Tag: Homophobia

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Columbus Diocese Fires Gay Teacher, Coach

File under: insulated, monolithic, callous, tone deaf leadership.

by Bob Vitale

Bishop Watterson High School students are fighting for a longtime physical education teacher and coach they say was fired by the Catholic Diocese of Columbus because she’s gay.

schoolgoodnewsmapCarla Hale is liked and respected by students and colleagues, but people close to her and the school say she was terminated after Bishop Watterson and church officials were told that she included her partner, Julie, in her mother’s newspaper obituary.

Students began an online petition yesterday that has been gaining about 100 supporters per hour. It was up to 2,800 by noon today.

The petition calls Hale a beloved teacher “who cared for her students and treated each one with respect.”

“The school, however, did not reciprocate that respect in its treatment of her,” reads the petition, started by Watterson senior Jackson Garrity. “Discrimination and injustice is something that we all have a duty to fight in today’s society. … The school claims its mission is to teach its students about love, acceptance, and tolerance, and yet it did none of this in the way it treated Ms. Hale. That is why we all have to stand up together and let it be known that this decision is unacceptable.”

Garrity said students learned of Hale’s firing this week, although they weren’t told directly by the school. The school didn’t tell faculty either, others said.bishop with the porn mustache

“She’s a great lady,” a former colleague said of Hale. “She’s totally dedicated to her students.”

Two people who know others who’ve spoken to Hale told Outlook the details of her termination. Hale’s mother, Jeanne E. Roe of Powell, passed away on Feb. 25, and her obituary appeared in The Columbus Dispatch the next day. Hale’s partner, Julie, was listed among Roe’s survivors. That is what prompted school officials to fire Hale, the source said.

“My classmates and I feel very passionately about this issue,” Garrity told Outlook by email. “We (the senior class) agreed that we needed to take a stand as leaders and voice our opinions.”

Other Watterson students, parents and alumni have voiced their anger at the school as well. Here’s a sampling of comments:

“Bishop Watterson demands that we all treat each other with equality and respect. I hope they see that their students are standing up for the morally right thing, not to just rebel against the school. Carla Hale is a child of God and equal in his eyes to all of us. Bishop Watterson needs to recognize that.”

“Ms. Hale was a fantastic PE teacher, she encouraged everyone to be a part of the games and activities we did in class. This made the class more fun for everyone. She was always fair towards me, even in my freshman year when I was rude and disrespectful in her class. … To see the treatment of a woman who has given so much time to the Watterson community as a teacher, coach, and much more is just sickening. Judging and discriminating against people on the basis of their sexuality is not what God wanted at all. … I want Ms. Hale reinstated to the school because regardless of her sexuality (which is no one’s business but her own), she is a great teacher, and a fantastic woman and role model.”

“When I was a student at Bishop Watterson, we were always taught to treat others with dignity and compassion. As an alumni, I still credit Bishop Watterson with shaping me into the person I am today — both morally and ethically. I am deeply saddened to learn that, in spite of what Watterson taught me about respect for all humanity, a longstanding and well-respected faculty member was treated so unfairly. Ms. Hale has always been an excellent coach and teacher. Her sexual orientation and lifestyle choices have no bearing on her capacity to educate her students and should NOT be grounds for termination of employment.”

“My kids go to Bishop Watterson. I want them to see a model of tolerance and love, not discrimination.”

“As a graduate of Watterson I am deeply disappointed that my former school seems to have lost sight of one of their core principles — to love and respect others. I truly hope Watterson realizes their mistake before teaching students that it is acceptable to judge another person for any reason, let alone for loving someone. Ms. Hale please know that we support you.”

Someone who signed the petition with the name of Hale’s daughter wrote: “Discrimination against someone for their sexuality is wrong. It is not our place to judge someone especially based on these terms. She is an amazing mother, friend, teacher, and all around person. That is how people should see her!”

Hale still is listed on Watterson’s website as head of the school’s health and physical education department.

Bishop Watterson Principal Marian Hutson didn’t respond to Outlook’s request for comment. Diocese spokesman George Jones said it’s church policy not to comment on personnel matters.

It’s the second time this year that Catholic schools in Ohio have fired educators for ties to the LGBT community. In February, Mike Moroski, an assistant principal at Purcell Marian High School in Cincinnati, was fired by the Cincinnati Archiocese after he stated his support for marriage equality on his personal blog.

Complete Article HERE!

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Zambia gay rights activist Paul Kasonkomona arrested

A prominent gay rights activist has been arrested in Zambia after appearing on a live television calling for same-sex relations to be decriminalised.

Paul Kasonkomona had been charged with “inciting the public to take part in indecent activities”, police chief Solomon Jere told AFP news agency.

Paul-KasonkomonaHe was detained as he stepped out of the studios of privately owned Muvi TV in the capital, it reports.

Homosexual acts are illegal in deeply conservative Zambia.

Correspondents say many people believe that it is contrary to their religious beliefs.
Petition

Sources at the television station in Lusaka told AFP that police tried to stop the interview and take Mr Kasonkomona off air but the management refused.

South Africa-based campaign group Ndifuna Ukwazi demanded Mr Kasonkomona’s release, in an online petition addressed to Zambia’s President Michael Sata.

“We further urge your government to immediately start a process to decriminalise consensual sex between adults in private irrespective of sexual orientation and gender identity,” the group said.

“This means repealing the laws introduced by the British colonial administration and codified in the Zambian penal code.”

All consensual adult same-sex acts are criminalised in Zambia, Ndifuna Ukwazi said.

Offences such as sodomy, or sex between women, carry a minimum sentence of 15 years or a maximum of life, it added.

“Indecent same-sex practices” – probably a reference to holding hands, kissing and masturbation between adults or alone – carries a minimum sentence of seven years or a maximum of 14 years, the group said.

Last week, a group of gay couples attempted to register their marriages but were stopped and the government ordered the arrest of anyone practising homosexuality, AFP reports.

The European Union last month offered financial support for organisations that wanted to promote the rights of gay people in Zambia, it said.

In 2011, both the UK and US warned they would use foreign aid to push for homosexuality to be decriminalised in Africa.

South Africa is one of the few African countries where it is legal.

Complete Article HERE!

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Two Catholic Leaders Advise Denying Communion to Marriage Equality Supporters

Detroit Catholic leaders, one a legal adviser to the Vatican, suggest those who support gay marriage be denied Communion. Compare this to news that the Vatican collaborated with another murderous dictator.

By Niraj Warikoo

A Detroit professor and legal adviser to the Vatican says Catholics who promote gay marriage should not try to receive holy Communion, a key part of Catholic identity.

And the archbishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, said Sunday that Catholics who receive Communion while advocating gay marriage would “logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.”

The comments of Vigneron and Edward Peters, who teaches Catholic canon law at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, are part of a polarizing discussion about gay marriage that echoes debate over whether politicians who advocate abortion rights should receive Communion.

In a post on his blog last week, Peters said that Catholic teachings make it clear that marriage is between one man and one woman. And so, “Catholics who promote ‘same-sex marriage’ act contrary to” Catholic law “and should not approach for holy Communion,” he wrote. “They also risk having holy Communion withheld from them … being rebuked and/or being sanctioned.”

Peters didn’t specify a Catholic politician or public figure in his post. But he told the Free Press that a person’s “public efforts to change society’s definition of marriage … amount to committing objectively wrong actions.”

Peters, an attorney and the Edmund Cardinal Szoka chairman at Sacred Heart, was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to be a referendary of the Apostolic Sinatura, which means he helps advise the top judicial authority in the Catholic Church. Peters’ blog, “In Light of the Law,” is popular among Catholic experts, but not everyone agrees with his traditional views.

“Most American bishops do not favor denying either politicians or voters Communion because of their positions on controversial issues,” said Thomas Reese, a Catholic priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. Reese said that Peters’ views are “in a minority among American canon lawyers.”

But, Reese added, “about 30 or so bishops have said that pro-choice or pro-gay-marriage Catholics should not present themselves for Communion.”

Peters has said before that liberal Catholic Democrats, such as U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, should be denied Communion because of their statements and positions.

In 2011, Peters said that Cuomo should not receive Communion because he is an outspoken proponent of gay marriage. Last month, Peters said, “Pelosi suffers from one of the most malformed consciences in the annals of American Catholic politics or … she is simply hell-bent on using her Catholic identity to attack Catholic values at pretty much every opportunity.”

In 2002, Catholic Jennifer Granholm’s support of abortion rights became an issue in the gubernatorial race a month before the election, when Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida released a letter saying Catholic politicians had a “special moral obligation” to oppose abortion.

Last month, Vigneron said at a news conference that maintaining views that oppose abortion and support traditional marriage are important for Catholics.

“Were we to abandon them, we would be like physicians who didn’t tell their patients that certain forms of behavior are not really in their best interest,” said Vigneron, who oversees 1.3 million Catholics in southeastern Michigan.

On Sunday, Vigneron said about supporting gay marriage and receiving Communion: “For a Catholic to receive holy Communion and still deny the revelation Christ entrusted to the church is to try to say two contradictory things at once: ‘I believe the church offers the saving truth of Jesus, and I reject what the church teaches.’ In effect, they would contradict themselves. This sort of behavior would result in publicly renouncing one’s integrity and logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.”

Vigneron said the church wants to help Catholics “avoid this personal disaster.”

Complete Article HERE!

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Gay man removed from Catholic parish involvement after getting married

The media has made much ado about Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s appearance on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, wherein he claimed that the Roman Catholic Church needs to be better at welcoming gay and lesbian people.

Cardinal Dolan also stated that the Catholic Church isn’t “anti-anybody” and should be a church for all.

Nicholas and David at homeBut his words do not ring true for real life Catholics. In fact, as Cardinal Dolan was expressing his desire to have the church be open to all, one gay Catholic man was being stripped of his roles and responsibilities within his Long Island parish.

Nicholas Coppola is a parishioner at St. Antony’s Roman Catholic Church in Oceanside, New York. His involvement at the church included serving as a religious education instructor, lector, altar server, visitation minister for homebound members, as well as member of the Consolation Ministry and St. Vincent de Paul.

He has been completely out to his parish for years, and has had the support of his priest and fellow parishioners. Mr. Coppola and his husband, David were married on October 27, 2012. A number of parishioners attended their wedding.

Upon returning from his honeymoon in January, Mr. Coppola was called into the office of Fr. Nicholas Lombardi S.J., the pastor of St. Anthony.

Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre received an anonymous letter, informing him of Mr. Coppola.

According to the letter:

“Nicholas Coppola is a Religion Teacher at St. Anthony’s. I have also seen him involved with other Parish work including his name on a board for “THE ST. ANTHONY PROJECT” to raise money for air conditioning in the Church. The problem is that he is a homosexual. He was recently married to another man. He does not hide this or keep it silent.”

The diocese then faxed the letter to Fr. Lombardi, noting that “it would be of concern to you if a catechist were, in fact, ‘married’.”

Fr. Lombardi stated that Mr. Coppola must be removed from all parish involvement. The reason stated was that Mr. Coppola made a public statement by getting married, which is against church teaching.

“I was in shock. I had just come home from my honeymoon. I went to mass on Martin Luther King Day, where we heard a great sermon about justice and equality,” said Mr. Coppola, recalling the meeting.

“After mass, I was summoned into the pastor’s office and told that I could no longer be active in my own parish.”

Mr. Coppola has had two meetings with the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and was informed that the bishop’s ‘hands were tied.’ While the Roman Catholic hierarchy states that it wishes to welcome gay and lesbian people into the church, being in a loving, committed relationship, and seeking protections for that relationship and for one another through civil marriage will exclude one from parish life.

Following Cardinal Dolan’s interview and assertion that the church is welcoming to gay and lesbian people, Mary Ann Walsh, Director of Media Relations, took to Huffington Post to respond to the heightened media attention around Dolan’s claims.

She stated very boldly, “No one is carded at a Catholic Church. Shunning is not the Catholic tradition.”

However, once Nicholas Coppola was identified as a married gay man, he was shunned from the parish.

“When I suffered a back injury that didn’t allow me to work, participating in the ministries at St. Anthony’s gave me a purpose,” said Mr. Coppola.

“Being shunned from a community that means so much to me takes a toll, not just to me, but to those around me. My mom cried. My husband has been a great source of support for me, but he is also struggling with this action. Even my fellow parishioners are hurt and angry that I can’t be involved in the parish anymore.”dolan

Nicholas Coppola is not the first Catholic to be persecuted by Roman Catholic hierarchy.

Several employees of Roman Catholic parishes, schools, and related institutions have been fired for their support for marriage equality, no matter how public or private those beliefs have been.

Dominic Sheahan-Stahl was uninvited to speak at the graduation of his alma mater in Michigan.

Lennon Cihak was denied confirmation after urging people to vote against the anti-marriage amendment in Minnesota.

Most famously in Maryland, Barbara Johnson was denied communion at her own mother’s funeral because she was gay.

“We continue to hear assertions from the hierarchy that the Roman Catholic Church is loving and embracing to all, but the experience of Nicholas Coppola and so many others run counter to those claims,” stated GLAAD’s Director of News and Faith Initiatives, Ross Murray. “Until the hierarchy stops persecuting those within its ranks who support full equality for LGBT people, its message of love and inclusion means nothing.”

Mr. Coppola continues to express his hope for the church. “I want a church that is open to all and loves each one of us the same.”

GLAAD calls on the media to highlight the stories of Nicholas Coppola and others who have been persecuted by the Roman Catholic hierarchy for supporting full equality for LGBT people.

These stories represent the disconnect between words like that of Cardinal Dolan or Sister Walsh and the experience of real LGBT Catholics in America.

They will tell a fuller story of why Catholics overwhelmingly support LGBT equality, including marriage equality, despite virulent opposition from Roman Catholic hierarchy.

Complete Article HERE!