I'm just glad that the diocese decided to do something when they did. Don't forget that this is Massachusetts. Not exactly known to be the most conservative area of the country nor the most conservative dioceses in the country.
As for the thought that the diocese and school should have known...I think it is very, very possible that they didn't. If she didn't talk about her private life, if she didn't flaunt a relationship with her girlfriend (e.g., public displays of affection...bringing her "partner" around to work and introducing her around, and so on), if she didn't demand partner benefits such as insurance for her partner, and so on, I don't see that there would be any necessary reason for them to know for sure. We are trained that rash judgments, detraction, and calumny are all sins against the eighth commandment. Perhaps that may have led to a bit of blinders being placed on her supervisor at school...not picking up on telltale signs. But the bottom line is that unless she flaunted it and made it painfully obvious, it is very feasible that he wouldn't have known.
Think about if she was an alcoholic rather than a homosexual. She could get trashed every night after work; but until she brings the issue into work, work might not ever have reason to know what her problem is. In other words, private sin...still very grave...versus public scandal.
Placemark for pingout tomorrow.
So true.
You make good points. It's not quite as clear up close as it is from a distance.
My sons go to an all-boys Catholic high school. It would be unsurprising if it turned out that several members of the faculty were homosexual men. I can easily think of three or four candidates. But they keep it out of the school. If they have “partners,” they are discreet.
If it were up to me, I'd screen out homosexuals - even chaste ones dedicated to upholding the teachings of the Church - from teaching at an all-boys high school. But it isn't up to me.
And to a great extent, in places like Massachusetts and Maryland (the state in which my sons’ high school is located), neither do the administrators. Maryland law explicitly forbids employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. I'm betting that Massachusetts law does, too. As long as a member of the faculty ostensibly agrees with Church teaching regarding homosexual acts, it would be difficult to sustain a decision not to hire an otherwise highly-qualified candidate, or to fire him once hired.
Even someone in an active homosexual relationship, if he or she kept it discreet, could say, “I accept the Church's teachings, but I'm struggling with them, myself.”
If Catholic schools fired folks every time they sinned seriously but privately, we'd have to close a lot of them down for want of faculty.
In this case, the AD made it easy by “marrying” her “partner,” in that that was a legal, formal declaration against the faith.
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