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
Thank You God
Can’t you just hear these girls saying “Don’t judge me....” blah blah blah
I am not Catholic, but I am sure proud of this wonderful nun!
This is the unspoken heart of the issue, and no one wants to address it. The parents deeply hurt and offended by this teaching aren't really Roman Catholics; they just want to escape the hellholes of public education on the cheap. The Diocese wants their money.
The conflict is easy to resolve: these parents need to be told to suck it up -- and they will -- because there is no way they're going to allow their precious little darlings to be dumped in the dangerous, crime ridden, and underperforming alternatives. AND THEY KNOW IT.
The Diocese should call their bluff.
Wow! Good for them! A lot of people want to send their kids to a Catholic school so they can get a strong education, but have no desire to submit to the teachings of Christianity. For some inexplicable reason, they then expect the school to renounce and/or repress those teachings.
These people belong in a public school, where the homosexual marxist agenda is preached daily.
Cynical Catholics?
Good if the diocese is backtracking. Utterly shameful of the bishop to have thrown this courageous Sister under the bus in the first place. Will Catholic doctrine now be determined by mob rule?
It would seem that Sister Jane performed a very necessary service for those students and their parents. They were forced to confront their own wrong beliefs. The benefits of her talk will be felt by many perhaps not now but in the future as these people are forced to reflect.
Exactly, they are not catholic school material by their own admission. They should be invited to pursue their education in a more appropriate setting.
“Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig, es ist nicht einmal falsch!”
What does this mean in English, please?
‘It is not only not right, it is not even wrong’
Why is it when you disagree with a lefty you are “Hating” on them and when they disagree with you it is their absolute right to call you all the unreasonable names under the sun and then act like they are righteous and reasonable? This is where I fight them if I can by asking them “What is hateful about what I am saying?” - to do this you have to always speak with respect while they act like pigs - then you get to quote their words back to them - might not make too many think any deeper but it drives them nuts!
The homo-nazis will not be happy.
Pray America wakes up
I had thought that it was the school rather than the diocese that had done the under-the-bus-throwing, but I will admit that I haven’t read about this every day.
The audacity of these cretins is unbelievable.
These people have no concept of what it means to be Catholic
Anybody who tried that in my kids school would be gone no questions asked.
Most catholic schools have a waiting list of students who want a better education.
I hope the school stands firm and weeds out some of these people. Sort of a reverse boycott
I'm sure there will be investigations for discrimination.
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