by John Quinn,
Courageous Priest
Washington D.C. – Ms. Patricia Wetzel-O’Neill, the executive director of the Center for Catholic Education at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education, attacks Archbishop Charles Chaput’s Archdiocese and a Catholic School started by homeschoolers, at the National Catholic Reporter sponsored “Washington Briefing for the Nation’s Catholic Community.”
It appears that Wetzel-O’Neil wanted to attract some attention as she said, “I’m stirring the pot,” because “we’re on a very slippery slope.”
She Starts by Attacking
Archbishop Charles Chaput’s Archdiocese
A “big question” ask Wetzel-O’Neal is “gay couples — should they be allowed to send their children to Catholic schools? Because in (the Archdiocese of) Denver they were told they were not.” She was referring to a lesbian couple who was frustrated because Catholic rules were actually being enforced by the Archbishop which requested that the couple support Catholic philosophy or not enroll next year. Full article here and here.
“Is it about the kids or the adults?” Wetzel-O’Neal asked.
Archbishop Chaput answered this earlier.
“It is not about punishing the child for the sins of his or her parents,” he said. “It is simply that the lesbian couple is saying that their relationship is a good one that should be accepted by everyone; and the Church cannot agree to that.” He continued that “most parents who send their children to Catholic schools want an environment where the Catholic faith is fully taught and practiced. That simply can’t be done if teachers need to worry about wounding the feelings of their students or about alienating students from their parents. That isn’t fair to anyone—including the wider school community.”
She Continues Her Rampage On a Non-Diocesan
School Teaching Catholic Education
Weitzel-O’Neill also took the offensive on a former Catholic homeschooling group who started the Pope John Paul II Academy as being a “faux Catholic school.” She added that “they’re teaching the Catholic faith, but they’re not approved by any bishop.”
One wonders how attacking those faithful to the Magisterium can correct the direction of our Catholic Schools. She also noted issues with teacher wages being unjust, but she came up with no solution to the rising cost of Catholic Schools, with tuition averaging $7,000 to $30,000 a year in Washington. Wouldn’t this be a social justice concern, attracting the affluent while discriminating against the poor?
Could the real issue with the new Academy be money? Not only are the children getting a strong Catholic education at the Academy, but parents are saving $3,000 for one child and over $7,000 for a family with five children.
It should be noted that the Acadamy, which has added five campuses, is not under diocesan rule. For Ms. Weitzel-O’Neil they could have been considered competition as she was the outgoing superintendent of schools in the Archdiocese of Washington, which closed down many schools mostly serving the under-privileged inner city youth.
Weitzel-O’Neil failed to address the growing concern of many Catholics that our children are getting a good secular education, but finish school ignorant of the Catholic faith. Would she consider that a grave scandal?
Sources: Pope John Paul II Academy, CNS and Catholic Culture
I’m sorry, but I agree with the Archbishop. What does it say to the other students and families with children in that school….that “active” homosexuality is ok? (notice I said “acting out” on homosexual tendencies) I’m tired of catering to people who insist on making up their own rules about the Catholic Faith. We as Catholics desperately need to get serious about our faith, and stop catering to a “Cafeteria Style” of Catholicism. Truth is truth. God doesn’t change the truth just because certain people want their own way. Allowing these homosexual people that live together to be a part of a Catholic School is in essense condoning the situation. The Catholic Church needs to draw the line.