themcglynn.com

21 May

Eight Year Old Boy Denied Catholic School Admission (after being accepted)

The McGlynn:  It is ironic that the school is named after Paul. It may be of benefit if the “authorities” would read what Paul wrote on “love”:

Paul Quotation on Love:

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered,
it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.

But then, it probably would not help the “Church”. To those who have been harmed by the actions of the “Church” you may benefit from what I learned many, many years ago and repeat often to myself these days. “The Faith is not the Church ……The Church is not the Faith.” 

From Various Sources

A Catholic elementary school in Hingham, Mass. decided to withdraw the acceptance of an 8-year-old boy’s enrollment after the principal and pastor learned the child’s parents were a lesbian couple.

Authorities at St. Paul Elementary School explained that the decision was aimed at protecting the boy, since the teachings of the Church regarding same-sex marriage are at odds with the lesbian couple’s lifestyle.

A couple of months ago, a Catholic school in Boulder, Colorado prevented a student from re-enrolling – just because his parents were in a same-sex relationship.

O’Malley said that Rafferty “made a decision based on an assessment of what he felt would be in the best interest of the child.” 

“We weren’t hiding,” one of the boy’s mothers, who was granted anonymity fearing that publicity would harm the child, said. She and her partner each listed their names on their son’s admission forms. “I’m accustomed to discrimination, I suppose, at my age and my experience as a gay woman. …But I didn’t expect it against my child.”

According to Karen Loewy, a senior staff attorney at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), the boy’s mothers do not have many options for legal recourse. “I just think it’s extremely unfortunate that the school has chosen to single out this child they had previously admitted just because he has two moms,” she said. While Massachusetts does have laws barring discrimination based on sexual orientation in schools, these laws apply only to public schools. “I think it’s extremely unlikely that there’s any real legal recourse. The statutes that are specifically focused on prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in schools…it’s really related to public schools. It seems pretty unlikely that they would have real legal recourse.”

The Church’s Weak and Nonsensical Response:

Cardinal Sean O’Malley on Wednesday defended officials of  St. Paul’s School in Hingham who refused to allow two lesbians to enroll their 8-year-old son in the parochial school.
 But he also said Catholic schools must be open to children from “diverse, often unconventional households.”
“Catholic schools exist for the good of the children and our admission standards must reflect that,” he wrote on his blog. “We have never had categories of people who were excluded.”
Cardinal O’Malley said there are legitimate reasons not to admit a child, but that “the good of the child must always be our primary concern.”

 Citing criticism of the pastor of St. Paul’s Church, the Rev. James Rafferty, the cardinal said, “I have great admiration for Fr. Rafferty; he has my full confidence and support.”………………………………………………………..

The cardinal said the Boston Archdiocese is developing policies to deal with similar issues in the future.
He said the question is, “How do we make Catholic schools available to children who come from diverse, often unconventional households, while ensuring the moral theology and teachings of the Church are not compromised? It is true that we welcome people from all walks of life. But we recognize that, regardless of the circumstances involved, we maintain our responsibility to teach the truths of our faith, including those concerning sexual morality and marriage.”

This entry was posted on Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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