Ursuline [Catholic school] teacher fired after name in [pro-abort] ad

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2003/01/29ursulineteacher.ht ^ | 1.29.03 | MURALI BALAJI

[victim soul]

Last Wednesday, Michele Curay-Cramer's name was on a list of more than 600 names in a newspaper advertisement in support of abortion rights.

Today, she is out of a job.

Curay-Cramer, a teacher at Ursuline Academy, an independent Catholic school for girls in Wilmington, was fired Monday by the school after school officials saw her name on a list compiled by the Coalition for Choice, an abortion-rights advocacy group that commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision last week, according to a school spokesman.

[victim soul]

How could this Catholic school religion teacher volunteer at Planned Parenthood and thus align herself with them in accusing "Pope John Paul [Toronto Star 2000] of waging a psychological war against women by opposing abortion and contraception"? Planned Parenthood claimed: ''The opinion and actions of the Holy See in regard to sexual and reproductive health and rights are seen by many as a kind of war, a war that contributes to the suffering and deaths of millions of innocent people, a war not conducted with guns and fire but with condemnation and psychological terror.''

How could she stay with Planned Parenthood when they had just been publicly exposed for celebrating Jesus' Birth with their "Choice on Earth" greeting card?

How could she as a Catholic religion teacher support a group, The Coaltion for Choice, (http://www.ppdel.org/coalition.html)

whose mission statement demands the reproductive rights of all individuals regardless of age and who actively lobbies against and takes to court at great and wasteful expense states whose residents demand parental consent laws?

How could she remain a Catholic school teacher when she volunteers for Planned Parenthood who lobbies against abstinence only sex education when the Catholic Church teaches that sexual activity is to be confined to the sacrament of Marriage?

I congratulate Ursuline Academy's President, Barbara Griffin's actions in firing this teacher.

Michele Curay-Cramer made her "choice" and thankfully so did Ursuline Academy.

[mwl1]

Good news bump. I'd be very surprised if the school did not have the teacher sign a "Christian Witness Statement" which is a condition of employment and which would cover these actions. Besides, Delaware is an at-will state, one of the toughest in the nation. She and her lawyer have no case, none, zero, nada.

[jimkress]

Last Wednesday, Michele Curay-Cramer's name was on a list of more than 600 names in a newspaper advertisement in support of abortion rights.

Today, she is out of a job.

Good.

"I miss my children terribly," she said. "I'm sad because that was a big part of my life."

You mean the ones you didn't murder, right?

Good riddance.

[Desdemona]

BUMP!!!!

I have some VERY strong connections with the Ursuline here. There have been faculty members there fired for opposing church teachings openly as well. There are non-Catholic faculty members who do not understand why the Principal MUST be a practicing Catholic and why the President HAS to be an OSU.

What people don't understand is that the schools of the orders are not financially under the control of the diocese, but are still Catholic. They still MUST adhere to the teachings of the church.

[GirlShortstop]

Curay-Cramer, who had worked at Ursuline for 18 months, said she was surprised when the school took issue with her name being in the ad.

Seems to me the school could have fired her for being an *idiot*!   Teachers do need to be intelligent, don't they?

[Alberta's Child]

That's right -- even "independent" Catholic schools and religious orders must answer to the local bishop.

This only becomes a problem when the local bishop is a real @sshole like Rembert the Vandal.

[Pyro7480]

Oh man! You beat me to this story! Oh well...

[ArrogantBustard]

Excellent news. She should have been fired for working at "Planned Parenthood"; maybe she managed to keep it in the closet.

From Ursuline Academy's website:

Ursuline Academy is a Catholic, Independent, College Preparatory School located in Wilmington, Delaware for girls age three through twelfth grade and for boys age three through third grade. Sponsored by the Roman Catholic Order of St. Ursula, the school's academic offerings range from an early childhood Montessori program to college preparatory and honors courses in science, math, history, language arts, and foreign languages.

They may be "independant" of the Diocese, but only because they are "dependant" on the Order.

[ArrogantBustard]

OBTW, that article displays a truly putrid pro-death bias.

[BearCub]

I do not agree with abortion, but this is a great example of how our first ammendment rights to"free speech" have been trampled for decades.

You cannot speak from your heart, if it means you have to stop eating because no one will hire you then.

There is no first amendment right to free speech in the private sector.

And besides, the first amendment only guarantees your right to speak - not that speaking will have no consequences.

[Pyro7480]

Since my thread has been locked, I'm going to post what I said on it over here.

The local news media is playing this story pretty promeniently. According to a news report on local radio station WDEL, the teacher could have kept her job if she had signed a retraaction to her name being printed. She refused, and so she was fired.

The pro-abortion ad appeared in the local section of the January 22nd News Journal (sometmes known as the News Urinal), while the pro-life ad appreared in the front-page section. I added my name to the pro-life ad, even though the mispelled my first name. I saw both ads, and the pro-life ad DEFINITELY had more signatories, since it was printed in a smaller font than the other. Both took up a full page.

Ursuline is one of three Catholic single-sex schools in the Wilmington, DE area, all of which are located within two miles of each other. I live smack in an area smack in between them. I went to all-male school Salesianum School from 1994-1998. This DEFINITELY would not have been an issue at my school, because my school is 100% pro-life! The school has participated in the annual March for Life since the 1980s. Also, most of the student body at Salesianum, as well as most of the faculty, are a lot more conservative than their counterparts at the two all-female schools.

Here are some key quotes from the article:
She said the ad was the first time she had publicly stated her involvement with Planned Parenthood, for which she started doing volunteer work in April.

School officials, however, said Curay-Cramer, who is Catholic, should have been aware of the school's stance on abortion.

"If they are not a deeply held religious school controlled by the bishop, then they are subject to the Civil Rights Act," he [Tom Neuberger, Curay-Cramer's lawyer] said.

Botto said that because the school's teachings "are deeply rooted in the teachings of the Catholic Church," Curay-Cramer violated the school's standard of conduct. Botto said teachers who have differing opinions from the church are asked to keep their opinions to themselves.

On the same day Curay-Cramer's name appeared in the abortion-rights ad, the school sent 45 students and two faculty members to the Right to Life March in Washington opposing abortion.

[CdMGuy]

So, this woman is a religion teacher. What religion is that? It can't be the Catholic religion. This is great news. Someone who supports Planned Parenthood has the audacity to take a job as a religion teacher in a Catholic school and calls herself a Catholic. Then she is upset because they won't let her keep her job. And where did she get that attorney who says, "It's a Catholic school but it really isn't a Catholic school because it isn't a diocese school". I have news for him. According to Rome, every Catholic institution is under the Bishop of the diocese where it is located- Jesuit, Ursline, Dominican, etc., it doesn't matter. Adios teach!!!!

[SouthCarolinaKit]

Were I a parent sending my children to this school, I'd demand that this person be fired! I want them to be taught the tenets of the Church by a believer not by someone proud of being against them! I think the same thing should be done to all the legislators who pretend to be Catholic and pro-Choice. That's a contradiction in terms and they're all not only not Catholic but anti-Catholic! I consider them excommunicated!

[wideawake]

Thank you for posting this. I left a message on the President's answering machine thanking her for standing up for the unborn.

I also pledged a donation to the school. I recommend that course of action to others.

[Pyro7480]

Thanks for responding to that posting. I probably would have answered similiarly. However, I wasn't the one who posted the things you were responding to. That was FReeper RISU.

[Pyro7480]

Ping!

[Cagey]

And, how could Seton Hall University honor Dolores Cross (president of Morris Brown College), who has served on the National Abortion Rights Action League, with an honorary degree? This stuff happens all the time.

[cpforlife.org]

Great News/Post!

This was simply the right thing to do. Will the bishops and others follow the example?

[wideawake]

I consider them excommunicated!

I do too.

According to canon law, anyone who assists in procuring an abortion is excommunicated latae sententiae - and when someone votes to provide funds or "counseling" to abortion clinics, I can't imagine that they are doing anything other than assisting in procuring an abortion.

In the case of someone who actually works for Planned Parenthood, it's even more clearcut.

[Pyro7480]

This is something that needs to be done at EVERY Catholic school, whether primary, secondary, or in higher education, starting with Georgetown and Boston College. The Pope's decree on Catholic education needs to be enforced. Catholic schools need to teach their students in line with genuine Catholic teachings. They also must nurture their students with a traditional morality. We need to se MORE of this!

This isn't the first time that the abortion issue has been controversial in this specific diocese (the Diocese of Wilmington, DE). Last year, Senator Biden's campaign for reelection planned to hold their kickoff bash at a parish hall, but when some concerned parishoners informed Bishop Michaelangelo Saltarelli, they were kicked out. Only the diocese newspaper, the Dialog, reported this. Bishop Saltarelli has been very visable in the pro-life movement. He has presided at many of the youth Masses in Washington, DC during the annual March for Life. We should be grateful that we have principled Catholics in this diocese.