Standards for Teachers in Catholic Schools

[kateri05]

so an issue came up at the allgirls catholic high school that i work at here is the great city of Angels because some students aer supposedly picking on freshman, and by "picking on" i guess i mean preying on, in a lesbian-dating sort of way.

in discussion with another faculty member (semi-practicing Jewish woman), it came up about a bunch of other faculty (women) who are lesbians and how this is unspoken common knowledge. they don't bring their partners to functions or anything, but the fact that they are gay is known and yet undiscussed. and i would wager to guess (because teens aren't stupid), many students know. in fact, because of the high level of unprofessionalism between students and teachers here, im sure some students do know, for a fact.

so while talking about this with the faculty mentioned above, i was trying to form my own opinions. she doesn't think it matters because "we live in the real world" and we can't be the morality police etc etc. peoples personal lives are their issues as long as they keep them separate. but i don't think i completely agree with that. i dont think i SHOULD agree with that.

shouldn't teachers, educators of young people, ESPECIALLY in a catholic school, be held to a higher standard than simply keeping their personal lives private? i'm honestly concerned about the scandal issue here and what it says to the young people whos consciences we are trying to form. afterall, one of the people on the faculty with a supposed non-heterosexual orientation is an alum!

and its not just about being gay or not. in our contracts for the archdiocese, you aren't allowed to be divorced (actually, thats what i'm told; i would suspect its not about divorce at all, its about adultery, so you cant be divorced and remarried), but teachers definitely are. we have a teacher who just got married and his wife had a baby in november.... they were married in july. before that point, he was above reproach. hes a practicing catholic, attends church, involved in his parish; he made a mistake. what should the response be? i'm most definitely not saying that he should be fired or anything like that. i mean, i know that i've certainly made lots of them too and definitely not things that a teacher "should" do. but at the same time, students "know."

God is full of love and mercy and if sinners couldn't be teachers, we'd be in big trouble. but where is the line? how can we teach morality that people don't at least TRY to live themselves? what kind of hypocrits are we to claim to teach the catholic faith when by example, we teach the exact opposite?

i'm trying really hard not to sound like the morality police. i don't want to judge people's hearts, i've got my own problems and sins and so forth. but what about the example we set, the example we are supposed to be teaching to these students? i'm not on the same page with the teachers i work with; many of them aren't catholic, and some of the others are "who-cares" catholic.

all i do know is, when i become a parent (well if <<crosses fingers>>, God willing), i could never send my child to a catholic school. at least the way they are now.

so yea. thoughts?

Edited March 13, 2006 by kateri05

[Sojourner]

Oddly enough, I just read about a situation along these lines at the [url="http://www.startribune.com/1592/story/163968.html"]University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. [/url]
The school is in the process of revamping its travel procedures, and told two unmarried but long-time cohabitating professors they had to rent two rooms on a school trip, although whether they slept in both or in one or the other was up to them. The profs opted not to go on the trip.

[url="http://www.stthomas.edu/aquin/letter030306.html"]Here's a protest letter from faculty and staff ... [/url]

And here are comments from UT Law professor Rob Vischer about why he did not sign the protest letter:
[quote]I would be more sympathetic to [this] resolution if it simply called for travel privileges for same-sex partners who are in long-term, committed relationships and are legally precluded from pursuing more formal recognition of those relationships.  That proposal would still stand in tension with the school’s Catholic identity, but it would raise a different set of considerations than the broader and, in my view, more radical suggestion that a faculty member’s choice of travel partner is none of the school’s business.  The implicit presumption is that faculty members are teachers by instruction, but not by the behavior they model – or at least that the modeling function is limited to circumstances chosen by the faculty member.

If I paid tuition for my child to attend any college, Catholic or not, and the faculty chaperone on a trip abroad slept with a different partner at every stop on the journey, for example, I would certainly complain to the administration.  And if the administration responded to my complaint with “that’s none of our business,” I would wonder what sort of formation process is contemplated at that institution.  If I go out for drinks with students one evening and end up getting falling-down drunk, that’s no longer just my personal business; I’ve made it the school’s business by modeling my behavior for students.

The resolution should strike us at the law school as especially problematic because we’ve set out a distinct mission of educating the whole person, which puts the burden on us to know that we’re being watched, not just listened to.  If folks want to have a conversation about what sorts of relationships are legitimate models for students on university-sponsored trips, that’s one thing.  But to suggest that our choice of travel partners is irrelevant to the formation of students that occurs – intentionally or not – on such trips, that’s quite another.[/quote]

[kateri05]

i love the line from the professor:
...we’ve set out a distinct mission of educating the whole person, which puts the burden on us to know that [b]we’re being watched, not just listened to. [/b]

and thats at the university level where consciences are much more "formed" if you will.

i'm talking about high school and elementary school, esp high school where sexual identity is such a HUGE issue as young people seek to define themselves. how can we claim to be giving them the tools they need to do so if the teachers are not using those tools? what we DO does matter because we are living witnesses of the Body of Christ, ESPECIALLY to our students.

or, maybe, we're not actually claiming to do that anymore we just want everyone to have nice, warm fuzzy relationship with Jesus and thats that

Edited March 13, 2006 by kateri05

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Sojourner' date='Mar 13 2006, 10:52 AM']I've made it the school’s business by modeling my behavior for students.[right][snapback]910306[/snapback][/right][/quote]i think this quote is key

[homeschoolmom]

For the record-- St. Paul, not Minneapolis.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Mar 13 2006, 01:02 PM']For the record-- St. Paul, not Minneapolis.
[right][snapback]910325[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
Oh, you're right ... the law school (which Vischer is with and which is how I heard about it) is in Minneapolis, but the undergrad is in St. Paul.

[Theoketos]

Read Ex Corde Ecclesia

[quote][b]
22. University teachers should seek to improve their competence and endeavour to set the content, objectives, methods, and results of research in an individual discipline within the framework of a coherent world vision. Christians among the teachers are called to be witnesses and educators of authentic Christian life, which evidences attained integration between faith and life, and between professional competence and Christian wisdom. All teachers are to be inspired by academic ideals and by the principles of an authentically human life.[/b][/quote]

And Also

[quote]Article 4.

§ 1. The responsibility for maintaining and strengthening the Catholic identity of the University rests primarily with the University itself. While this responsibility is entrusted principally to university authorities (including, when the positions exist, the Chancellor and/or a Board of Trustees or equivalent body), it is shared in varying degrees by all members of the university community, and therefore calls for the recruitment of adequate university personnel, especially teachers and administrators, who are both willing and able to promote that identity. The identity of a Catholic University is essentially linked to the quality of its teachers and to respect for Catholic doctrine. It is the responsibility of the competent Authority to watch over these two fundamental needs in accordance with what is indicated in Canon Law(49).

§ 2. All teachers and all administrators, at the time of their appointment, are to be informed about the Catholic identity of the Institution and its implications, and about their responsibility to promote, or at least to respect, that identity.

§ 3. In ways appropriate to the different academic disciplines, all Catholic teachers are to be faithful to, and all other teachers are to respect, Catholic doctrine and morals in their research and teaching. In particular, Catholic theologians, aware that they fulfil a mandate received from the Church, are to be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church as the authentic interpreter of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition(50).

§ 4. Those university teachers and administrators who belong to other Churches, ecclesial communities, or religions, as well as those who profess no religious belief, and also all students, are to recognize and respect the distinctive Catholic identity of the University. In order not to endanger the Catholic identity of the University or Institute of Higher Studies, the number of non-Catholic teachers should not be allowed to constitute a majority within the Institution, which is and must remain Catholic.

§ 5. The education of students is to combine academic and professional development with formation in moral and religious principles and the social teachings of the Church; the programme of studies for each of the various professions is to include an appropriate ethical formation in that profession. Courses in Catholic doctrine are to be made available to all students(51).

[/quote]

[Thy Geekdom Come]

The great millstone awaits...

[Cam42]

[b]As an alum[/b], I can tell you that in this circumstance or any like circumstance, I oppose any chaperone who co-habitates with another outside of wedlock to room together.

I think that keeping to a Catholic ideal at a Catholic university should be the standard. If one is acting in a way that is contrary to the accepted Catholic thought, then that person is to be either corrected and expected to comply with that correction or be dismissed.

The question arises: How can one who teaches at a Catholic University not promote and support Catholic teachings/ideals?

If the answer to that question is anything other than one must promote Catholicism in every instance, then one should not be teaching/working at a Catholic university.

It really is that simple.

[kateri05]

lol, wait wait wait!

teachers in HIGH SCHOOLS. not unviersities.

please re-direct :

[Sojourner]

[quote name='kateri05' date='Mar 13 2006, 01:47 PM']lol, wait wait wait!

teachers in HIGH SCHOOLS.  not unviersities.

please re-direct :
[right][snapback]910368[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
I really don't think the situations are all that different. I realize that college kids have gone further along the route toward having formed consciences, but they're still looking at profs as examples/role models. And, if you're concerned about sexual identity, many kids don't fully think that through until they're in college.

I think all the stuff Cam said could be applied in high school just as easily as to a college/university setting.

[morostheos]

I personally think that high schools should follow even stricter guidelines than those laid out in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, as the students consciences are less formed than those in college and are more vulnerable to accepting falsities as truth.

[Theoketos]

The Principles in Ex Corde apply to High School as well.

Snickers*

The Spirit of the Document if you will.

[kateri05]

[quote name='Cam42' date='Mar 13 2006, 10:43 AM'][b]As an alum[/b], I can tell you that in this circumstance or any like circumstance, I oppose any chaperone who co-habitates with another outside of wedlock to room together.

I think that keeping to a Catholic ideal at a Catholic university should be the standard.  If one is acting in a way that is contrary to the accepted Catholic thought, then that person is to be either corrected and expected to comply with that correction or be dismissed.

The question arises:  How can one who teaches at a Catholic University not promote and support Catholic teachings/ideals?

If the answer to that question is anything other than one must promote Catholicism in every instance, then one should not be teaching/working at a Catholic university.

It really is that simple.
[right][snapback]910364[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

i completely agree in theory. but what about my example of a great teacher who got married when his wife was a few months pregnant? this wasn't an issue of a string of immoral decisions/situations, but simply a mistake. how do you handle that?

[quote] really don't think the situations are all that different. I realize that college kids have gone further along the route toward having formed consciences, but they're still looking at profs as examples/role models. And, if you're concerned about sexual identity, many kids don't fully think that through until they're in college.

I think all the stuff Cam said could be applied in high school just as easily as to a college/university setting.[/quote]

i'm very concerned about sexual identity with highschoolers because, as a result of the media and secular culture, they become "sexualized" at much younger ages. sure they might not finish thinking it through until college, but many of them are certinaly thinking and DOING something about it in highschool and often the WRONG thing.

high school students are many times more susceptible to bad examples than college students, because of their age and maturity.

[kateri05]

i love using phrases in ways people wouldn't like, theo :

that being said, how does Ex corde get implemented? because CLEARLY its not. at all.

or maybe that's just here?