Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone is under attack by powerful forces within the city who want him to abandon plans to require Catholic high school teachers to uphold Catholic teachings in their professional and public lives.
A variety of news sources have been reporting on the plight of Archbishop Cordileone who came under fire last month when he proposed new morals clauses in teacher contracts that would require teachers to “arrange and conduct their lives so as not to visibly contradict, undermine or deny” church teachings, such as its opposition to abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage.
Faculty would be required to refrain from publicly supporting “any cause or issue that is explicitly or implicitly contrary to that which the Catholic Church holds to be true . . .”
As the Archbishop recently clarified, a “Catholic school relies on its teachers to share basic Catholic insights concerning truth with students, in order to accompany their students on the path of discovering, appreciating and appropriating the truth.”
The revised language aims to “help the schools better fulfill their mission, and also highlight for teachers true Catholic teachings that are contested by many people in secular society today.”
But that’s not how some teachers see it.
“This language in this judgmental context undermines the mission of Catholic education and the inclusive, diverse and welcoming community we prize at our schools,” said Sacred Heart Cathedral teacher Jim Jordan, who helped organize a campaign against the new contract.
This resulted in a protest involving about 100 people outside San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Cathedral on Ash Wednesday to protest the proposal.
Sam Singer
Although it was hardly a large gathering, the San Francisco Weekly claimed the protest “bore the signature slickness of a Singer campaign, drawing news coverage across San Francisco, and all the way down to Santa Cruz.”
They were referring to media maven Sam Singer, a hired gun with a big price tag who admitted that he had been hired to launch a media blitz to defeat the Archbishop’s policies. He claims to have been hired by “concerned parents” and teachers who oppose the new contract, but that seems doubtful.
“Such a campaign is expensive,” said Anne B. Hendershott for National Review. “And Singer is no ideologue. His work history shows him to be a hired gun, willing to work for the highest bidder.”
Whoever hired him, had very deep pockets. Who else could afford the same man who managed to convince the world that the horrific killing of a teen by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo in 2007 was the teen’s fault for taunting the animal?
Now he’s turning those skills on the Church, feeding the media with stories of “concerned Catholic parents” and “oppressive priests”, Hendershott writes.
Singer is sending out incendiary tweets and posts such as “Everyone is praying that the Pope will remove the San Francisco Archbishop and these priests,” and “A revolution is brewing in S.F. Catholic Church against Archbishop Cordileone morality clauses.”
Sadly, it’s working. As of today, 80 percent of the faculty and staff at the high schools where the new contracts are being proposed have signed on to a letter of protest.
St. Mary’s Cathedral in
San Francisco
As a result, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has now decided to pile on by passing a resolution urging the Archbishop to respect the rights of teachers and administrators who obviously don’t want to abide by Catholic teaching in their professions.
“These actions really conflict with the values of San Francisco,” said Supervisor Mark Farrell, who introduced the resolution. “In San Francisco, we stand up for everyone. We stand up for our LGBT community and honor and embrace those who do the same.”
Catholic League president Bill Donohue sent a blistering letter to Farrell which chastises the city for the many errors of fact contained in the resolution, such as the statement found in paragraph three: “The biggest lie is found in paragraph three: ‘Whereas the City of San Francisco also respects the autonomy of the Archdiocese of San Francisco . . .”
“It is a lie,” Donohue points out, “because most of what follows proves that you and your colleagues have nothing but contempt for the autonomy of the archdiocese. As such, your palpable hostility to the doctrinal prerogatives of the archdiocese has grave First Amendment implications.”
He goes on to chide, “It is not the business of the state to police the internal affairs of any religious institution. Were a clergyman to lecture the Board of Supervisors on what its employment policies ought to be, it would be greeted with howels of protest citing separation of church and state. The establishment provision of the First Amendment cuts both ways.”
In spite of Singer’s skewed presentation of the issue, not all Catholics in San Francisco are against the Archbishop. The commenters who weighed in on the California Catholic’s article are unanimously in favor of what he’s doing and think the teachers should either agree to the new moral clause or leave. Some even suggest shutting the schools down.
Fr. Michael commented “80% of faculty and staff signed the petitions? Wow, methinks it is time for a major change in the high schools or shutting them down.”
Some local papers say Cordileone doesn’t have a prayer against the likes of Sam Singer, but Hendershott disagrees.
“That’s false. Archbishop Cordileone has an abundance of prayers — of countless Catholics across the country who are increasingly alarmed by the attacks on their Church. Faithful Catholics are beginning to mobilize under the leadership of their own courageous bishops and priests. Prayer is powerful. When combined with a willingness to fight back, it can be unstoppable. This war is not over. The fight has just begun.”
Email the Archbishop at info@sfarchdiocese.org or call (415) 614-5500 to express your support!
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