Dissident Groups Scheme Against Archbishop Cordileone, Catholic Education

Catholic dissidents have been opposing the efforts of the San Francisco archbishop to reinforce the Catholic identity of his schools by asking teachers to witness to the Catholic faith, both inside and outside the classroom. But the intentions of Archbishop Cordileone’s critics seem far removed from the best interests of faithful Catholic education.

At the end of April, representatives from Call to Action, DignityUSA, New Ways Ministry, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Catholics for Choice and Human Rights Campaign met in Chicago to strategize how to best oppose Cordileone and other bishops taking similar measures in their dioceses. According to Crux,about 30 participants attended the meeting.

“While trying to portray Archbishop Cordileone as out of touch with San Francisco Catholics, a small band of radical but well-funded organizations from outside the Bay Area is trying to stir up dissent and opposition to a good bishop,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society. “Both their positions and their actions are reprehensible—and ultimately will be unsuccessful in steering the Church away from her own beliefs.”

Call to Action (CTA) claimed that the weekend was an opportunity to meet other groups and discuss “ways to hold our Church accountable to its own teachings” by discussing “working conditions, legal rights and plans for action” for LGBT employees of Catholic schools.

No mention was made by CTA, however, about ensuring that Catholic teaching is defended in the classroom and not publicly denounced by its teachers. Instead, the organization is “committed to pushing back against morality clauses and religious exemptions” that protect the identity of Catholic schools.

Archbishop Cordileone explained several months ago that new teacher contracts and changes to an employee handbook would not be used to “‘root out’ those who are....

Archbishop Cordileone explained several months ago that new teacher contracts and changes to an employee handbook would not be used to “‘root out’ those who are not Catholic or those who do not assent completely to Catholic teaching.” Rather, the contracts merely state that the schools support the teachings of the Catholic Church—not the individual teachers—and that teachers as a matter of professional obligation cannot publicly undermine that teaching. However, the coalition of dissenting groups is seeking to do just that.

CTA has urged signatures to a letter which claims that Archbishop Cordileone relies “on a tiny group of advisors” and is “isolated” from Catholics in San Francisco. But despite national publicity of the petition, it has gathered just more than 1,100 signatures after nearly one month. A recent poll by the San Francisco Chronicle showed overwhelming support for the Archbishop’s actions, The Cardinal Newman Society has collected more than 7,200 letters of support that show enormous support for the Archbishop and faithful Catholic education.

In 2006, the Vatican confirmed the excommunication of CTA members by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb., because of the organization’s activities and stances contrary to Catholic teaching on issues including abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage. Belonging to or supporting CTA was deemed “irreconcilable with a coherent living of the Catholic faith,” the official letter from the Vatican read. “The judgment of the Holy See is that the activities of ‘Call to Action’ in the course of these years are in contrast with the Catholic Faith due to views and positions held which are unacceptable from a doctrinal and disciplinary standpoint.”

Ten years earlier, Bishop Bruskewitz had declared that membership in organizations like CTA “is always perilous to the Catholic faith and most often is totally incompatible with the Catholic faith” and that, like parents, the Church must warn people “they can’t test everything in the medicine cabinet or drink everything under the sink.”

The homosexual advocacy groups DignityUSA and New Ways Ministry were also present at the meeting to oppose protections for Catholic education. DignityUSA advocates the redefinition of marriage and “advocates for change in the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality,” according to its website. New Ways Ministry has been publicly opposed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which in a 2010 statement said:

No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice. Their claim to be Catholic only confuses the faithful regarding the authentic teaching and ministry of the Church with respect to persons with a homosexual inclination.

In a recent blog post about the Chicago meeting, New Ways Ministry claimed that the dissident coalition will not stop at one strategic meeting and is planning another event in the fall.

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), also at the Chicago meeting, is a political organization that grew out of the 2004 presidential campaign of Catholic dissenter John Kerry, who made substantial efforts to recruit the support of Catholics by claiming doctrinal support for leftist public policy. The group’s leadership has included Catholic academics like former Georgetown University president Father William Byron, S.J., and Catholic University of America professor Stephen Schneck.

CACG undermined the Church with its public support—contrary to the public statements of 83 Catholic bishops—for President Barack Obama’s commencement honors at the University of Notre Dame in 2009, and its promotion of a faulty report that claimed to prove that redistributive policies would reduce abortions, part of an argument to convince Catholics to back liberal social policies and stop advocating strong pro-life laws. CACG had to retract the report when co-author Michael Bailey seemed to back away from supporting the conclusions.

The final group at the Chicago meeting, Catholics for Choice, touts dissent on its website. “We are part of the great majority of the faithful in the Catholic church who disagrees with the dictates of the Vatican on matters related to sex, marriage, family life and motherhood,” the group states. “We are part of the great majority who believes that Catholic teachings on conscience mean that every individual must follow his or her own conscience ¯ and respect others’ right to do the same.”

This raises the question: What about the right of Archbishop Cordileone and other bishops to uphold Catholic teaching and defend the Catholic identity of the schools entrusted to their care? Who will defend their right to shepherd their flocks?

Supporters of Catholic schools have noted that the proper moral and spiritual formation of students has been at the heart of efforts to ensure that Catholic school teachers witness to the faith, yet critics of Archbishop Cordileone and dioceses taking similar actions have attempted to steer the conversation away from the good of the students.

“Discrimination, lack of access to contraception, low pay and job insecurity” were some of the reasons that the groups met in Chicago, according to Call to Action. And the groups didn’t get there on their own. Some were funded by the Human Rights Campaign, according to Crux:

Several participants received grants to attend the three-day long conference from the Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization and one that has slammed the Catholic Church for its opposition to same-sex marriage.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco, however, has stood firm on the important role of teachers, including the vital role they play in the formation of their students. A February statement from the archdiocese reads:

[I]t is a fundamental part of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition to give students the tools they need in life to find God in all kinds of work and all areas of knowledge, to give them the skills they need to grow into full and mature Christians and so to stand as a witness of the Gospel at all times. Moreover, in the tradition of our Catholic schools, our schools do this not just for the students but for their families and the community at large as well. A teacher is the irreplaceable leader in this vital religious activity, and without whom the school could not fulfill this basic mission that the Church has entrusted to it.

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