Posted on 04/07/2014 8:02:36 PM PDT by Morgana
CHARLOTTE, NC, April 7, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The bishop of Charlotte is backing a Dominican nun who has been at the center of a fiery controversy since last month when she gave a speech promoting Catholic teaching on sexuality to students at Charlotte Catholic High School.
After a public meeting with diocesan and school officials turned ugly, with parents and students alike shouting at administrators over what they perceived as “hateful” remarks criticizing homosexual behavior, divorce and extra-marital sex, a spokesman for the diocese told LifeSiteNews that the nun in question, Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, did nothing wrong and will be welcome to speak on the issue again if she chooses. Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel
“Nothing in Sister’s talk opposed Church teaching,” Diocese of Charlotte Communications Director David Hains told LifeSiteNews in an email. “Sister would be welcomed to speak in the diocese in the future.”
Hains said Bishop Peter Jugis is expected to make further public comment on the situation soon.
Sr. Laurel’s critics have complained about a section of her talk in which she discussed scientific findings related to the causes of homosexuality. According to the Charlotte Observer, she was accused of using “suspect anecdotes, antiquated data and broad generalizations to demonize gays and lesbians as well as divorced and single parents.”
But one Catholic scientist says he recently heard the sister give the exact same speech she delivered to the students, and in his opinion, there is nothing in it to which a practicing Catholic could possibly object.
“I was in attendance at the same presentation when given on Long Island, NY a few months ago,” Dr. Gerard Nadal told LifeSiteNews. “In that meeting, Sister Jane gave medical and scientific data that came from reputable sources and were presented as examples of the consequences for human behavior that contravenes the moral magisterium of the Church. As a Ph.D. in medical science, and as a Catholic schooled extensively in my faith, I saw no contradictions, but rather a seamless presentation.”
Still, in light of all the controversy, Aquinas College announced in a press release Friday that Sr. Laurel has asked to take a sabbatical from her teaching and speaking duties for an indefinite amount of time.
After the sister’s speech at a school assembly last month, students at the school launched an internet petition drive demanding an apology from everyone involved with arranging the speech, which quickly garnered thousands of signatures. Some parents also initiated a letter-writing campaign to the school’s chaplain, the bishop and even the Vatican, to complain.
Last week, school and diocesan officials held a public meeting to address the issue. The meeting attracted nearly 1,000 people, most of them offended by the nun’s remarks.
Click "like" if you want to defend true marriage.
The Diocese of Charlotte’s newspaper, the Catholic News-Herald, reported that the meeting was acrimonious, with those who dared to speak out in support of Sr. Laurel or the Church being shouted down by an angry mob. The paper’s sources called the atmosphere “disrespectful” and “hate-filled.”
“Where was the trust? Where was the communication?” one parent said to school chaplain Fr. Matthew Kauth, who arranged to bring Sr. Laurel to the school. “It is trust. It is respect. It is confidence. I have lost confidence. I do not trust your judgment and I do not respect you.”
Another said, “You have divided parents, you have divided students, and we’ve lost respect for you."
“You don’t know best for our children,” said another. “What are you planning on doing for the healing? We want our children to remain Catholic, but we are being pushed away by the climate of what is going on here.”
The Catholic News-Herald reported that the angry remarks were met with thunderous applause.
Fr. Kauth said he brought Sr. Laurel to the school because he felt students at Charlotte Catholic had been poorly catechized and were suffering from spiritual darkness, particularly around the issue of sexuality.
“When I came here, I experienced to an increasing degree the suffering that comes to our children and the blackness they feel inside,” Kauth told the meeting. “They are taught by nearly every form of media that Christ’s teachings in His Church are restrictive bars, medieval torture chambers to keep them from happiness. When they have ‘broken free’ I get to see their agony.”
“I desire with a father’s heart to protect them [from] harm and the false notions of freedom to be able to live in the true freedom which chastity brings - free to love as we were made to love. This is where Sister comes in,” Fr. Kauth explained. “I heard Sister speak in the fall at St Patrick’s. While I had given so many talks on this topic in so many different ways I found her approach just different enough - a new voice and the added perspective coming from a woman. I decided to bring her here.”
“Sister and I are both quite aware of the biblical admonition from our Lord about what happens if one leads a little one astray and I am not fond of the mixture of millstone and water,” Kauth said. “The intent is and has only been to shine so as to set them free. However to hide Christ’s saving teaching is also a means to lead them astray by allowing them to be led away by another- and as you know as parents, there are many who would take your children where you do not want them to go.”
“Christ is light and in Him there is no darkness. His light sets us free to love as we were made to love-in the full dignity and beauty of the sons and daughters of God. His light also exposes and that can be painful. But that same light radiates the beauty of what we were made to be and can be if we would but receive it and assist each other in love to receive it. That is why it is Good News.”
“Darkness has fallen upon us with all of the attendant confusion which it brings,” Kauth continued. “Our Lord can speak to this darkness just as He did in the beginning and say, let there be light.”
To read Fr. Kauth’s full statement regarding Sr. Laurel’s presentation click here.
Contact:
Diocese of Charlotte Phone: (704) 370-6299 chancery@charlottediocese.org
As they should.
You are correct......call their bluff and refer them to a non judgemental, all cultures are equal, gov’t school.
Parents should only want the Truth presented to their children. The vile behavior of homosexuality is dehumanizing and a behavior acquired by severe warping in early childhood from child abuse.
Any person that allows their children to “assume” that sodomy is “Good” are sick and throw out Reason and Logic and Natural Law Theory. Both the Catholic Canon and the US Constitution are based on Natural Laws and truth.
Finally, some clergy speak up to support her. This Servant of God should not be left to face these agnostic drones alone.
What! A bishop and a nun who are actually Roman Catholic? The PC police will never tolerate that.
Once hate the sin without hating the sinner. These homosexual agenda types are dimwits.
One can hate the sin without hating the sinner. These homosexual agenda types are dimwits.
These people have no concept of what it is to believe in God’s word and blueprint for mankind.
This is good to read. We all said Sister Jane was right in the beginning.
God bless her continually.
“God bless her continually.”
Amen.
In fact, they know nothing much about homosexual sex and its effects. They have bought hook line and sinker that the behavior is inborn, that opposition to it is like racism or sexism, just a matter of prejudice. But the big lie is that their practices had nothing to do with the AIDS epidemic. This even though WHO tells us still that most new cases and among homosexual males, intravenous drug users, and women who have been infected by their polygamous husbands.
“You don’t know best for our children,” said another. “What are you planning on doing for the healing? We want our children to remain Catholic, but we are being pushed away by the climate of what is going on here.”
What the what is going on here?
This is a Faith school. Something is not right with all the angry parents/students.
This has got to be one of the most bizarre stories of the year.
I wish that were the case. Sadly, I’d bet the vast majority of them are “practicing Catholics” - that is, they go to mass fairly regularly, etc.
But they are of a generation of Catholics so poorly catechized that they have no idea of the teachings of the Church and they think of it is a sort of feel-good thing that exists just to confirm them in feeling comfortable with themselves.
This priest and the bishop - and the sister, of course - are very courageous and it sounds to me that they’re not backing down for the money, as you put it. It’s just that there’s a huge backlog of poorly instructed, media-driven Vatican II Catholics out there, and they feel very empowered now that they have learned the left-wing tactics of mob action.
Now Bishop Jugis has stated his position and we'll see how things go from here.
I think Aquinas is trying to protect her, not "throwing her under the bus".
Personally, I don't think the "fear for her safety" holds water.
How many of those objecting were actually parents and how many were outside agitators?
We believe it is our privilege to bring the best aspects of our faith tradition to bear on the moral and cultural questions of the present age. In her presentation, Sister Jane Dominic spoke clearly on matters of faith and morals. Her deviation into realms of sociology and anthropology was beyond the scope of her expertise.
Heavily armed, bloodthirsty, Academic Credentials SWAT teams may be hunting for her as we speak.
The diocese should threaten to close the school unless students and parents sign an agreement that they will abide by the teachings of the church.
I read several years ago that an independent Catholic school in NYC would not accept students whose parents were divorced and would expel students whose parents divorced while their children attended the school.
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