The Deacon's Bench
Remember the Catholic schools contract that stirred controversy this past year? The one that included a new morality clause for teachers, sparking online petitions and a Downtown protest?
Well, it’s getting another update – with some tweaked language and a new cover letter school officials say will clarify what is expected of employees.
For example, the current contract prohibits teachers from “public support” of abortion, a “homosexual lifestyle” or in vitro fertilization, to name a few issues.
The new contract for teachers in the 19-county Archdiocese of Cincinnati school system uses the term “advocacy” instead of public support, said Dan Andriacco, Archdiocese spokesman.
“We thought that was a little bit clearer,” Andriacco said, adding that after the last contract, there were many questions about what constituted “public support.”
“If I go to my gay child’s wedding, is that ‘public support?’ Well, the answer is no,” he said.
Advocacy could mean, for example, writing a blog in support of gay marriage, he said.
It would not mean, however, writing a personal letter to a senator on the topic.
Teachers will not be expected to sign the new contract until April or May, and diocesan officials declined to release a copy, saying it is still an “internal document.”
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In