to be advertised/promoted in your vulnerable environment, something’s wrong with you.

You really don’t have to find the cause, you have to find enough authority to stop it.

Agree with that!

 

[JReducation]

But we’re talking about minors, who are more susceptible to marketing, not to mention more vulnerable (e.g., also cigarettes, alcohol, soda, fast food, and “energy” drinks).

If you’re dumb enough to allow it to be advertised/promoted in your vulnerable environment, something’s wrong with you.

Agree with that!

When I said, “If you’re dumb enough to buy it, etc” I was not referring to the kids. I was referring to the adults who run the school. No school has to allow a play on their campus, especially one with such a background. The adults are the dummies here. The kids are just the target of the marketing. It is the job of the adults to protect them kids.

Hope that clears up to whom I was referring.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[DoGodsBidding]

How sad. I am reminded of what Jesus had to say about leading children to sin.

 

[CradleCath]

Sacred Heart School Contacts
Receptionist: 650.473.4085
Director’s Office: 650.473.4001
shschools.org

I am heart-sick. I attended a Sacred Heart school & so I clicked on the link above, telling myself that this COULDN’T be a school connected to the wonderful Madames of the Sacred Heart who taught me 50 years ago. They were too devout, too focused on Christ, too dedicated to Scripture & Tradition, too faithful to the Catholic Church to allow something favoring homosexual practices within their walls.

Once on their site, I clicked some links & I found this:

“Madeleine Sophie Barat was a woman with a mission. Two hundred years ago, with the founding of the Society of the Sacred Heart, she pioneered a forward-looking, balanced approach to learning, offering academic rigor in a nurturing environment”. So, since the founder of the order that runs this school is St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, the school is part of the Sacred Heart school system that I attended 50 yrs. ago.

I remember praying daily for St. Sophies “delegate” to the US., St. Phillipine Duschene, to be canonized. In fact, 2 years ago, I visited St. Phillipine’s last real home in St. Charles, Mo. with about 10 of my fellow Sacred Heart Alumna. Neither of these two saints could have forseen that this once great order would lower itself to allow something within it’s walls that flew in the face of Scripture & the teachings of the Church they so loved.
Make no mistake…this is not about respect & nurturing for Catholic homosexuals. This is about approving of gay sex.

Thank you for this info. I’m a member of the AASH… aashnet.org/default.aspx…
& the president is going to hear from me about this.

Dearest Sts. Sophie & Phillipine Duschene, please be guiding lights for the teachers that work at your schools today. Help them to remember their heritage, their mission & their Lord. I ask you to intercede for your Church &, in particularly, the nuns & laity that teach in your schools.

 

[JReducation]

When I first entered the Franciscans, after my children were grown, I was invited to teach at a Catholic school for diocese X. I was the only religious there. Actually, I was only a postulant. During the first year I noticed that the principal always spoke about condoms. One day he approached me and asked me to help organize an assembly on safe-sex.

You have to take this in light steps here. I’m no prude. I was a normal college student. I was married, fathered three children and a widower. I know all about sex. It is not a word that frightens me or sends me into bouts of scrupulosity. But my first question was, “Why ae we having an assembly on safe-sex?” The principal proceeded to educate me on the fact that our high school students were sexually active. To which I responded, “And how will an assembly on safe-sex teach them self-discipline, love of neighbor, preserve their self-respect, or promote chastity?”

The principal proceeded to explain that he was trying to protect the kids. I asked for permission to close the door, because I didn’t want to embarass this man who thought that he was doing something good for these kids. After the door was closed I asked him, “Let me get this straight. You want to protect the kids? From what?”

He responded, “From unwanted pregnancies and STDs.” After a pregnant pause (no pun intended) I said, “I get it. We protect them from the natural consequences of promiscuity, rather than teach them to avoid them by living a chaste life? Where is the “safe education” if schools do not teach students that life has consequences that can be avoided?”

My principal tried to defend his position by saying that you have to read the bible with a newspaper in hand. I agreed with him. “Yes. We do have to read the bible with a newspaper in hand. Because the newspaper will teach us where we are falling short as an education system and what we need to improve in our curriculum. The newspaper is not telling us that kids have to be protected the consequences of poor choices. They have to be taught where poor choices lead them and how these can ruin their lives… Safe-sex education will only teach them that they can beat the system. But that’s a false teaching; because you can’t always beat the system. At some point you’re going to become over confident and be careless. Remember Adolf Hitler, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesa, Cleopatra, the Ming Dynasty and so forth. They collapsed because of their over confidence on their own wisdom, rather than on revealed wisdom.”

I then proceeded to report my conversation to the Office of Catholic Schools. I did not snitch on the principal. I simply repeated my argument that the root of Catholic Education is to teach students to be responsible human beings. The original sin of man is his failure to be responsible. Adam and Eve tried to divert responsibility. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. They were punished, not because they took the consequences of their actions, but because they failed to do so. They tried to cheat the system and it did not work. I informed the School System that I would resign, if the school were allowed to encourage the students in the poor choices that the world teaches, intead of teaching them to read the newspaper and see the actual consequences of promiscuous behavior and failed to teach students to find answers in the Good News to the problems in the newspaper.

I share this in case it may be helpful to anyone who is thinking of contacting these schools or the local Office of Catholic Schools. Sometimes, the best argument is a logical thesis. If they will not listen, you dust off your shoes and stop your support of that school.

I was fortunate. The Office of Catholic Schools called the principal and told him that he could not hold such an assembly, The Superintendent of Catholic Schools, the principal and I had a good talk. To this day, we are good friends. The principal and I still don’t agree with my position at that time. But I never disrespected him or bullied him. I simply laid my cards on the table and said that I could not teach at a Catholic School that failed in its mission.

I hope this helps someone, either a parent, supporter or benefactor of a school.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Ockham]

Alas, t’s a sign of our times. If Notre Dame chooses to honour the most pro-abortion politician in U.S. history, why does a hippy San Fransico high school’s decision to run a pro-gay/condom play surprise anyone?

 

[Elizabeth502]

^These 3 schools are hardly “hippie.” They are upper-middle-class high-academic-performing college prep private schools complete with the whole “prep” environment. They are about as “establishment” as it comes. (i.e., opposite of “hippie.”)

What makes it unfortunate is not only everything previously said, but also that at least 4 religious orders were involved in the founding of the 3, and religious orders are still associated with them.

 

[JReducation]

^These 3 schools are hardly “hippie.” They are upper-middle-class high-academic-performing college prep private schools complete with the whole “prep” environment. They are about as “establishment” as it comes. (i.e., opposite of “hippie.”)

What makes it unfortunate is not only everything previously said, but also that at least 4 religious orders were involved in the founding of the 3, and religious orders are still associated with them.

Regardless of the economic target population, they have dropped the ball and they need to pick it up. Part of their problem may be their affluence. It is not uncommon for the more affluent communities to be more quickly contaminated by the secularism around them. We have to ensure that we protect our children from such contamination.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Elizabeth502]

^ Yes, I knew that. (Surprise! I’m at least as educated as you.)

That wasn’t the issue that particular poster referenced. The word “hippie” does not refer to secularism, in fact many hippies were interested in religion, albeit Eastern and New Age eclectic. It’s historically inaccurate to refer to modern prep schools as “hippie.” Call them over-secularized, liberal, and material, if you like, but not “hippie.”

Since I probably am way more recently familiar with these schools than you are, being a ***very recent parent ***of one of their branches, if there is a “problem” it is associated more with the fact that the Catholic portion at some of them is a minority of the student body; thus, there is less motivation to present a Catholic viewpoint. The three schools vary in their degree of Catholicity.

It is much more likely that this is an indulgence to local politics, in a heavily political state, where politics is paramount in public education, and sometimes in private.

 

[JReducation]

^ Yes, I knew that. (Surprise! I’m at least as educated as you.)

That wasn’t the issue that particular poster referenced. The word “hippie” does not refer to secularism, in fact many hippies were interested in religion, albeit Eastern and New Age eclectic. It’s historically inaccurate to refer to modern prep schools as “hippie.” Call them over-secularized, liberal, and material, if you like, but not “hippie.”

Since I probably am way more recently familiar with these schools than you are, being a ***very recent parent ***of one of their branches, if there is a “problem” it is associated more with the fact that the Catholic portion at some of them is a minority of the student body; thus, there is less motivation to present a Catholic viewpoint. The three schools vary in their degree of Catholicity.

It is much more likely that this is an indulgence to local politics, in a heavily political state, where politics is paramount in public education, and sometimes in private.

In the end, it all boils down to one thing. Society has to protect its children. I’m not anti-gay people. I know that there are also gay kids in our schools. They too have to be protected. These kinds of programs do not protect them from the consequences of the choices that secular society is putting on the table for them, be the youth gay or straight. In the end, we have to remind our educators of their obligation to protect our youth by not exposing them to options that will do harm to them. We need to remind them that love never comprimises a person’s soul or a person’s safety. The question is, how to get this message to administrators who run these schools?

I can understand that in a city like San Francisco, where there is a large number of gay men and women, one would want to promote justice, inclusion, cooperation, faith and compassion. But the Church has teachings and programs for this pastoral purpose. These should be presented to our students. One apostolate that comes to mind is Courage. It is approved by the Church. It is available in most dioceses and does not point fingers at gay people. It promotes a healthy Catholic life and spirituality for young and old who live with same sex attraction. These programs are good for our high school and college students. The problem is that the students in some sectors are being told a great lie. They are being told that the Church does not care about gay people and that gay people have to go out there and fight for their rights and for their survival on their own. Nothing can be further from the truth. By presenting the program in the OP, the school is reinoforcing the image of an intolerant and cold Church vs a tolerant and “wise” secular society. Administrators of Catholic schools have a duty to show the students and the community the Church’s pastoral concern and response for this population.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF