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| Students chant: "Change the Church..." |
Over the past few months, there have been several high-profile cases involving teachers, coaches, and administration personnel fired from Catholic schools for either publicly coming-out as gay or for entering in a same-sex marriage; here are a few examples: in Ohio, a PE teacher was fired after she revealed her marital status in her mother’s obituary - in that case, “outraged students” petitioned the local Bishop stating in a letter: “It’s unfair that someone who cared so much about her students and her job should lose them on the basis of something she cannot even control;” in Arkansas, a Catholic girl’s school teacher was fired after she married her same-sex partner - a student initiated petition was circulated and gained almost 2,500 signatures to date, passing its 2,000 goal in less than 48 hours; in Minnesota, the president of a Catholic high school resigned after revealing her homosexuality - creating consternation in both faculty and student bodies; in California, a teacher at an all-girl’s Catholic school was let go after marrying his partner - afterwards students also circulated a petition and garnered 8,000 signatures requesting that he be reinstated; in Washington, a vice-principal was forced to resign after he married his partner - sparking protests and walk-outs from students, with one young female student stating: “Just because I’m Catholic doesn’t mean I need to believe every rule the church has…We think the rule over gay marriage is totally unfair;” at a Minneapolis Catholic high school, when students were required to attend a series of lectures on homosexuality, protests broke out, with one student describing the atmosphere: “You could look around the room and feel the anger…My friend who is a lesbian started crying, and people were crying in the bathroom.”
As a child of the post-Vatican II 1970s American parochial school system, I am somewhat shocked and saddened by these stories. For, I know that in the experimental 70s and 80s, when religious orders were thrown into chaos, ill-prepared lay people took over the responsibility of religious education, and the very foundational dogmas of the Church were being constantly questioned, I now naively thought that this period of dissent and ignorance was behind us. I assumed this, because, when I returned to the Church in 1999, The Catechism of the Catholic Church had been blessedly published several years prior. It took the mystery out of life. Looking through my mother’s book shelf, searching for a Bible, about the only Holy book which I knew by name, I came across The Catechism for the first time. It was a singular revelation. I immediately searched through the Index and found the answers I had always wondered about. The path in front of me was clear. Therefore, all these years later, I am mystified that it is not similarly transparent for others; especially those who have garnered the tremendous Graces from the pontificates of both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. I must imagine that these poor souls are living in some sort of forced state of obliviousness: perhaps, knowing what the Church teaches, but consciously deciding not to accept it. It reminds me of when I was an early teenager, and being forced to occasionally attend Mas, by either my parents or as part of some school function. I clearly recall that I refused to recite certain sections of The Creed, including: “One Catholic Church;” “One Baptism;” and so forth. After that, it was not a big leap before I refused to believe in Christ at all. And, that’s exactly what happens when you start to pick and choose what you will and will not believe. Then, your faith becomes a bizarre amalgamation of Catholicism, Protestantism, New-Ageism, secular humanism, and neo-paganism. When this occurs, everything that is definite and distinct in these beliefs systems becomes stripped down and what remains is a feel-good-ism of meaningless euphemisms. It doesn’t work. And, eventually gets abandoned. The ultimate result is atheism.