For many Catholic schools we are at the tail end of contract season.
The season generally begins in early March with teachers being asked to
declare whether they intend to return, and in April, they are either
presented with a contract for the next year, or not. The timing of
these contract offers is significant when looking at stories like this one.
I would expect many stories like this during our current season, but I'm probably going to be disappointed. Why the expectation? Why the disappointment?
First I should say, I wasn't expecting every person with same-sex attraction to be outed and denied a contract at Catholic schools. Some live celibate lives, teach from a solid Catholic faith, and are wonderful teachers. This isn't a gay witch-hunt. It really shouldn't be. It needs to be something deeper.
My expectation, or maybe hope is more accurate, is a feeble thing. I pray that Catholic schools will become bastions of passing on the Magisterium of the Catholic Faith. I pray the the teachers in our schools will by thought, word and deed, transmit the faith to young people in a way that weaves it into the very fabric of their young souls. I hoped that the real discrimination Catholics are experiencing under our government at this time would awaken the strength of the hidden saint in all of us, especially teachers. But that isn't what is happening.
The HHS mandate as it is written requires all employees of Catholic schools to be profoundly Catholic, or the entire school, and in most cases the parish, must contribute with school and parish dollars, to the culture of death. If they refuse to comply, they must either close the school or submit. My expectation was that schools would be holding onto their contracts, or including a caveat that if the mandate is not undone, there would be no jobs for heretics.
Wouldn't that be a powerful testament to our faith? What if a bishop somewhere announced that the Catholic schools in an entire diocese would close if they didn't stand against the HHS mandate in hiring practices? Wouldn't that be the ultimate throw-down?
Instead, too many of our Catholic school children will continue to hear from their teachers about how they voted for Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Biden, or any of the other advocates of death. These nice men and women will explain that they did it because they want to help the poor. These nice teachers will be attractive young mothers and fathers, or maybe grandparents with pictures of the 1.8 grandchildren on their desks. They may never have discussed their votes with the pastor, but they sure do mention it in class. They will be the Eucharistic Ministers that give Communion to students at school Masses.
My expectation, my feeble hope was that the media would be buzzing with stories of hundreds of teachers who did not have their contracts renewed. The Catholic blogs would be going nuts with stories of beloved teachers who are being denied Communion in front of their students. These teachers would take to Facebook and Twitter talking about the big-bad-pastor who told them they couldn't be Eucharistic Ministers at school Masses.
My disappointment is that, by not seeing these stories, Catholic schools are no longer any different from public schools.
I would expect many stories like this during our current season, but I'm probably going to be disappointed. Why the expectation? Why the disappointment?
First I should say, I wasn't expecting every person with same-sex attraction to be outed and denied a contract at Catholic schools. Some live celibate lives, teach from a solid Catholic faith, and are wonderful teachers. This isn't a gay witch-hunt. It really shouldn't be. It needs to be something deeper.
My expectation, or maybe hope is more accurate, is a feeble thing. I pray that Catholic schools will become bastions of passing on the Magisterium of the Catholic Faith. I pray the the teachers in our schools will by thought, word and deed, transmit the faith to young people in a way that weaves it into the very fabric of their young souls. I hoped that the real discrimination Catholics are experiencing under our government at this time would awaken the strength of the hidden saint in all of us, especially teachers. But that isn't what is happening.
The HHS mandate as it is written requires all employees of Catholic schools to be profoundly Catholic, or the entire school, and in most cases the parish, must contribute with school and parish dollars, to the culture of death. If they refuse to comply, they must either close the school or submit. My expectation was that schools would be holding onto their contracts, or including a caveat that if the mandate is not undone, there would be no jobs for heretics.
Wouldn't that be a powerful testament to our faith? What if a bishop somewhere announced that the Catholic schools in an entire diocese would close if they didn't stand against the HHS mandate in hiring practices? Wouldn't that be the ultimate throw-down?
Instead, too many of our Catholic school children will continue to hear from their teachers about how they voted for Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Biden, or any of the other advocates of death. These nice men and women will explain that they did it because they want to help the poor. These nice teachers will be attractive young mothers and fathers, or maybe grandparents with pictures of the 1.8 grandchildren on their desks. They may never have discussed their votes with the pastor, but they sure do mention it in class. They will be the Eucharistic Ministers that give Communion to students at school Masses.
My expectation, my feeble hope was that the media would be buzzing with stories of hundreds of teachers who did not have their contracts renewed. The Catholic blogs would be going nuts with stories of beloved teachers who are being denied Communion in front of their students. These teachers would take to Facebook and Twitter talking about the big-bad-pastor who told them they couldn't be Eucharistic Ministers at school Masses.
My disappointment is that, by not seeing these stories, Catholic schools are no longer any different from public schools.
This is not new. Catholic schools, except for private ones which do not take money from the government, have mostly not been Catholic for thirty years. This is why I have a master teaching certificate from NAPCIS and would only teach in those schools.
ReplyDeleteThe "Problem" is threefold. One, the government wants to destroy all opposition to its bloated ideologies against life and against natural law. No one with a conscience can expect special treatment.
We in America and in Europe are in for persecution and make no doubt about it. See my post several weeks ago here on this point and Parliament.
Second, the vast majority of Catholics who are teaching do not know their own faith. There is NO excuse for this, as all adults are responsible for their own appropriation of the Faith.
Three, all Catholic schools, like the NAPCIS ones, should demand that their teachers take the oath and promise as seen here http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdfoath.htm
If a teacher is not willing to do so, that person should not be hired.
We have too many bishops in America who have strongly opposed Obamacare. All have a lawsuit against it. There are no excuses among teachers concerning ignorance.
We teachers have a huge responsibility to teach only the Truth of the Teaching Magisterium. If we do our own thing, we shall have to explain before God why we put millstones around the necks of the young...those souls any of us led astray will be on our consciences.
Supertradmom,
DeleteIt is precisely because this has been going on for so long that we are in the state we are in, and why I hoped this would be the time when the tide turned. You are dead on that the responsibility lies with each adult. Millstones are already around their necks and they do not see it.
Keep up the good work...do not lose heart. I have been fighting these battles for a very long time.
ReplyDelete