{"id":460,"date":"2014-06-01T14:58:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T14:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/serves-me-right-for-reading-cnn-their-reporting-on-a-catholic-morals-clause-with-additions.html"},"modified":"2014-06-01T14:58:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T14:58:00","slug":"serves-me-right-for-reading-cnn-their-reporting-on-a-catholic-morals-clause-with-additions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/serves-me-right-for-reading-cnn-their-reporting-on-a-catholic-morals-clause-with-additions.html","title":{"rendered":"Serves me right for reading CNN: their reporting on a Catholic “morals clause” (with additions)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The reporting at CNN<\/a> on a revised \u201cmorals clause\u201d for the teachers at Catholic schools in Cincinnati is worse than usual: \u00a0the school system defined all teachers as having a \u201cministerial\u201d role, and, rather than the generic promise to abide by Catholic doctrine, they spelled out more clearly that, for instance, \u201cliving together or having sex outside of marriage, using in-vitro fertilization, a gay \u201clifestyle,\u201d or publicly supporting any of those things\u201d are not acceptable for Catholic school teachers. <\/p>\n

And the CNN article reports on teachers who are upset by this. \u00a0Are the majority of teachers actually angry? \u00a0Or did they interview only those who are upset, and not the others?<\/p>\n

In the real world, at least at the elementary level (and high schools seem to be run more often by religious orders than parishes), teachers are not required to be Catholic but are generally assumed to be. \u00a0And lessons on religion are not restricted to a specific \u201creligion class\u201d period but expected to be a part of everyday life at the school. \u00a0Art class includes religious themes, for instance. \u00a0Disputes between students would be expected to be worked out with reference to Christian teaching. \u00a0And all teachers are required to have diocesan certification as catechists (that is, religion teachers).<\/p>\n

Yes, a morals clause leads to some difficult issues, such as the fact that when a woman gets pregnant, it\u2019s visible in a way that a man having a pregnant girlfriend isn\u2019t. \u00a0But doesn\u2019t a religious school have the right to insist that its employees agree to follow its teachings, rather than openly stating that they think they\u2019re outdated?<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/p>\n

First of all, I found a somewhat more evenhanded article<\/a> from a local Cincinati site.<\/p>\n

Second, I was thinking about this some more while scrubbing the floor, and also looked a little more online. \u00a0Apparently this is an issue in a number of dioceses, in which the leadership has said, \u201cby the way, when you agree to follow Catholic teaching, let\u2019s remind you what that means.\u201d <\/p>\n

I think, in principle, people would agree with the idea of setting a good example in and outside of the classroom \u2014 if you shift this from sexual morality to something where there\u2019s widespread agreement, like, \u201cyou can\u2019t teach your students racial inclusiveness in the classroom and then support the KKK.\u201d <\/p>\n

(Would there likewise be general agreement that it\u2019s a nonstarter for a Catholic schoolteacher to be a Planned Parenthood or NARAL supporter off-hours? \u00a0One would hope \u2014 but I\u2019m not sure.)<\/p>\n

So there are multiple issues. \u00a0The first is that there\u2019s division within the Catholic Church, and a subset of Catholics who have not only rejected Catholic teaching on sexual morality but have moved to a point at which they think that, really, the only ones who still accept it are a few reactionary bishops \u2014 in sort of a \u201cI don\u2019t know how Nixon won when no one I know voted for him\u201d scenario. \u00a0The second is that it may be that some of these high schools have become \u201csecularized\u201d to such a degree that parents think of the school as one with roots in the Catholic Church, but really, as far as they\u2019re concerned, just another private school in every way that matters to them. <\/p>\n

And here\u2019s where there\u2019s not a simple answer \u2014 but to the extent that such a school becomes a \u201cprivate school with Catholic heritage,\u201d with a significant non-Catholic component to the student body and staff, the further it moves on a continuum towards \u201cpublic accommodation.\u201d \u00a0And yet the law doesn\u2019t see \u201cpublic accommodation\u201d as a continuum, but as a black-and-white issue; either you are or you aren\u2019t. <\/p>\n

This may be an increasingly difficult issue, if GOP attempts to popularize vouchers continue. \u00a0Is a school at which a considerable proportion of the students are there on vouchers at risk of being deemed a public accommodation?<\/p>\n

In Chicago, when parochial schools began closing in large number (in part due to changing demographics and later, I imagine, due to the availability of charter schools as an alternative), it was proposed that the Archdiocese take some closed schools and reopen them as charters, but they responded that in a Catholic school, the Catholic identity is a part of the entire school day, not just a \u201creligion class\u201d that could be turned into an afterschool option.<\/p>\n

Here are the parochial schools I have known: \u00a0growing up, a Lutheran school that I imagine to be similar to the one in Hosanna v. Tabor<\/a>, in which the male teachers had dual roles: \u00a0my 6th grade teacher was the Choir Director, the 7th and 8th grade teachers were \u201cliturgists\u201d (that is, a deacon-like role in the services). \u00a0Teachers were not \u201chired\u201d but were \u201ccalled.\u201d \u00a0Music class doubled as choir, singing in church once or twice a month.<\/p>\n

Now my children attend a Catholic school, where all teachers are expected to be trained and certified catechists. \u00a0This year they \u201caccidentally\u201d hired a non-Catholic teacher, who they assumed to be Catholic due to her resume, but they had to reassign her religion-teaching duties when they found out, and then she left under unexplained circumstances shortly afterwards (my son said that a friend said that she gave them \u201cinappropriate\u201d questions in a writing assignment). <\/p>\n

And, of course, our experience at Notre Dame \u2014 we were grad students, which is a completely different experience than undergraduate life there, but anyway: \u00a0the University wrestled with questions of Catholic identity, and were facing the issue that, if they pursue the best faculty in their drive to be a top research institution, they\u2019d end up with Catholic professors only in proportion to the general population, but their objective was to have a significant number of Catholic professors interacting with students in connection with their faith \u2014 and the student body is (or was, 20 years ago) 85% Catholic, and for many, the Catholic nature of the school (including dorm masses and a heavy emphasis on Christian service) is a key part of why students choose to attend there.<\/p>\n

Are these experiences representative? \u00a0According to the San Francisco Gate site<\/a>, the Oakland diocese\u2019s teachers are 20% non-Catholic, which seems like a very high percentage \u2014 but in the story itself (and links) it seems to be an issue for the high schools. \u00a0In the article on Cincinnati, it\u2019s again high school teachers that are the issue. \u00a0But if that\u2019s the case, and there are so many fewer Catholic high schools than grade schools, then the percent of faculty at these high schools that\u2019s Catholic must be small indeed, perhaps a bare majority, perhaps even less. \u00a0And if that\u2019s the case, then the furor is more understandable, if there is more of a \u00a0compartmentalization: \u00a0if it\u2019s a high school at which religion is a required subject, but that\u2019s about it, and where parents are largely attracted by the academics, not the Catholic identity.<\/p>\n

Around here, the high schools are sponsored by religious orders or lay organizations (the more devout parents send their kids to a school sponsored by Opus Dei) \u2014 so maybe there\u2019s a difference there? \u00a0Anyway, once you move to a situation where the school is more secular in culture, it\u2019s a more difficult situation.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The reporting at CNN on a revised \u201cmorals clause\u201d for the teachers at Catholic schools in Cincinnati is worse than usual: \u00a0the school system defined all teachers as having a \u201cministerial\u201d role, and, rather than the generic promise to abide by Catholic doctrine, they spelled out more clearly that, for instance, \u201cliving together or having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nServes me right for reading CNN: their reporting on a Catholic "morals clause" (with additions)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The reporting at CNN on a revised "morals clause" for the teachers at Catholic schools in Cincinnati is worse than usual:  the school system 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