The archbishop responds when media report on protests after two Catholic high school teachers plan gay marriage, then resign: says teachers must be Go

[mdgspencer]

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/...-says-teachers-must-be-gospel-witnesses-39705

“Those who teach in our schools are required to uphold our teaching in the classroom and to model it in their personal lives."

“The teachers had voluntarily signed a covenant agreement to ‘live and model the Catholic faith in accord with Church teaching,’”

 

[Rau]

The article says the teachers have retained lawyers. So they may not go quietly.

It is patently reasonable that the school should be permitted to choose teachers who will not adopt behaviours manifestly at odds with Catholic principles, and to remove those who are unwilling to comply. But given the State has decided that it endorses and supports gay marriage, just as it does marriage (of man+woman), the grounds for conflict have been established.

 

[GordonP]

The Archbishop may win in court, but it would be at best a bittersweet Pyrrhic victory.

On the other hand, he has already lost the hearts and minds of many of the students at the school, as well as of their families and of the community at large as well. And chances of winning them back are practically nil.

Somehow, I doubt that sexually active single heterosexual teachers or divorced teachers who are sexually active or remarried are forced to resign.

Nor do I think that the LGBT taxpayers and their families and friends are all to happy about seeing their hard earned tax dollars going to support an institution that they consider discriminatory.

If taxpayer funding is eventually cut off for religious schools, it will because of events like this.

 

[PetraG]

Somehow, I doubt that sexually active single heterosexual teachers or divorced teachers who are sexually active or remarried are forced to resign.

Remember, same-sex civil marriage literally makes a sexual relationship a matter of public record. Are the people you’re talking about even publically announcing that they’re sexually active outside marriage?If they are, they’re going to be fired, yes.

Nor do I think that the LGBT taxpayers and their families and friends are all to happy about seeing their hard earned tax dollars going to support an institution that they consider discriminatory.

If taxpayer funding is eventually cut off for religious schools, it will because of events like this.

That is a total red herring. Allowing religious schools to be non-profits allows children to be educated at a fraction of the cost to taxpayers as if those same students were in public schools. Taxpayers do not support private schools and they have nothing to complain about if private schools (surprise, surprise!) are set up in order to establish an educational atmosphere that has been deemed incompatible with the boundaries in schools supported by the State.

In other words, if the state insists on throwing the Catholic faith out of public schools, the taxpayers can’t complain because the state allows those schools to operate as non-profits, since the taxpayers pay less per student in the end. How those schools run really should be none of the taxpayers business.

There are people who imagine they can use disobedience to change the tenets of the faith. They do not realize that all bishops have a duty to defend the faith, even if the bishop finds himself to be the last person in his diocese who holds it.

 

[Rau]

Somehow, I doubt that sexually active single heterosexual teachers or divorced teachers who are sexually active or remarried are forced to resign.

Where this is manifest - why would they not?

Nor do I think that the LGBT taxpayers and their families and friends are all to happy about seeing their hard earned tax dollars going to support an institution that they consider discriminatory.

Can you not see how it would be absurd to operate a faith-based school and then to present models (teachers) who personally reject the elements of the faith?

 

[VanitasVanitatum]

On the other hand, he has already lost the hearts and minds of many of the students at the school, as well as of their families and of the community at large as well. And chances of winning them back are practically nil.

They were already lost then. The reality just makes itself vocal.

Somehow, I doubt that sexually active single heterosexual teachers or divorced teachers who are sexually active or remarried are forced to resign.

That doesn’t mean anything without proof.

 

[GordonP]

Are the people you’re talking about even publically announcing that they’re sexually active outside marriage?

Yup. And nobody bats an eyelash.

If they are, they’re going to be fired, yes.

Not at all.

Taxpayers do not support private schools

Taxpayers do not support private schools

Oh, yes they do. Every diocesan school in the country receives public funding from several sources, either as tax breaks or grants or other forms of subsidy. Cut off the taxpayer’s cash and most of them would fold. The Catholic schools that do not receive public funding are all non-diocesan.

even if the bishop finds himself to be the last person in his diocese who holds it.

Unfortunately, it looks like that dream is coming true.

 

[GordonP]

Can you not see how it would be absurd to operate a faith-based school and then to present models (teachers) who personally reject the elements of the faith?

If one wants to do that, they shouldn’t accept any public funding or tax breaks, and not operate as a business. It does come with strings attached, of course.

 

[ATraveller]

Somehow, I doubt that sexually active single heterosexual teachers or divorced teachers who are sexually active or remarried are forced to resign.

Except when they do:

Controversy over Catholic high school firing teacher for cohabitation Catholic News

This is actually the high school I attended and it’s kind of the topic of debate right now, so I thought I’d see what this forum thought of this “local news” item, since I know most of you tend to be pretty conservative Catholics. Prill, 34, is a physical education teacher, baseball coach and associate athletic director at Xavier. Students said he will not be brought back next year because he spent the night at his girlfriend’s house in Green Bay after having a few drinks. His contract require…

Appeals Court Sides with Lutheran School that Fired Preschool Teacher for Cohabitation World News

When the teacher was hired in a California Lutheran school, she was married. But then the school learned that after being divorced, she was living, and determined on continuing to live, with her boyfriend… see www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=81f215a7-d80f-4ac2-8834-bed41eba3660

 

[GordonP]

Except when they do:

You know full well that such cases are exceedingly rare compared to the witch hunt directed at LGBT people.

 

[ATraveller]

You know full well that such cases are exceedingly rare compared to the witch hunt directed at LGBT people.

It’s a witch hunt when they openly violate their contracts. That’s not what I normally have in mind when the term “witch hunt” comes up.
What witch hunt? Mr. Prato wasn’t investigating their private lives. The teachers told him.

Michael Prato, president of Kennedy Catholic, said in a statement that the two teachers approached him in November 2019 to share their desire to civilly marry their same-sex partners.

The teachers had voluntarily signed a covenant agreement to “live and model the Catholic faith in accord with Church teaching,” Prato said. In light of the agreement they signed, both chose to resign, he said.

We get it. Christians bad, contract violators good.

 

[PetraG]

Nobody bats an eyelash? When?

If you run a school that lowers the educational tab in your district by far more than it lowers tax revenue, you are not using any tax money. You are saving taxpayers money. That is what private schools do.

Close all the private schools tomorrow and let’s see what it costs taxpayers to build and run all the new schools they’re going to need. Then we’ll see whether taxpayers had anything to cry about when there were non-profit private schools.

 

[po18guy]

This is very heartening to hear. IMO, the Seattle Archdiocese stands as evidence of the divine institution of the Church. If not for that fact, it could/should/would have imploded decades ago.

 

[Peeps]

Years ago, when a public scandal over an openly-homosexual teacher occurred in one of the Catholic schools in our city. my husband and I weren’t even Catholics. But we followed the case with interest.

…and we looked up some of the underground publications of the LGBTQ community and did a lot of reading that opened our eyes and minds.

Yep. These scandals are planned in advance, and carried out like theater. The purpose is to weaken support for Christians institutions, mainly Catholic schools and other parochial schools.

It’s a lot harder with other Christian schools, since many Protestant denominations have no written teachings against homosexual practices and marriage, other than the Bible.

But Catholic schools are just sitting ducks, easy-pickins for well-scripted and well-acted dramas that capture the public’s attention and sympathy for the oppressed LGBTQ community.

And they don’t have to worry about anyone reading their literature. The indecent pictures are enough to make many people turn away. And if the secular media gets hold of it–well, they’re already on the LGBTQ side anyway, so they’ll never tell.

I am not kidding.

 

[Rau]

If one wants to do that, they shouldn’t accept any public funding or tax breaks, and not operate as a business. It does come with strings attached, of course.

I don’t really see why the school needs to be on the receiving end of that kind of petulance. One should also keep in mind that the government is the very lucky beneficiary - in terms of reduced costs - of the private education system. The parents both pay school fees AND pay taxes - seems to me the government ought to either contribute funding to the education of ALL children, or for those it won’t fund, provide the parents a tax rebate.

 

[neophyte]

Somehow, I doubt that sexually active single heterosexual teachers or divorced teachers who are sexually active or remarried are forced to resign.

I bet that they would be if they publicly, loudly and daily told the entire school that they were so. Otherwise it wouldn’t be as obvious a violation as a homosexual so-called marriage.

 

[Holly3278]

I am grateful that another bishop is standing up for the truth. My bishop, Archbishop Charles Thompson of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis has been dealing with this issue as well and he has not caved to the LGBTQ activists or to their protests. He is a good and courageous shepherd of the Church and I applaud him as well as this bishop too.