The Deacon's Bench
That contract made news several days ago. Now, Jim Rigg pens a column about that for the Cincinnati Enquirer:
Instead of instilling new requirements, the revised contract attempts to lay out, in abundantly clear language, some of the principles of the Catholic Church. The listing is not exhaustive, and admittedly focuses on issues where the Catholic Church is perceived as countercultural. Not coincidentally, these same issues have been present in legal action against our schools.
And he explains:
Tension has been perhaps most pronounced around the area of homosexuality (the contract alludes to “public support for a homosexual lifestyle”). Our culture is changing quickly in this area, and many of our school employees, including me, have family members who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The contract does not stipulate that relationships of love for LGBT relatives should be severed. As Christians, we are called to love and serve all people, particularly those who have been victims of abuse or bullying. While the church’s stance on homosexual marriage is well known, this does not mean that our teachers will be asked to cast away loved family members.
We cannot control a person’s inner beliefs. We cannot, nor should we, peek through the windows of our employee’s homes to see whether they are living a moral lifestyle. The contract is not an excuse for some type of witch hunt, but merely a clearer verbalization of what it means to be a Catholic schoolteacher. It is, in the words of Archbishop Schnurr, a “Catechetical Instrument.”
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In