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Bp. Vasa (D. Santa Rosa) under fire for requiring Catholic school teachers to live according to the Faith

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat has an interseting story about an initiative in the local Diocese of Santa Rosa where Most Rev. Robert Vasa is bishop.

It occurred to me as I read this that people who make a push for laity to be more involved in leadership roles in the Church should then willing embrace certain obligation that leaders in the Church take on, including swearing that they adhere to the Church’s teachings an legitimate discipline.  Why should lay people get a pass?   Thus… sign or get out.

Santa Rosa Diocese requires its teachers to reject ‘modern errors’

By MARTIN ESPINOZA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese is requiring its 200 schoolteachers to sign an agreement affirming that “modern errors” such as contraception, abortion, homosexual marriage and euthanasia are “matters that gravely offend human dignity.”  [NEWS FLASH: It is no secret what the Church has always taught about these things.]

The move is an effort by Bishop Robert Vasa to delineate specifically what it means for a Catholic-school teacher — whether Catholic or not — to be a “model of Catholic living” and to adhere to Catholic teaching.

That means means abiding by the Ten Commandments, going to church every Sunday and heeding God’s words in thought, deed and intentions, [Are those unreasonable things to expect from Catholics in leadership and service positions in the Church?  ALL Catholics, for that matter?] according to a private church document that is an “addendum” to language in the current teachers’ contract.

In his two years as Santa Rosa’s bishop, Vasa has attempted to bring his strict[Ooooo!] interpretation of church doctrine to a diocese that historically has had a more tolerant approach. [Get that?  He is therefore probably “intolerant”.  And he is “attempting” to do this… but he’ll fail.  Right?]

But some teachers fear[Ooooo!] the addendum is an invasion[OH NO!] of their private lives and a move toward imposing more rigid Catholic doctrine. [No, that paragraph isn’t loaded with attempts to bias you against the bishop.  Nah.]

“Personally, it’s probably something that I can’t sign,” said a teacher at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa.

John Collins, the diocese superintendent, said the contract language is not an effort to drive certain teachers away or “provoke” them. He said about 25 percent of the teachers are non-Catholic.  [And?]

“People are being invited to grow in an understanding and appreciation and embrace of the Catholic Faith,” he said.

He said he did not expect that many teachers would reject the document, which they must sign if they are to return for the 2013-2014 school year.

The teacher, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions, said he has not made a final decision whether or not to sign the document.

“On my high moral days, [Shouldn’t teachers in Catholic schools strive to have “high moral days” all the time?  What do they do on “low moral days”?] I feel I absolutely won’t sign,” the teacher said. “And on my days that I think about my job, I think who will it affect if I don’t sign it.”

The teacher said he objects to the “whole idea that they want me to live their morals when it’s my personal life what I do outside of work.”

[NB:] But Vasa said that very response is why he felt compelled to write the addendum. He questioned whether someone “can teach what the Catholic Church teaches with zeal and enthusiasm while holding, as they say, ‘in the privacy of their heart’ views that are contrary to Catholic doctrine. [That is a good question.  And Bishop Vasa is not just a Superintendent of Schools or and employer.  He is a bishop, who is above all trying to keep people out of hell.  He is responsible for souls, not jobs.]

He strongly rejected the notion that the letter was a move toward greater religious dogma. “That’s fear mongering, [as we saw a few paragraphs ago] which does not in my view have a foundation in fact,” Vasa said.

“I’m not presuming that the campus is liberal or conservative. I am simply fulfilling my duty and responsibility to make sure that the Catholic faith, as it is presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is clearly and consistently taught in the Catholic institutions of the Diocese.”

[…]

Read the rest over there.

In a Year of Faith… in a time of promoting a “New Evangelization” we have to be clear about who we are.

Otherwise, let’s just shut the doors of our schools and hospitals or sell them off and stop pretending that they are Catholic.

No?

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Bp. Vasa’s new contract is good for students and good for teachers
by Dr. Edward Peters
I don’t see what all the shouting’s about. I really don’t.
Bp. Robert Vasa (Santa Rosa) expects Catholic teachers in Catholic schools to act like Catholics. Is that what has some folks in such a dither?
Vasa’s “addendum” (not sure that’s the best word, frankly) to future teacher contracts, expressly citing documents from Vatican II and Paul VI and implicitly resting on several canons of the 1983 Code, simply formalizes the Church’s perennial recognition that Catholic education is holistic in nature and, consequently, that Catholic educators must practice what they teach. The addendum makes no exaggerated claims about Church teachings and imposes no undue burdens on faculty or administrators. The contract can, in my opinion, be signed without reservation by any Catholic teacher or administrator.
But, besides the obvious concern this contract shows for the well-being of children entrusted to Catholic schools in Santa Rosa, I suggest that the contract is solicitous for the spiritual welfare of the signatories as well: the motivation for Catholic teachers to hold themselves to higher standard than applies to the confreres in non-Catholic schools is explained, concrete examples of where their witness is especially important today are offered, reminders of basic Catholic duties (such as attendance at Sunday Mass) are given, and opportunities for further personal formation are indicated. All of these are signs of a boss who cares about teachers as persons with immortal souls, as well as about their students.
Seriously, what is there to complain about here?

Dr. Edward Peters | March 4, 2013 at 12:50 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p25nov-zg