Free Republic

The e-mail left many parents at the private Catholic school upset and confused. The well-respected director of religious education had just been fired. Nell Stetser, principal of Waldron Mercy Academy, an elementary school in Merion, sent the e-mail Friday to say that Margie Winters was out of a job after eight years. The reasons were confidential, Stetser wrote. But the "context" she went on to offer included clues to what the school saw as a problem: Winters is in a same-sex marriage. Stetser praised Winters for her "amazing contributions" to the school. "In the Mercy spirit, many of us accept...

An Iowa Catholic school denied a substitute teacher a full-time job after learning on his Facebook page he was engaged to a man. Tyler McCubbin already volunteered at Dowling Catholic School as a track coach and filled in for absent teachers. His sexual orientation only became an issue when his social media accounts became the focus of a background check after allegedly being promised a position as a social sciences teacher. His profile on Facebook shows a scattering of likes for LGBT groups and pro-gay artists such as Audra McDonald, but it’s his fiancé that got their attention. “I said,...

I can’t get this question out of my head: Who is Patricia Jannuzzi? These last few weeks, we’ve seen a lot of religious organizations publicly wrestling with gay rights. The Mormon Church authorized new protections for gay people, while attempting to protect religious believers, too. A rapidly dwindling denomination of Presbyterians decided to embrace gay marriage. San Francisco’s City Church, the largest evangelical megachurch, embraced gay marriage for its congregants. Cardinal Dolan was the grand marshal of the first St. Patrick’s Day parade that permitted people to march with LGBT banners. Some of these churches are discarding ancient Christian moral...

Even Mother Teresa might have been tempted by this kind of property bonanza. A group of nuns wants to boot 55 tots from one of the city’s oldest preschools so they can cash in on the facility’s $20 million Chelsea real estate, according to a lawsuit by fuming parents. More than 50 moms and dads of kids at Nazareth Nursery Montessori claim the Sisters of St. Francis — who bought the West 15th Street facility for $5,000 in 1901 — want to sell the school’s two brick brownstones and hoard the money. “It's clear that the defendants plan to close...

Reaction to a Dominican sister’s presentation on human sexuality at a North Carolina school has prompted “speculation from many sides,” but few among those commenting about it “were actually present to hear the talk,” said an April 4 statement from Aquinas College in Nashville, where she is an associate professor. The college was referring to a March 21 presentation by Dominican Sister Jane Dominic Laurel at a Charlotte Catholic High School student assembly. Titled “Masculinity and Femininity: Difference and Gift,” it drew the ire of many students and parents and sparked an online petition with more than 3,000 names. About...

The Archdiocese of Baltimore and Archbishop Curley High School have received an allegation involving Mrs. Lynette Trotta, 33. Ms. Trotta has been a science teacher at Archbishop Curley High School since January 2007. Ms. Trotta is alleged to have engaged in a sexual relationship with a current student during the current school year. A number of weeks ago, Annette Goodman, the school’s librarian, learned about the allegation. Maryland law and the policies of the Archdiocese and Archbishop Curley High School require that allegations of child abuse be reported to civil authorities and to the head of the school as soon...

Students who attended Catholic high schools were approximately twice as likely as students who attended public high schools to go on and graduate from college, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. According to the report, 61.9 percent of Catholic high school students went on to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher by the time they were 8 years out of high school. By contrast, only 31.1 percent of public school students had gone on to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher. …

Matthew Barrett thought he had found his dream job. He had worked in the food industry for more than two decades, and when he was offered a job in July as food services director at Fontbonne Academy, a Roman Catholic-based girls’ prep school in Milton, he quickly accepted. But Barrett, 43, said the offer was rescinded only two days later — once the head of school realized Barrett had listed his husband as his emergency contact, according to a complaint he was set to file Thursday with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. “She said the Catholic religion doesn’t recognize same-sex...

DETROIT — Marygrove College, a private Catholic school, has established an interfaith prayer room, which will serve as a space for prayer for Muslim students. Marygrove's president and staff, along with students and representatives from the Muslim community, celebrated on Wednesday Jan. 15, the grand opening of the room, reflecting the college's diversity. President of Marygrove College Dr. David Fike said the celebration of the interfaith prayer room is "symbolic" of our coming together as diverse communities and individuals in the journey of life. Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America stressed the common spiritual goal of all...

LONDON, ONT. - Mother Teresa Catholic secondary school is turning a second-floor office into an Islamic prayer room -- the first high school in the city, private or public, to do so. Carpet will soon cover the tile flooring, speakers will be installed and prayer mats purchased to provide the school's Muslim students, estimated at around two dozen, with a quiet and private place to pray. The idea has been in the works since the end of the last school year after a group of Muslim students lobbied administration to create the space. "They're members of our school community. We...

SEATTLE (AP) — Students at a Seattle-area Catholic school are gaining national attention for their protest over the forced departure of a gay vice principal. An online petition started by the senior class president of Eastside Catholic was the third fastest growing U.S. petition on change.org Friday, attracting around 15,000 signatures in one day. The petition was launched after Vice Principal Mark Zmuda resigned under pressure from school administrators after they learned he had married his same-sex partner. Bradley Strode said the students want to effect change within the wider Catholic Church, with an ultimate goal of altering the Catholic...

ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, June 18, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com)—A school bus covered in pro-life images that used to drive children to a local abortion clinic to pray was firebombed Friday night, report local advocates, who say the media have been negligent in covering the incident. The bus, owned by Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Academy, suffered extensive damage after vandals threw more than one device through the vehicle’s windows. Photos show some of the seats reduced to little more than metal frame and ash. The driver’s area was also bombed, and appears to be unusable. The bus is well known in the...

COLUMBUS, OH, April 22, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – The firing of a teacher at Bishop Watterson Catholic High School after it was learned she was involved in a long-term homosexual relationship may pit the Catholic diocese against a Columbus city ordinance barring employers from discriminating based on sexuality. Gym instructor Carla Hale, 57, was fired last week after an anonymous parent wrote the Diocese of Columbus to complain because in an obituary for Hale’s mother, Hale was listed as a survivor alongside her longtime lesbian partner, Julie. Hale signed a morality clause as part of her contract, affirming that “Catholic school...

Carla Hale, a teacher in Clintonville, Ohio, was fired just days after an anonymous parent informed the school that her partner's name had appeared in her mother's obituary. Update- April 24, Hale's grievance has been denied.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Overruling school officials, a Catholic bishop in Iowa said Monday he would not let a group that promotes equal rights for gays and lesbians present a college scholarship to an openly gay student during an upcoming award ceremony. Bishop Martin Amos in Davenport said the Eychaner Foundation would not be allowed to present the Matthew Shepard Scholarship to Keaton Fuller during the May 20 ceremony at Prince of Peace Catholic School in Clinton, saying the group’s support for gay rights conflicts with church doctrine. The announcement comes after a school official signed a document last month...

Education Secretary Michael Gove has suggested a proposed new Catholic school should limit Catholic pupils to 50% of its intake. Business Secretary Vince Cable wrote to Mr Gove about the proposed school, which is in his Twickenham constituency. Mr Gove said the proposal for a cap was "very sensible". But a Catholic Education Service official said turning Catholics away and admitting others just because they were not Catholic would be "odd". A few years ago, the Roman Catholic Church fought attempts by Labour to open up new Church schools in England to the wider population.

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, March 16, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A self-proclaimed ‘lesbian’ whose two children attend a Catholic school near Peterborough is demanding that the Peterborough Catholic school board remove a Catechism quote dealing with homosexuality from a school pamphlet. Ann Michelle Tesluk has started an online petition to pressure the board to action and describes her activities as gearing to make the Catholic Church into an “openly gay friendly church.” The pamphlet in question, however, is controversial from more than one perspective. While quoting the Catechism that the homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered”, the pamphlet also misrepresents Catholic teaching in numerous...

The church should consider ending its ties with schools that are now “Catholic in name only”, a bishop has said. The Rt Rev Michael Campbell, Bishop of Lancaster, asked if it was right for parishioners to continue paying for the upkeep of schools where the majority of pupils and teachers belong to other faiths and none. He said faith schools are meant to help the church in its mission of evangelisation, and that mergers should be considered in parishes that are now “quiet and empty”. His comments will be welcomed by traditionalists who want church schools to retain their Christian...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City's Catholic bishop has become the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official indicted on a charge of failing to protect children after he and his diocese waited five months to tell police about hundreds of images of child pornography discovered on a priest's computer, officials said Friday. Bishop Robert Finn, the first U.S. bishop criminally charged with sheltering an abusive clergyman, and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese have pleaded not guilty on one count each of failing to report suspected child abuse. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Finn and the diocese were required...

Ok, so there was this BIG story about Liberal Democrat and New York Congressman, Anthony Weiner sending an image of his crotch to a 21 year old co ed in California. As I have no desire to engage in a conversation about another man's willingness to expose himself in the newest social media (Twitter) I cannot help but make some observations. First, who the hell does something this foolish? Brett Favre,Congressman Weiner and many more I'm sure. It's moments like this when I thank GOD I went through twelve years of Catholic School. You can bet nobody who ever did...