SOUTH BEND — Saint Mary’s College recently added a statement to its employment policy stating the college is committed to avoiding discrimination based on sexual or political orientation.
The change was approved by the college’s board of trustees during the summer.
…It’s only fair to not discriminate against things you can’t change. I think it’s good they added these (items),” said freshman Lisa Teague, of New Bremen, Ohio. “It’s a good step forward.”
“It’s definitely a liberal step to take. I don’t know if I’m in support of it or not,” said junior Brigid Kelly, of Cincinnati.
Sister Kathleen Dolphin thinks the new policy is a good idea.
“It contributes to a healthy sense of plurality at the college,” said Dolphin, a member of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Dolphin is director of the college’s Center for Spirituality and an instructor in the religious studies department.
The change is based on Catholic social teaching that views each human as being a valuable individual, Dolphin said.
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Political Orientation? I suffer from Conservative Philosophy Attraction (CPA), so it is a good thing that those like me could still get employment at a Catholic College. I don’t think that Political Orientation is genetic since I once suffered from Liberal Philosophy Attraction or maybe my CPA was just in remission for a while. Or we can get the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove conservatism from their category of diseases. The APA could also deem that “conversion” or “reparative” therapy to convert Conservatives to a more politically correct outlook as unethical. We could then make a deal with liberals that if we stay out of their bedrooms, that they will stay out of our courtrooms.
My books on Catholicism must be out of date and I must be missing a supplement from the Catechism. I can’t seem to find where plurality is a virtue. If someone is to teach religious studies who suffers from Same Sex Attraction and they are not living a chaste life then probably they will not teach Catholic truth. I doubt they would hire a holocaust-denying historian and then say under Catholic social teaching each human is viewed as being a valuable individual. Would the Harvey Milk High School in New York City hire a teacher who fervently believes that homosexual acts are disordered? This is just par for the course for in name only Catholic colleges.
3 comments
Greetings Jeff!
You wrote:
My books on Catholicism must be out of date and I must be missing a supplement from the Catechism. I can’t seem to find where plurality is a virtue.
I’m not sure the word “plurality” is used, but how about this passage from the CCC:
814 From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by a great diversity which comes from both the variety of God’s gifts and the diversity of those who receive them. Within the unity of the People of God, a multiplicity of peoples and cultures is gathered together. Among the Church’s members, there are different gifts, offices, conditions, and ways of life. “Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions.”263 The great richness of such diversity is not opposed to the Church’s unity. Yet sin and the burden of its consequences constantly threaten the gift of unity. And so the Apostle has to exhort Christians to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”264 [Italics in original]
Footnotes:
263 LG 13 � 2.
264 Eph 4:3.
It seems to me that diversity can be interpreted as a legitimate pluralism, couldn’t it?
Whatever this diversity is, how does it find expression in the Church?
Peace and Blessings!
jcecil3
jcecil3, I think it supremely important to balance that plurality with unity in the Spirit of Truth. Any acceptance of homosexual behavior is *illegitimate* pluralism.
Diversity has it’s place but not pluralism just for the sake of pluralism. Look at the many thousands of religious orders all with different charisms. That millions of saints who are not just cookie cutter shaped. The universal church has plenty of room for all that is true. Plenty of room for working with doctrine and coming to even fuller understandings of the mysteries of the Church.
My problem is with when Catholic institutions adopt the very words of homosexual activists such as sexual orientation. Our orientation should be toward God and not to define our very being by sexual attraction. I look to people like David Morrison as the true counter-cultural heroes. People that are struggling toward holiness just like most of us are. Unfortunately most of the activists want to change the church and not themselves.
All diversity that leads to true holiness is valid diversity, but we must never hold errors at the same level as truth.