Darned Either Way

I’ve been watching Fr. Martin’s wailing and gnashing of teeth on twitter over this one. https://www.kansascity.com/living/religion/article227148974.html

Before we look at the situation in Kansas, let’s just take a gander at James Martin, SJ’s tweet on the situation and highlight his lack of logic.

https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1105095360115032064

This is baloney. There are all sorts of parents who do not conform to Catholic teaching and whose children are enrolled in Catholic schools: divorced and remarried parents, divorced parents, parents who use birth control, parents who use IVF, etc. As well as parents who do not conform to the deeper Catholic teachings of following the Gospels overall, and who fail to forgive, fail to love their enemies and fail to give to the poor. The only Catholic teachings that seem to matter are those applying to LGBT people and their sexual morality. In this case, these rules are being applied selectively and used to target LGBT people specifically, as well as punishing the child. They are an example of what the Catechism calls “unjust discrimination” against LGBT people.

Can anyone tell me why this isn’t unjust discrimination? Anyone? Oh, let me.

When you see a heterosexual pair present themselves as little Johnny’s parents, do you know if they are divorced and remarried? Do you know if they use birth control? Do you know if they have used IVF? Do you know if they’ve failed to forgive, failed to love their enemies, failed to give to the poor? Nope.

Now, when you see a same-sex pair present themselves as little Johnny’s dads or moms, can you tell there’s something wrong without knowing a single thing more? Yep.

Fr. Martin is insisting that public and private sins are the same, but they are not. A kindergartner isn’t going to look at a heterosexual pair holding hands with each other, giving each other a kiss, etc., and know they’re not married unless somebody tells them. This is not the same with a same-sex couple. And I’m talking REAL marriage as the Church defines it, since we are talking Catholic school kids.

Fr. Martin is all too on board with having Catholic schools completely set up to either fail or be overwhelmed them with drama and lawsuits. His goal is to fill the schools with homosexual couples and their children, and should they be rejected, he’ll use them as martyrs.

Has anyone pointed out what will happen when a school accepts children of same-sex couples and dares to teach Catholicism?! The liberals have. They will then have ready-made martyrs, because how in the heck is that going to make the child of lesbian parents feel? But who is really doing the martyring? Talk about subjecting your child to pain. Of course, it’s just priming the whole system for lawsuits.

Archbishop Naumann was either going to pay now or pay later. He chose to pay now and protect the rest of the students from scandal, as well as protect this child from the inevitable ill-feelings they are going to have hearing that their two dads’ lifestyle goes against the teachings of the Church. It’s super sad for little Johnny to be the child of a same-sex couple, pure and simple. This is why the Church opposes both IVF and “gay adoption.” Inevitably, the child will be harmed, but it’s not by the Church. That is not the fault of the other students in the class nor the Catholic Church. It is from insisting on having little Johnny attend a school that runs counter to his home life. That is selfish of the parents, not the rest of the world.

JoCo Catholic school bans gay couple’s kindergartner. Hundreds of parents protest

BY KATY BERGEN

UPDATED MARCH 07, 2019 06:53 PM

A Prairie Village Roman Catholic grade school this year denied enrollment to a kindergartner who is the child of a same-sex couple. Now almost 1,000 people have signed a petition asking church leaders to reconsider.

The petition over St. Ann Catholic School on Mission Road is addressed to Archbishop Joseph Naumann and school Superintendent Kathy O’Hara. About half of the people who signed it are members of St. Ann.

The members of St. Ann’s apparently aren’t catechized very well, or else they’ve simply allowed their heart-strings to be tugged and haven’t thought of the outcome of allowing a child of a same-sex couple into their school. If you think it’s sad that a child can’t attend a school, imagine how sad it will be when the child is forced to hear Catholic teaching. The horrors! I mean, how dare a Catholic school teach the Catholic truth if it’s going to upset a child! The school, upon admission, would simply be forced to give up their Catholic identity. Certainly, all children must be denied the truth of the Catholic Church because we must make sure that no child is ever sad about their family situation!

“Respectfully, we believe that the decision to deny a child of God access to such a wonderful community and education, based on the notion that his or her parent’s union is not in accordance with the Church’s teaching in Sacramental marriage, lacks the compassion and mercy of Christ’s message,” the petition reads.

You know what goes against the teachings of the Catholic Church? Not telling someone the truth because their feelings might be hurt! It’s not a “notion that his or her parent’s union is not in accordance with the Church’s teaching on Sacramental marriage.” It’s a FACT! Telling someone that life is just peachy when it’s not is where the lack of compassion comes in. The compassionate one here is the archdiocese in sticking to their guns and avoiding an increasing conflict.

But in a statement to The Star on Wednesday, O’Hara said the “Church’s teaching on marriage is clear and is not altered by the laws of civil society.” Catholic doctrine recognizes marriage “as a sacrament entered into between a man and woman.

“The Church teaches that individuals with same sex attraction should be treated with dignity,” the statement read. “However, the challenge regarding same sex couples and our Catholic schools is that same sex parents cannot model behaviors and attitudes regarding marriage and sexual morality consistent with essential components of the Church’s teachings.”

Amen, Kathy O’Hara! It’s just another instance of scandalizing children. Just because the parents are going to do what they are going to do and put their child in a miserable situation doesn’t mean the archdiocese has to be blackmailed into scandalizing anyone else.

Many parents learned of the decision last month, when St. Ann’s pastor, the Rev. Craig J. Maxim, sent a letter home to families.

Maxim told them he had sought guidance from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas when the same-sex couple asked to enroll their child in kindergarten this year. He wrote that the school must adhere to the archdiocese on the “application of Church doctrine.

The archdiocese advised against accepting the child, he said, because the parents could not “model behaviors and attitudes consistent with the Church’s teachings.”

This creates a conflict for those children and what is experienced at home,” Maxim wrote. “It also could become a source of confusion for other school children.”

Again, duh! Anyone with a heart doesn’t want their child to be the center of conflict. Sadly, parents who want to be social justice warriors tend to never have their children’s best interests at heart. They are simply pawns. If these parents truly cared about their children, they might have considered that there would be a problem and have enrolled their child in some other private school that agreed with them so their children wouldn’t ever have to hear that their parent’s lifestyle was a sin, but no. They chose to try to enroll their child in a school where they KNEW the core teachings were in conflict with their lifestyle. So please, save it. The only villain here is the couple who’s probably just trying to bring a personal injury lawsuit and bank the cash.

While some dioceses across the country allow children of same-sex parents, the local archdiocese’s stance applies to all of its schools.

Again, thank you, Archnishop Naumann!

The petition against the decision, which was written and circulated this month by another couple, points out that the school already accepts students who are not Catholic. It also asked the archdiocese to consider the many ways — including divorce, vasectomies, remarriage without annulment and fertility treatment — that “modern marriages may be inconsistent with the Church’s teaching.”

Well, somebody has been advised by Fr. James Martin. No, you don’t get to play this lame card. There’s a difference between a private sin and a public sin. Heck, every parent is the school is a sinner, right? You’re a sinner. I’m a sinner. I don’t walk around saying, “Accept my sin or you’re a great big meanie!” That’s exactly what’s going on here, though. Some of us have a conscience and feel shame. We don’t walk around bragging about our sins, but this couple has ZERO problem with it. In fact, they chose to compound it by scandalizing a child.

Maxim directed requests for comment to O’Hara. But he wrote to parishioners and school families that he had been “distressed over the division this sensitive and complex issue has caused within our school and church.

“These parishioners and I plan to continue dialog with each other and the Archdiocese,” Maxim wrote. “This is not an attempt to undermine Church doctrine but to find common understanding to meet the ever-changing landscape of our society.”

I have no idea where the pastor is going here. The only common understanding that can be reached to allow this child to attend is for the parents to no longer live as a couple and join the rest of us in struggling against our attachment to sin. Once we move into the “Yep, I’m a sinner, accept my sin!” mode, the archdiocese can’t accept that.

Nationwide, other Catholic dioceses have grappled with questions over how much — if at all — they should adapt to changing attitudes about gay marriage and gay clergy.

Last year, a priest on Hilton Head Island would not allow the children of a married lesbian couple to enroll in Catholic school, prompting backlash from other parents and calls of discrimination. That diocese, based in Charleston, S.C., did not have a policy for children of same-sex couples and left enrollment decisions up to individual priests.

Yeah, that’s totally wrong. The archdiocese should be Catholic and they should back their priests and guide them with an official policy.

In Massachusetts after a similar incident, the Archdiocese of Boston ultimately approved a policy saying Catholic schools would not exclude “any categories of students.”

I wouldn’t expect anything different from the Archdiocese of Boston. They’ve been a mess forever.

Pope Francis has also signaled a willingness for the church to expand the conversation on LGBTQ members, even as it opposes gay marriage.

“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” he famously said in 2013.

Taken out of context again, as usual. Still, there is no problem with conversing with anyone. There is a problem acquiescing to sin.

The news from St. Ann comes one week after another denomination, the United Methodist Church, found itself divided over religious doctrine and the drive to become more inclusive.

That church voted at a worldwide conference to strengthen its ban on same-sex marriage and the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clergy. The decision led several Kansas City-area church leaders — including Adam Hamilton of Leawood’s Church of the Resurrection, the largest Methodist church in the country — to talk of breaking off from the group.

Presbyterian and Episcopal church leaders have faced similar divisions.

Good for them. And, when you dissent from your church you really should go start your own group instead of suing like crazy in hopes of breaking the bank and getting your way.

The archdiocese’s statement said it “respects that some may disagree with essential elements of our moral teaching,” and indicated that it would remain firm in its stance.

We do not feel it is respectful of such individuals, nor is it fair, loving or compassionate to place their children in an education environment where the values of the parents and the core principles of the school conflict,” it read. “For these reasons, the Archdiocese has advised against the admission into our Catholic schools of children of same sex unions.”

See? They thought it through and considered the best interest of ALL the children. This is what should be done in every diocese of the entire world. Put the children first! How hard of a concept is this? Stop using the children as your poker chip in a social justice game. If you don’t buy the doctrines of the Church, don’t send your kid to a Catholic school and expect the school just to give you thumbs up on scandalizing children.

I’m sure any diocese that instills this policy will face lawsuits. Guess what? You’re in a no-win situation, bishops and cardinals. You will likely be sued if you do (assuming you’re planning on actually teaching Catholicism, which will make little Johnny sad because his parents don’t care if he feels bad as long as they can win their little game) and sued if you don’t. At least in the former scenario, thousands of other kids are kept from being scandalized.

So, one more time, we’re talking public sin versus private sin. If you’re willing to expose your children to your personal sins and champion them as if they are good, yeah, think about another school to send your kids to and stop acting as if the religious organization who runs the school is evil because they follow their doctrines.

Please take the time to drop Archbishop Naumann a line of support.
archkck@archkck.org

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, D.D.

Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas

12615 Parallel Parkway

Kansas City, Kansas 66109