Rence;8229239:
I can understand it and accept it, even agree with it, in a secular institution, but not a private institution, and not when it goes against the teachings of the base institution, in this case the Catholic Church’s teachings
If there is a group that can help students better understand themselves and a new way to live life away from frear and loneliness, why not?
My previous post explained why not
Isn’t it time that the chruch community step out of their comfort zone and embrace people from every walk of life and teach them why we beleive what we believe?
No, because they won’t be allowed to teach them what we believe. The truth of the matter is, the Catholic Church forbids homosexual relations, and to say so is often charged as discrimination. People lose their jobs for saying such ‘politically incorrect’ things. And while I’m not too concerned about that in a secular arena, I don’t think it’s tolerable in a private situation, such as a Catholic school, whose main objective is to TEACH Catholic Church teachings. A Catholic school is responsible for teaching what the Catholic Church teaches, regardless of whether the teaching is popular or not, or politically correct or not. It’s not a public school. It’s a private school. They are required to fulfill that objective or they should not be called Catholic. If my child attended a Catholic school that did not teach what is taught by the Church, I would pull them out of that school. Catholic parents don’t scrape up money to send their kids to Catholic schools (instead of sending them to public school for free) to have their children not learn what the Church teaches.
If there was a support group for gays or teen parents, that would be begining of something that is much needed in our church. The church few things like you mentioned, but then why do we allow unmarried parents to send their paretns to private school? Or attend mass? Why do we baptize children from single teen parents? I alwasy felt that it was out of love that we did this.
First of all, unmarried parents are not “allowed” to attend Mass, they are required to attend Mass. Being in a state of separation from the Church (or being excommunicated) means one is still Catcholi, but can’t have the Eucharist, or Communion). They are still responsible for carrying out their Catholic duties, including attending Mass. If they are in a state of mortal sin, they need to not receive Communion, or go to confession first. Second of all, unmarried parents are assumed to have commited the sin of fornication (which led to an unmarried pregnancy) in the past, and their life as an unmarried parent is not assumed to be an ongoing sin, unless otherwise stated by them, or proven otherwise. They are still Catholic and are called to fulful Catholic obligations, and live their lives as Catholics within the confines of the teachings of the Church. They are REQUIRED by the Church, not “allowed”, to raise their children Catholic, and when they have agreed to do so, with counsel of the priest, then their child is Baptized.
We baptize children from single teen parents because they have agreed to raise their children Catholic. If they don’t agree to raise their child Catholic, a good priest won’t Baptize any child, regardless if the parent is single or married. It’s not a sin to be a single teen parent. The sin was fornication, which we are to assume happened once, unless otherwise proven. Once the sin that made a single teen a parent is over, it’s over. Life goes on, and they are expected to move forward - in communion with the Church.
It is out of love that we “allow” single teen parents to attend Mass and Baptize their children. But we don’t “allow” these things to embrace the sins of the past, but to Catechize the single teen parent and their child, and make them better Catholics. They are expected to move forward, not wallow in a nest of sin forever.
It shouldn’t matter how uncomfortable it makes us or the fear of our children being exposed to the world. Why shelter our kids and have them in a fantasy land through childhood for the sake of avoiding exposure?
It’s not a matter of sheltering kids in regards to what the Church forbids. A Catholic school is already supposed to cover as part of their theology class the fact that homosexual orientation is acceptable, but a homosexual lifestyle is forbidden. That’s already supposed to be taught in a Catholic school - which again, is responsible for teaching Catholic theology, not what is politically correct. It’s not a secular school, it’s a private school whose policies and mission statement attest to it’s affiliation with the Church. In that regard, children attending Catholic schools are exposed to the knowledge from the perspective of the Church. What a ‘gay club’ will do, is set apart a group of students, and desensitize the kids, making it ‘not a big deal anymore’. And it is a big deal, just as much as premarital sex or ABCs.
Humans are not perfect, even saints had a past. Seriously though WWJD? If he had the opportunity to such a diverse group of students all learning and coming closer to him, where is the bad in that?
Jesus never put together support groups for his followers. They were all under his teaching…he didn’t have a separate groups for women, men, children, married, unmarried, prostitutes, tax collecters, etc. They all assembled together and he taught them all.
I was born and raised in a well integrated area and was quite frequently in the company of gay people, gay couples, gay parents, etc. That’s probably why I have no issues with gay rights in the secular arena. However, I want my children to learn the rules of the Church as they apply to Church teachings. If I send my children to Catholic School, I expect them to deliver what they are called to offer. I expect them to live up to their policies and their mission statement. It is inappropriate for a Catholic school to have a gay club, just as it would have a ‘teenage mommies’ club, or a ‘teens on ABCs’ club. What the Church teaches about these issues should be part of the curriculum. While the school should definitely counsel and guide the children to continue to grow in knowledge and faith in the Church, no matter what mistakes they have made on the way, they don’t need a club for those who are not following Church teachings.