Punishing the Victim of Abuse

Punishing the Victim of Abuse June 14, 2013

By now I am sure that most readers of this blog have heard the story:  a Catholic school teacher in San Diego was fired from her position because she was the victim of domestic violence:  despite a restraining order, her husband showed up at the school, and the school is concerned about the safety of the other students.   (Her four children are also students at the school.)  A detailed news report about the story is here.  Two very thoughtful posts from other blogs about this story are here and here.

I don’t really have much to add to this except to record my own sense of horror and shame:  how could a CATHOLIC school, and a CATHOLIC diocese do this?  Is there some aspect of the story I am missing or not understanding?  How can they possibly justify doing this?

I posted some of these links on my FaceBook page, and one of my FB friends cryptically responded with a variation of “The only thing required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”  Well, I don’t want evil to triumph,  but honestly I have no idea what to do.  Pray, of course, but I want to act in a more temporal fashion.  I suppose I could write to the Bishop, Robert Brom, but I have limited faith in the power of such letters.

What are your thoughts on this affair?  What can or should be done?

UPDATE  (6/18/2013):  It is being reported in the media that she is being offered a job at an unidentified private school in the Los Angeles letter.  It is also being reported that parents at Holy Trinity had a demonstration in support of her firing.  More can be found here.


Browse Our Archives