Free Republic

An all-girls Catholic prep school in Massachusetts violated state anti-discrimination law by rescinding a job offer to a man in a same-sex marriage, a judge ruled. Matthew Barrett was offered a job as Fontbonne Academy's food services director in 2013, but the offer was withdrawn days later after he listed his husband as his emergency contact. Barrett sued, alleging that the Milton school discriminated against him based on sexual orientation and gender. Norfolk Superior Court Judge Douglas Wilkins agreed, rejecting Fontbonne's claim that hiring Barrett would infringe on its constitutional rights because it views his marriage to a man as...

The Catholic Church in Britain now refuses to teach Islam as part of its GCSE religious studies curriculum, disappointing the country's Muslim leaders.  Under the new rules based on last year's reforms to the GCSE exam, only Judaism will be taught in tandem with Catholicism, excluding Islam and every other faith. The decision to drive out Islam stemmed from an incident known as the 'Trojan Horse' plot, in which Muslim schools in Birmingham were known to have teachers pushing fundamentalist Islamic teachings on the students.  Sir Iqbal Sacranie, former secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, has called the decision "very disappointing" and...

As greater acceptance of homosexual relations has spread throughout American society over the past decade, it has presented a conundrum for Catholic schools: What to do about children being reared by two men or by two women?While there are worries about any sort of acceptance of a “gay family” by a Catholic parish or school being construed as approval of a certain lifestyle, or exposing other children to certain family arrangements, parishes are also concerned about alienating anyone from the faith.And the fact still exists that an innocent child, in need of a Catholic education, is not responsible for...

Catholic school on the outskirts of Philadelphia has come under heavy attack in recent days after firing an openly lesbian teacher in a same-sex civil marriage with her partner. Since 2007, Waldron Mercy Academy knew that teacher Margie Winters had been civilly married to her lesbian lover, but they kept her on as Director of Religious Education anyway for a total of eight years, under the advisement that she keep her relationship secret and not discuss it with students or parents. Though she kept the order, parents from the school eventually found out about Winters and complained to the school...

“Bill Donahue of the Catholic League was invited onto the Smerconish show on CNN in order to defend a decision by a private Catholic school to fire a teacher who had revealed herself to be gay and in a gay marriage. Halfway through the interview, Michael Smerconish affirms the lesbians’ view that they are the ‘real embodiment’ of Catholic teaching. Cuz that makes a lot of sense. Of course, people who get their understanding of Christian doctrine from making fun of televangelists while smoking pot in college and from snarky criticisms on the Daily Show aren’t the best scholars when...

The head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is weighing in on the firing of teacher from a Montgomery County Catholic school, who allegedly lost her job because of her same-sex marriage. Margie Winters says she lost her job as the religious education director at Waldron Mercy Academy because of her marriage to Andrea Vittori. More than 100 people gathered together in support Winters at General Wayne Park in Lower Merion Township on Sunday afternoon. "I'm here to support Margie and let her know what was done to her was unjust, discriminatory and unfair," said Anthony Arechavale, parent. "I think it's...

All children deserve to be safe at school. Yet it turns out that New York City does not provide kids who attend private schools with the same level of protection as those at public schools. That’s not only unfair, it’s unsafe. And it ought to change. As matters stand, only public schools in the city are eligible for NYPD school-safety agents. Private schools must provide security officers on their own dime. And while child-safety is an issue no decent school would ignore, the fact is many private schools struggle to cover the costs of adequate security — and sometimes the...

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Wyoming Catholic College, a Catholic university founded in 2005 in Lander, announced in late February that it “shall not participate in federal student loan programs.”The decision came after months of analysis and deliberations by the college and its board of directors.“While the financial benefits are undeniable,” said a news release, “the increasingly burdensome regulatory requirements are clearly troubling for faith-based institutions.” The decision to forego federal student loan and grant programs was reached in a unanimous vote by the college’s board of directors.“While respecting that some of our peer institutions have reached a different conclusion on this...

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...

A salute to Archbishop Cordileone for defending it in San Francisco.California is always a great state to watch, as things that happen there tend to be harbingers for the other 49. In San Francisco, we have the spectacle of an archbishop under attack from several state senators. His offense? Trying to ensure that high-school students in Catholic schools get the Catholic education their parents have freely chosen to give them. Archbishop Cordileone has had the good sense to ask high-school faculty to affirm that they will impart the Church’s social teachings. He’s trying to guarantee that students will receive the...

Catholic universities in America have lost sight of their institutional identities. Only direct intervention from the Vatican can reverse their decline.Catholic universities in America are typically regarded as offering a well-rounded education combined with one of the premier intellectual forces of the West: the Catholic Church, and its vast well of knowledge in almost every discipline. Unlike state-sponsored institutions, which can offer a quality education, Catholic universities have the advantage of a grounded and time-tested moral foundation. This foundation, and the discoveries, advances, and progress it has produced, is unrivaled in any other Western tradition. Secular universities, good though they...

Author Robert Reilly’s latest book, “Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior is Changing Everything,” dissects the homosexual movement’s strategy of indoctrinating Americans on the pros (but not cons) of LGBT behavior. robert reilly book The new norm of sexual behavior is “if you rationalize my sexual misbehavior, I’ll rationalize yours” as well. This goes against the natural law of man, which were recognized by ancient Greeks. Even the Greeks believed that a mentor-mentee relationship should be platonic between a wiser, older man and a younger man seeking wisdom, which iscontrary to the modernmedia’s perception of Greek culture. Those who...

James B. Sellinger, a former vice president for IBM’s North American operations, will serve as chancellor of education for the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Department of Catholic Schools and Frank Bramble Sr., a member of the Board of Directors for Bank of America Corp., will serve as chairman of the archdiocesan school board, the archdiocese announced July 28. In the newly created position, Sellinger will promote the enrollment and fiscal health of the archdiocese’s nearly 50 Catholic schools. Bramble previously served as interim president of Calvert Hall College High School in Towson and as chairman of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Blue...

In 1540, Hernando de Soto marched through Middle Georgia not far from where this column originates. Just down river from where I am in Macon, Georgia, de Soto performed the first baptism in North America on the banks of the Ocmulgee River. That river cuts a lazy path through Macon and Middle Georgia. The Ocmulgee Indian natives, over time, migrated out of the area under force from the new natives, the Americans. Those new natives lived a quiet existence where rarely, like de Soto marching through, the outside world pierced in. When Sherman marched through in the Civil War,...

Two weeks after a Nashville Dominican nun spoke to students at one of North Carolina’s largest Catholic schools and delivered a presentation critical of homosexuality, diocesan and school officials offered apologies at a meeting attended by an estimated 900 parents. “Many said that” the first part of Sister Jane Dominic Laurel’s presentation at Charlotte Catholic High School “was excellent and fully in line with the Catholic faith,” said Father Roger Arnsparger, the Diocese of Charlotte’s vicar of education, as quoted on the diocesan newspaper’s website. “There was unfortunately a misunderstanding about the content of the last part of the presentation,”...

Last summer, Carl E. Olson at Catholic World Report, exposed the horrendous state of Catholic high school summer reading lists by highlighting one particularly smutty and ludicrously vulgar novel assigned to incoming freshmen at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland.  And St. Ignatius wasn't alone - a quick google search revealed that dozens of other Catholic schools had assigned the same poorly written piece of garbage.  We really don't want to revisit here all the gratuitously lewd, crude and lascivious passages in this very unfortunates selection for teen reading. But for purposes of background and so that others can grasp the gravity...

When kids put pen to paper, chances are they are printing. But Toronto’s Catholic board, hand-wringing over the handwriting skills of its students, is now looking to make sure all of them learn cursive. Parents have told her their children can’t sign their name, “or they have been handed a handwritten note and can’t read it,” said Trustee Ann Andrachuk. She proposed a recent motion—unanimously approved—asking board staff how to reintroduce cursive in all schools, and how early children should start learning it. […] Across Canada and the United States, concerns have been raised that cursive is becoming a lost...

(Reuters) - A suburban Seattle Catholic school vice principal who was fired in December for violating religious doctrine by marrying his same-sex partner, on Friday sued the school and the Archdiocese of Seattle for wrongful dismissal. Mark Zmuda, who was also a swim coach at Eastside Catholic School, said he took the job after reading a school policy, since removed from its website, that it does not discriminate on the basis of an employee's sexual orientation or marital status. His ouster, which led to student protests followed by the school president's resignation, is an example of tension between the increasing...

NORTH BAY, Ontario, June 8, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - “If Catholic students are required to go to so much trouble with their Catholic teachers to defend a teaching as simple as the resurrection, what do they have to do in their Catholic schools to defend teachings on abortion, homosexuality, or same-sex ‘marriage’?” asked Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Coalition Catholics commenting on the case of Francesca Sinicrope. A Grade 12 student of North Bay, Ontario, Sinicrope has recently gone to battle with a teacher and principal at her Catholic High School over the truth of Christ’s Resurrection. “He told us people...

One of the hot topics during our family’s Christmas gathering was Catholic education. My niece is a senior in high school, and as with everyone her age, she is consumed with selecting a college. Her parents are allowing her some freedom, but prefer that she attends a college with a good, Catholic environment. They were all impressed with Catholic University of America. For my sister and brother-in-law, it was local and had a good religious atmosphere, and for my niece, it had solid academic programs and quick access to the city. I spent many years at CUA, earning my doctorate,...