No Place in Catholic Schools for Abortion Supporters
Dear Friends in Christ,
Over the past week, you may have read about a clarifying canonical directive that I issued to the administration of Loretto High School in Sacramento regarding disqualification for employment as a teacher in the Catholic educational apostolate in our Diocese. The incident in question arose as a result of the hiring of a teacher, who until as recently as a month before her employment at Loretto High School in Sacramento, was actively engaged in pro-abortion activism, including volunteer work escorting women and girls into a local Planned Parenthood clinic and advocating against parental notification requirements applicable to teens seeking abortions. The dismissal of this particular teacher by Loretto High School administrators has been widely covered in the media.
Transpiring during October, "Respect Life" month, these events have presented the people of our Diocese with an opportunity to reflect upon the centrality of the Gospel of Life to our Catholic faith and to recall the fundamental purpose and mission of the Catholic educational apostolate in the life of our Church. As Pope John Paul II reminds us, in his 1994 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, "[t]he Gospel of Life is at the heart of Jesus' message. Lovingly received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached with dauntless fidelity as `good news' to the people of every age and culture."1
We are all called to witness to that timelessly fundamental tenet of our Faith, that "[h]uman life is sacred because from its beginning it involves `the creative action of God,' and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can, in any circumstance, claim for himself the right to destroy directly an innocent human being."2 Accordingly, we believe as faithful disciples of Christ, that abortion is a crime which no human law can claim to legitimize.3 To this end, each of us is called to proclaim Christ's Truth in our words, our deeds, and our lives.
The principle mission and objective of Catholic education is the formation of our young people into intellectually mature adults and faithful disciples of the Lord, in complete fidelity to the Gospel and the teachings and traditions of the Church. Catholic education is directed to the spiritual and intellectual formation of the whole person.4 Although all school teachers serve as role models for their students, Catholic school teachers have an additional responsibility, by virtue of the unique mission of Catholic education, to witness the Gospel in their teaching and their lives.5 As sacred Scripture reminds us, "I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works" (James 2:18).
If we are to form faithful Catholic young people and provide suitable role models for such formation, teachers in our Catholic schools must themselves be witnesses to the Truth proclaimed in the Gospel, conducting themselves by word and deed in accordance with the Truths of our Faith. Their witness does not end when the school bell rings at the end of the day or the school year concludes at the beginning of summer.
Thus, persons who engage in activities fundamentally opposed to the teachings and beliefs of our Faith are disqualified from collaborating in the educational apostolate of the Church as principals, teachers, teacher's aides, or catechists. To this end, any person who has actively and publicly advocated or participated in activities contrary to the Gospel of Life, such as supporting or promoting abortion, lacks the threshold qualifications essential to minister to our young people in the Catholic educational apostolate. There is no place for such persons in the Catholic educational system in the Diocese of Sacramento. This has been, and continues to be, the policy of the Diocese and, as such, is reflected in the employment materials and contracts received by all Diocesan Catholic school teachers.
As we conclude the observance of "Respect Life" month, I call upon the faithful of the Diocese of Sacramento to reflect and pray upon these important teachings and beliefs of our Catholic faith and to join me in support of the Gospel of Life both in our public lives and in our personal lives.
Sincerely in the Lord,
William K. Weigand
Bishop of Sacramento
1 John Paul II, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae), no. 1.
2 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation (Donum Vitae), February 22, 1987, Introduction, no. 5: AAS 80 (1988) 76-77; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2258.
3 John Paul II, The Gospel of Life, no. 73.
4 Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, no. 19.
5 Paul VI, Declaration on Christian Education (Vatican Council II), no. 8.
Sacramento Bishop: No Place in Catholic Schools for Abortion Supporters— By John Henry Western - LifeSiteNews.com
Sacramento Catholic School Expels 15-year-old Student who Alerted Bishop to Abortion Activist Teacher — By John Henry Western - LifeSiteNews.com
This item 6684 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
