Replies

Best update I have seen on situation at St. Ignatius High School:

A Concerned Alumnus Looks at the Ignatian Identity Review

St. Ignatius was founded in 1886 by a band of German Jesuits to, in the words of the alma mater, “impart” the Catholic Faith to young men in the Diocese of Cleveland. Generally speaking, Ignatius has done an admirable job fulfilling this mission. The school’s Theology Department has become well known for its orthodoxy and fidelity. Not coincidentally, the school generates more vocations to the priesthood than any Jesuit high school in the country. The school’s focus on Christian service has become one of its hallmarks, and some of the programs designed to enable the students to perform the Corporal Works of Mercy have been emulated by schools around the country, including the St. Benedict Joseph Labre ministry to the homeless and the St. Joseph of Arimathea Pallbearer Ministry, which has become the largest extracurricular in the school and even gained attention in the national media. Many Seniors now prepare for graduation by spending time before the Blessed Sacrament, and many students mark the somber anniversary of Roe v. Wade by praying the Rosary. The school has also helped to strengthen the Faith beyond the campus. Thanks in part to the school’s historic commitment to giving preference to applicants from Catholic grade schools, the Diocese of Cleveland boasts the fifth largest parochial school system in the country, even though twenty or so dioceses are larger. These achievements are even more noteworthy when set against the larger backdrop of American Catholicism, which sees fewer and fewer Catholics attending Catholic schools, getting married in the Church, or even passing along the Faith to their children. Catholics remain the largest religious group in the country, but the second largest religious group is ex-Catholics.

Most of this would not have been possible without the Ignatius Theology Department. Although Labre and the Pallbearer Ministry were the ideas of the late Jim Skerl, his efforts were fully supported by his longtime friends and colleagues in the Theology Department, and the entire Department has been responsible for fostering a commitment to Catholicism at the school. Yet, inexplicably, the Theology Department is the only department in the school to be criticized in the Ignatian Identity Review conducted by the Chicago-Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus in October 2016. Indeed, that Review revealed that earlier reviews in 2006 and 2011 were also critical of the Theology Department: “Regarding the concerns about methods used by some in the Theology Department, our team referred to the 2011 review report which in turn referred to the 2006 report. We noted that there have been changes in the Theology Department that have positively addressed some of the issues presented in those reports…. However, in our judgment, the concerns have not been adequately resolved. We believe that these issues lie with a small number of Theology faculty members, but they are significant, not merely matters of style and/or pedagogy, but matters of substance. The issue needs to be resolved.”

It is against this backdrop that the school’s startling decision not to renew the teaching contracts of Marty Dybicz and Jim Hogan should be viewed. Each man served in the Theology Department for more than 30 years, and many hundreds of alumni have contacted the school on their behalf. Indeed, the decision not to renew their contracts has created consternation among alumni like no other decision has. I also have little doubt that their longtime friend and colleague Jim Skerl would have vigorously protested the decision to end their tenure at the school, if he were still with us. The precise reason for this decision has not been made public, but it clearly was not any moral failure on their part. As Fr. Guiao wrote to alumnus Brian Hurley, “These are good and holy men and deserve our respect and gratitude.” As to why the school would suddenly terminate two “good and holy men,” Fr. Guiao said this: “We are simply trying our best to create a culture where our students can best come to know Christ. In this time and place we are choosing to use new ways to achieve that goal.” Fr. Guiao did not describe these “new ways,” but the rest of the Ignatian Identity Review might offer some clues.

The Review notes that “While there have been significant strides made in educating students for social justice, we encourage the school community to dig deeper, looking at systemic racism and good social analysis…. [The students] understand helping others, but they are also very capable of engaging in study as to why there are homeless, why there are rich and poor, etc. This type of social analysis can occur across the curriculum.” Of course, what the Review describes as “helping others”—the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy—is firmly grounded in the Gospel and is something in which all Catholics believe. The same cannot be said for classroom instruction on “systemic racism and social analysis.” There are many legitimately Catholic answers to the questions of “why there are homeless, why there are rich and poor, etc.” The school’s former president, Fr. Robert Welsh, S. J., chose to observe the school’s centenary by inviting the famous conservative William F. Buckley, Jr. and the famous Thomist Mortimer Adler to Cleveland. Somehow, though, one doubts that the Review’s authors are calling for more political and economic analysis inspired by Buckley and more philosophical and theological analysis inspired by Adler in the classroom.

The Review also calls for the school to “Continue to work on issues of inclusivity, be they attitudes toward women (by some adults and students), LGBTQ people, or any who are in a ‘different’ category.” Indeed, the most recent issue of the alumni magazine celebrated the Ignatian Alliance, which it compared to “LGBT groups” that exist in area public schools. No mention was made in the article of how the Ignatian Alliance might differ from such public school “LGBT groups,” much less of the Church’s teaching, as set forth in the Catechism, that “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are gravely disordered’. . . . Under no circumstances can they be approved.’” The “T” in LGBTQ presents even greater challenges, since the Church does not believe in the multiplicity of genders that LGBTQ activists claim exist but believes instead that “God created man in his own image . . .male and female he created them.” The Review does not say whether “inclusivity” of “LGBTQ people” requires the downplaying, or even jettisoning, of such Catholic teaching, but there is little doubt that this is what most LGBTQ activists want.

The Review also observes that “As an all-boys school with a largely male faculty and administration, and with deep traditions and a strong culture, there is a danger of a culture that feels closed, and we heard this experience reported from a number of students and adults.” This does not match my own experience of the school, where I felt welcome and at home, even though I was different from my classmates in a number of respects. But it does suggest that the Review’s authors are deeply troubled by the school’s past and the way most Ignatians cherish the school’s traditions. After all, can any institution that refuses to admit girls be said to be truly “inclusive” of females? Can any institution that values tradition be said to be truly “open?”

No one is denied admission to Ignatius or employment at the school because of his race or ethnic background. But the Review’s authors are greatly troubled by the fact that school’s demographic makeup mirrors that of Cleveland’s Catholic population, which is largely comprised of the descendants of European immigrants. The Review urges the school to “Continue to develop specific targets and procedures that will bring in more students of color. Metro Cleveland is 28% of color. That might be a good target for Saint Ignatius as it seeks to represent the Cleveland community.” The Review also urges the school to “Develop specific targets and procedures to hold yourselves accountable for bringing in more faculty and board members of color.” (No mention is made of how this would impact faculty applicants who have the disadvantage of being white, a disadvantage shared by all the great teachers I had at Ignatius who had such a large and positive impact on my life).

Given that the percentage of Catholics among Cleveland’s African-Americans is lower than the percentage of Catholics among Cleveland whites, it is difficult to see how the school can implement the Review’s recommendations on minority enrollment without watering down the school’s commitment to supporting Cleveland’s Catholic grade schools. The Review’s authors seem to be close to recognizing this, when they exhort the school to “Continue to celebrate and live the Catholic identity of the school, while at the same time looking at policies and procedures that can ensure that all feel welcomed. A wider latitude for acceptance of Catholic students from public schools is recommended. While it is commendable that St. Ignatius historically has supported the local Catholic grade schools by prioritizing their applicants, we also need to ensure that the school does not put itself in a position to turn away large numbers of qualified Catholic students whose families have chosen other good schooling options for them.” There is no need to wonder what effect this recommendation would have on Catholic grade schools if it is ever implemented.

Then there are the things the Review doesn’t mention. The focus of the review is generally on contemporary issues, not the salvation of souls. And the Review concerns itself with only some contemporary issues. The Review’s authors don’t mention teaching about abortion “across the curriculum,” even though over 1,000,000 children are deliberately killed in the womb every year in America. They don’t recommend teaching about the Church’s definition of marriage “across the curriculum,” even though that definition is under attack as never before. There is no mention of promoting the classics of Catholic thought “across the curriculum,” even though exposure to such classics would undoubtedly help students refute the atheist arguments they are likely to encounter in college and later. No mention is made of “The Absolute True Story of a Part-Time Indian,” a book assigned by the English Department that extolls pornography, masturbation, and gay marriage, while ridiculing Christ. Some parents and alumni have protested the assignment of this book, but apparently it poses no threat to the school’s Ignatian identity.

I do not report any of this with joy. I am deeply grateful for the four years I spent at Ignatius, and I have always been a proud and loyal alumnus. But, for the first time, I am beginning to wonder if I can continue to support the school and the Jesuits financially. I doubt that the sturdy sons of Ignatius who founded our famed alma mater would recognize the school they founded in the school the authors of the Ignatian Identity Review propose to create. Sadly, despite what the alma mater says, it seems that years in passing can indeed sever ties of new days from the old.