Catholic School Teachers ‘Terrified,’ Call on Archdiocese to Move School Fully Online

Hundreds of teachers from schools across the archdiocese say they are fearful of returning to school in-person and have reached out to Arise Chicago, an interfaith workers’ rights organization to express their concerns.

A group representing hundreds of teachers and parents with the Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools Thursday called for all fall classes at the parochial school system to be held online.

“Now is the wrong time to gather hundreds of human beings into enclosed spaces,” James Cahill, a history and religion teacher at Wilmette’s St. Francis Xavier School, said at a news conference outside the archdiocese’s downtown offices, at 835 N. Rush St.

“The decision to do so boggles the mind, defies science and potentially endangers the lives of students, teachers, staff, and all of our families and communities.”

In an email to families earlier this month, Catholic Schools Supt. Jim Rigg said the archdiocese is starting the school year with full-time in-person learning, saying it’s “in the best interests of children and our mission.”

Some archdiocese schools have already started classes while others have yet to open.

Cahill was joined by another teacher, a parent and members of Arise Chicago, an interfaith workers’ rights organization, in demanding that Catholic schools have no in-person classes this fall and that teachers are consulted before a new reopening plan is crafted.

The “Arch Teachers for a Safe Return” group, which represents hundreds of teachers, is giving the archdiocese until Tuesday to respond.

Arise Chicago is a far-left front group with various labor union connections. (The Chicago Teachers Union recently participated in some "peaceful" riots.)

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Board of Directors

President, The Very Reverend Joy Rogers is a native of Pennsylvania and life-long Episcopalian. She earned a Master of Divinity degree in Parish Ministry and a Doctor of Ministry degree in Homiletics from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and a member of the Peace and Justice Commission of the Diocese of Chicago. She is the former rector of St. Thomas Parish in Battle Creek, MI and most recently served as the chief pastor of St. James Cathedral in Chicago. Under Joy’s leadership, the Fight for Fifteen formally constituted itself in the Cathedral with 200 members present. Rev. Joy has traveled to Springfield and emceed press conferences in support of the Illinois Domestic Worker Bill of Rights as well as delegations to return striking workers back to work with the Fight For 15 Campaign.

Vice President, Jonathan Jones is a Business Representative and trustee for Carpenters Local #10, and a Delegate to the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters. Jones is a graduate from Harper High School and was raised in the Englewood Community located on the south part of Chicago. He attended Washburne Trade School and the Carpenter’s Training Center in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. He joined Carpenters Local #10 in 1991, and after completing his four year apprenticeship, obtained his journeymen card. Jonathan was appointed Union Steward by his Business Agent from Local 10, and later worked as an organizer for five years. He now sits on the Construction Committee advisory board for the Cook County Commissioner, is a Delegate to the Chicago Federation of Labor, the Cook County Building Trades. Jones is a member of the Coalition of Black Trades Unionist (CBTU). He is also currently a school board member for a local school in Chicago.

Secretary, Rabbi Michael Zedek is currently Rabbi Emeritus at Emanuel Congregation, where he has served since 2004. Previously he was the chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (JFC). Prior to his service at Emanuel Congregation, Rabbi Zedek was the senior rabbi of Temple B’nai Jehudah in Kansas City, Missouri where he served for many years. A dedicated community activist, scholar, and teacher Rabbi Zedek has received numerous awards including a Fulbright-Hays Grant. He was also honored by the National Conference of Christian and Jews. Rabbi Zedek has participated in Aldermanic meetings with Arise for the Office of Labor Standards and was a frequent participant in our annual Labor in the Pulpit program.

Treasurer, Adrienne Alexander is the Policy and Legislative Specialist for AFSCME Council 31 in Illinois. In that capacity, she is the lead on budget analysis and political issues for both City of Chicago and Cook County, and she serves as part of AFSCME’s State of Illinois lobbying team. Alexander was recently named to the 2015 class of the Edgar Fellows, a group of emerging leaders from across Illinois focused on addressing the state’s major policy issues. She is active in the broader labor movement as a founding member of the Chicago Young Workers. Alexander earned her Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota. As a graduate student Alexander spent a summer with the AFL-CIO in Washington, DC, working to ensure passage of the Affordable Care Act. She majored in Political Science and minored in Spanish and History as an undergraduate at Agnes Scott College, a small, women’s college in Georgia. She was also a former member of the Pax Christi USA National Council. She is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Br. Michael Gosch is a member of the Clerics of St. Viator, commonly known as Viatorians. He has worked as a high school teacher and social worker in Illinois and Nevada. He currently is the co-director of Viator House of Hospitality, a residence for immigrant males who have aged out of youth detention. The youth came to the U.S. as unaccompanied immigrant children in search of asylum.

Rev. Dominic Grassi was born in Chicago and ordained a Catholic Priest in 1973. Before retiring he served as pastor at St. Josaphat Parish in Lincoln Park and St. Gertrude Parish in Edgewater. He is a past chair of the Association of Chicago Priests, administrator of Quigley Seminary South, served as co-chair of O.N.E, was named the National Catholic Education Association "Pastor of the Year" and as one of "Fifty People Who Make Chicago a Better Place." by the Chicago Sun- Times. He is an author of seven books including a cookbook and a murder mystery set in Chicago.

Rev. Marshall Hatch has been the pastor of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, located in the heart of Chicago's West Garfield community, since 1993. Marshall Hatchis a native of the West side. In 1998 he was appointed a Merrill Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School, in Cambridge, MA. In August 2000, Marshall Hatch was appointed an Adjunct Professor on the faculty of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He currently serves as the co-chairman of the board of the Leaders Network, a collaborative of faith and community leaders working together to organize, strategize and mobilize to improve the quality of the life for the West side communities and Greater Chicago. He is a board member of Chicago State University. He has been a key ally in supporting UCAN workers who are organizing with AFSCME Council 31 and also the Fight For Fifteen movement.

Brandon Johnson is Cook County Board Commissioner of the 1st District. He is also a Political Organizer at Chicago Teachers Union. Additionally, Brandon hosts the radio show, What’s Left? on WCPT 820 AM Progressive Talk radio and WVON 1690 AM Talk of Chicago. Brandon Johnson is a husband and father of three raising his family on the Westside of Chicago in the Austin neighborhood. Born and raised in a working class community. Brandon is one of ten children, growing up with a host of cousins and foster siblings. His father Pastor Andrew Johnson, a retired state public employee and mother Wilma ‘Jean’ Johnson, served as leaders in the Church of God in Christ.

Hector Lopez was born in Mexico City and immigrated to the United States 26 years ago. He took English classes here and was able to get his GED. He has worked for several companies, including meat packing, on production lines and as a welder. Currently, he works loading and unloading trucks, although he been at his current job for 19 years and also perform several other tasks. He was the lead worker on a campaign with Arise to organize his workplace. Seven weeks after bringing co-workers to an Arise workshop, they had an election for the production workers and won union representation. A week later the drivers at the same company won their union. The process prompted his interest to get more involved with Arise and his union to help workers to have more dignified treatment, better wages, and improved lives.

Rocío Martinez has been a member of Arise Chicago for several years and has led two campaigns. She participated with Arise in a successful lawsuit against her former employer, Valid USA, after the factory shut down with no warning. Years later, Rocio led a campaign with her co-workers at the Talerico Bakery to improve health and safety conditions and wages on the job.

Kahphira Palmer is a dance instructor and teacher. She came to Arise Chicago facing wage theft at two workplaces. With support from Arise, she developed a campaign strategy to recover her stolen wages from both the dance company and the restaurant. As a Worker Center Leader, Palmer represents the organization in public, including talking about wage theft and how Arise responds to the press, including a feature on NBC’s Making a Difference show.

Małgorzata Pinska migrated from Poland to USA in early 2000. As Domestic Worker specializing in House Cleaning, she came to Arise Chicago in 2013 to be a part of training – Health and Safety for Domestic Workers. Since then she joined the membership of Arise Chicago and actively participated in Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Campaign. In 2015 she become a leader in Domestic Worker group. She organizes meetings and does outreach to Polish community to pass information about Arise Chicago and as well now she trains Domestic Workers in Green Cleaning and Workers Rights.

Alfredo Sanchez first came to Arise Chicago in 2014 facing a workplace problem. After learning his rights and resolving his own workplace campaign,, Alfredo was eager to teach and support other workers. He regularly refers new workers to Arise to become members and make changes at their workplaces. Alfredo is also a community leader, having served on his children's CPS Local School Council.

Manuela Sepulveda is originally from Mexico. She came to Arise Chicago because of she was illegally fired. She took action, won a settlement, and inspired co-workers to take action to improve working conditions. As a Worker Center member, Sepulveda supports other members and participates in solidarity actions. Manuela regularly brings new workers to Arise to join as members and launch their own workplace justice campaigns. After beginning a job as a home caregiver, she has joined our domestic workers group.

Don Villar was born into the labor movement and spirit of social justice after his parents and three siblings immigrated to the U.S. In 1991, Don became a member of NABET-CWA Local 41 – a union representing broadcast news and TV production workers in Chicago. During his nearly 25-year broadcast journalism career at WLS-TV (ABC) Chicago, Don won an Emmy Award for breaking news coverage. He later earned his Juris Doctorate at Loyola Law School. In 2010, Don was elected Vice President of NABET-CWA Local 41 and then President in 2015. In this role, he focused on organizing, movement building and collective bargaining. Don is now the Secretary-Treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor and is also on the Campaign Cabinet of United Way of Metropolitan Chicago.

Magdalena Zylinska is a domestic worker from Poland. She first came to Arise for a green cleaning training held in conjunction with the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. After learning that domestic workers like herself were excluded from basic labor protections, she became a leader in the campaign for an Illinois Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. She has traveled to Springfield numerous times, and to Washington D.C. advocating for rights for domestic workers.

Two funerals this month find women ordained as Catholic priests buried outside the church they were striving to change from within. Mary Styne, 70, of Milwaukee, died May 12. She was ordained in 2009 by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, an organization that has been ordaining women to the priesthood in contravention of church law since 2002. Janine Denomme, 45, of Chicago, died May 17, just weeks after her ordination by the same group; her funeral was May 22. . .While Styne knew the Catholic hierarchy would never allow her funeral in a church and arranged for services at a nonsectarian chapel, Denomme’s survivors asked to hold her funeral at St. Gertrude, the local parish she loved. ‘Sign of Repentance’ The Chicago Archdiocese refused. "Those who willingly separate themselves from the church cannot be granted a church funeral unless they gave some sign of repentance before death," it said in a statement. The Chicago Archdiocese said Denomme’s excommunication resulted automatically from her participation in a "simulation" of ordination on April 10, five weeks before her death. The church’s decision to refuse burial upset many members of the progressive North Side parish, as did the fact that many of the conservative Catholic websites and blogs covering the story dwelt on how Denomme was a lesbian. Some of the parishioners will meet Tuesday to discuss how or whether to formally respond. . . .Denomme’s funeral was held at First United Methodist Church in a northern Chicago suburb, or "St. Gertrude’s North," as a speaker at her wake irreverently dubbed it, to cheers and applause. . .In Denomme’s case, some parishioners said the archdiocese had told Rev. Dominic Grassi, pastor at St. Gertrude, that if he celebrated the funeral Mass at the parish it would be the last he’d ever say. Grassi declined to speak publicly about his conversation with Bishop Francis Kane. "There was no way that our pastor could just go forward with a funeral," said Valency Hastings, a parishioner at St. Gertrude for eight years. "He would have been punished." The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s watchdog committee for doctrinal matters, declared in 1976 that women could never be priests because Jesus and his apostles were all male, and canon law codifies that stricture. Pope John Paul II, predecessor to the current pope, decreed an end to the ordination debate in 1994 in an apostolic letter. . .: Two Female Priests Buried as Church Outsiders

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