As the nation’s courts
increasingly strike down popularly-supported state bans on marriage between men
who have sex with men, and women who have sex with women, bishops increasingly
are “bishoping”, to coin a term I use often in my book; i.e., they are at long last defending the faith against the
onslaught always sure to come from the secular culture.
Diocesan Catholic schools in Cincinnati and
Oakland, Calif., are weathering criticism for contracts that require
teachers not only to witness to the faith in the classroom, but also in how
they live their lives in the public square.
Condemnation of Catholic-school contracts that
ask teachers to not controvert the Church in public have received dramatized
coverage from the secular media in California and Ohio, where a slight number
of teachers are opposing the contractual language.
A a teacher in a Catholic school it is
heartening to see the dioceses in question standing their ground, emphasizing
the dynamic role teachers play in transmitting Catholic teaching and values to
their students.
“We have to faithfully
represent what Christ and the Church stand for,” Oakland Bishop Michael Barber stated May last. Bishop Barber thus made the language of the
annual teaching contracts in his diocese more specific, clarifying that
teachers should not publicly defy Church’s teaching on controversial issues
such as abortion and marriage. It is also hopeful to see that all but three
of the 1,400 school employees have signed the contract. Oakland’s Catholic
schools serve nearly 20,000 students.
“Morality clauses” are
nothing new in Catholic-school employment policies. The Bishop of Oakland rightly
explains that “All teachers are expected to join in the Church’s educational
ministry, teaching and modeling the values and ethical standards of Christ and
the Catholic Church.” As is usually the case, the change was met with
some hostility. Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, a Catholic with a daughter with a
homosexual orientation, branded the contract as “Inquisition-style” tactics. Also
as is the norm these days. She was joined by homosexual-rights activists, holing
a press conference in front of Oakland’s cathedral.
“My desire is simply to make explicit in the
contract the importance of being a public witness to the values and practices
that are an integral part of the Catholic faith. I am not interested in
examining a teacher’s private life,” Bishop Barber is on record as having
written. He further warned, however, that the means of social communication,
such as Facebook and Twitter, are indeed “public manifestations,” and opposing
Church teaching here has “consequences on a teacher’s ability to
fulfill his or her ministry as a role model in a Catholic school.”
Good for you, Eminence.
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