Monday, March 8, 2010
Who may attend Catholic schools?
I'm all in favor of religious communities managing their own membership boundary lines -- a meaningful sense of belonging presumes a right to exclude -- but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the rationale behind removing the child of same-sex parents from Catholic school. This story is generating the predictable left-right divisions within the blogosphere, and I don't have much interest in contributing on that front. I'm more interested in what this says about the nature and mission of Catholic education. I can see how tailoring the school's teaching to the preferences of parents might cause concern, but assuming that the school stays true to Church teaching, why would the presence of a child being raised by a same-sex couple cause a scandal? And don't the kids who are not exposed to the Church's values at home have the most pressing need for the Catholic school's teaching?
I did not attend Catholic school (nor do my kids), so I'm by no means an expert here -- is it common for kids to get kicked out of Catholic schools based on the conduct or lifestyles of their parents? E.g., Are children of Mafia figures kicked out? Have children of divorced and remarried parents been kicked out? I don't intend these questions to be snarky or rhetorical -- the Church's witness on an issue that is so prone to reflexive accusations of mean-spirited discrimination requires consistent and principled policies. Has the Church been consistent in deciding which children may attend Catholic schools?
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2010/03/who-may-attend-catholic-schools.html
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I have attended Catholic schools my entire life. I can't say that I've ever heard of removing a child because of the parents' failure to adhere to the Church teaching. Of course, that is not to say that: (a) it has never happened; or (b) that doing so is not the correct approach.
I could see a point where society SO far diverges from Church teachings that a Catholic school would have to "make a stand" by excluding some children. My heart breaks at the idea of a child being punished for the actions of her parents. On the other hand, I do understand that somewhere, somehow, the Church and her affiliates might have to draw a line in the sand and push back against societal mores that clearly and openly (defiantly?) contradict the Church's positions. Where that line lies...I have no idea, but I do think it's out there somewhere.