Posted on 06/08/2013 6:24:42 AM PDT by markomalley
A local politician says he was asked to step aside as the commencement speaker at a Catholic high school in Columbus because he has been an advocate for same-sex marriage rights.
Franklin County Commissioner John O’Grady offered the explanation yesterday after a parent told The Dispatch he had failed to show up at Saturday’s graduation at Bishop Ready High School on the Hilltop.
O’Grady, a 1982 Ready graduate, said Principal Celene Seamen asked him to give the speech about two months ago, but he was told last week that he would not be needed. He said he was told that the decision came from Columbus Bishop Frederick Campbell and was based on the commissioner’s co-chairmanship of the Freedom to Marry initiative, which supports overturning the state’s ban on gay marriage.
O’Grady was asked to serve on the initiative more than a year ago, and his political views on gay marriage have been public for much longer.
He said he was disheartened because he had been looking forward to talking to the graduates, many of whom were children of students with whom he had attended the school more than 30 years ago.
“I am sad that I wasn’t able to give a commencement speech at my alma mater,” O’Grady said. “I was very much looking forward to it.”
Seamen and diocesan spokesman George Jones did not respond to repeated calls and emails seeking comment.
The decision to revoke O’Grady’s invitation came less than three months after the diocese fired a gay physical-education teacher at Bishop Watterson High School in Clintonville. The firing came after the teacher, Carla Hale, had the name of her partner published in a newspaper obituary.
The Catholic Church considers any sex outside marriage between one man and one woman to be immoral. Regarding the Hale matter, Campbell has said it is his responsibility to maintain the Catholic identity of the institutions under his purview.
Bob Bair, whose two daughters attend Bishop Ready, said he heard rumors in the days leading up to the ceremony that the commissioner would not be attending.
One of his daughters, who will be a senior this fall, attended the commencement and told him that the program still listed O’Grady as the speaker. Students were told by Seamen that something had come up and the commissioner would not be able to speak.
Seamen gave the speech herself.
Bair said it was out of character for O’Grady to miss an event that obviously would mean a lot to him.
“He doesn’t schedule things and then blow them off,” said Bair, who attended Ready with O’Grady. “I knew it must have been some serious issue.”
Bair said O’Grady has been a proactive member of the alumni community at Ready, contributing to school fundraisers and sponsoring sports teams even though his own children attend other schools.
He said the commissioner gave a well-received speech to National Honor Society inductees in the school’s chapel last fall.
O’Grady said that he didn’t blame school officials. “I’m very appreciative of their invitation,” he said.
A giant step in the right direction.
Yay Catholics!
ping
You beat me to the bishop's spine graphic! He has definitely earned it.
Let all of us keep this bishop in our daily prayers. ;-)
Nice to see them doing the right thing.
and so...... ?
Can’t Catholic high schools find speakers who sustain the values of their institutions?
How about that Raven’s football player who blew off the hypocrite obama for “God Blessing” planned parenthood!
yes, but he needs to his homework - should never have asked this guy to start with.
Thanks markomalley.
We’re hearing more and more of these cases, in which there is a collision between the liberal/homosexual agenda, and relgious institutions.
And as we rush to institutionalize homosexual marriage, these conflicts will only continue.
Clearly the tone of this article is that we’re supposed to be liberal, and let the man speak, even though he stands in opposition to Catholic teaching on marriage.
Will churches really be left alone as we adopt homosexual marriage in our civil laws? Some homosexual activists have said that churches will be left alone on this issue. I guess we’ll see.
He didn't. The school principal did.
OTOH, maybe he should do his homework on who he allows to be the principals of his schools.
Yet, the school failed to educate themselves to that fact.
Here is another that deserves our support and prayers. Bishop Papricki of Illinois.
Now that is what I like to see
That will come as news to Arius, Nestorian, Montanus and Berengarius amongst many, many others.
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