Tag Archives: Catholicism

Is being Catholic a crime?

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According to Fieldstone Secondary School in Rockland County, New York, it is.

Ninth-grader Jason Laguna, a former altar-boy, was suspended for daring to show the Rosary that he wears to school on a regular basis, generally under his clothes. He said that he received it as a gift and liked it so much that he wears it under his shirt, presumably to remind him throughout the day of his faith. Sounds reasonable right? Apparently not to his teacher who ordered him to put it away (despite the bell having rung and him being on his way out the door) and to the principal who upheld the teacher’s ruling.

The reason?

Beads are generally indicative of being in a gang. And moreover, wearing of the Rosary “endanger[s] the safety, health, morals or welfare of himself or others.”

Laguna, a straight-A’s student who is also a member of student government is nevertheless seeking assistance with his mother from the ACLU who has yet to comment. The superintendent put the suspension on hold pending an investigation. It’s unclear at this time if the school district is investigating whether or not the Roman Catholic Church is, in fact, a gang or something else.

Ugh.

H/T to Hot Air.

Another pissed off gay teacher

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Ever since gay people started teaching teachers started coming out of the closet, school boards have had to defend themselves against the ACLU and lawsuits from the angry Madonna-loving men who get fired and decide to blame it on discrimination. Though, in all fairness, they’re usually right.

Today, we go instead to a bitter obnoxious lesbian (not that there’s any other kind) who got fired from her job teaching for a Catholic school because her and her lesbian lover were going to have a child.

Music teacher Lisa Reimer was teaching at a fully private Catholic school in Vancouver (pretty much the Seattle of Canada) when she requested maternity leave as her and her partner were going to be having a baby (yeah, they let them do that here.) The school, who had opted to not fire her when she announced her homosexuality despite their legal right to do so, said that their hands were tied and decided to pay her out until the end of the year, and just wouldn’t renew her contract.

Whether or not you agree with the tenet of Catholicism frowning upon same-sex relationships is another issue entirely. Reimer signed a “Catholicity Contract” vowing to promote and live by “Catholic” values (I’m unsure at this point whether touching young boys was forbidden or not.) Furthermore, private schools should be able to hire or fire whomever they want. When I blogged a little while back about Constance McMillen, the lesbian who was forbidden from going to her prom, I expressed the belief that because that was a public school, the school didn’t have the right to forbid her from attending — and the other shenanigans that followed were just as bad. With this case, however, the government isn’t involved. It’s a private school, a business, and the teacher has made two major breaches in her contract, ignoring the good grace of the school to give her full pay for another two months.

On the upside, at least she gets full salary for sitting at home watching Ellen now. I’m so jealous.

Attend a Barack Obama Training Camp!

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I shouldn’t be surprised, but I kind of am. When I saw that the Democratic Party was running summer training camps, I was worried that this was going to be another Barney-Frank-meets-Catholic-clergy nightmare; you know, so kids could claim ObamaCare benefits for therapy sessions in a few years. More amusingly, however, it seems that Organizing for America, Obama’s PAC is running indoctrination sessions across America this summer (coming to a rented-out warehouse near you!) Remember those speeches that Hitler and Stalin used to go around Father- and Mother-land doing to tell people all the benefits of their respective governments? Now, I’m not saying that there’s a connection or anything…

From Obama’s website:

As we continue fighting for the President’s agenda and gear up for the elections in the fall, we need to make sure we’re all ready to organize as effectively as possible.

We’re holding Camp OFA training sessions across the country, to make sure that OFA supporters like you have the skills you’ll need to make it happen. You’ll hear from local community organizers, volunteers, and staff on the best ways to organize local events and build neighborhood teams, how to make the case for the President’s agenda for change, and what OFA is planning to do in the months ahead.

Don’t be afraid when you start seeing a bunch of zombies walking around this summer with blank stares on their faces repeating a carefully chosen one-liner. Basically, they’ll be like Ron Paul supporters except they’ll be saying something other than “End the Fed” (has the effect of “Hope and Change” worn off yet?)

Fortunately I was able to come across the schedule for one of these sessions:

8:00 am-9:00 am: Arrival, registration. Organizers will empty everyone’s wallets and redistribute spending money equally
9:00 am-10:00 am: How to bend over to Muslims without falling
10:00 am-11:00 am: Freedom 101 – why it’s outdated and not-relevant
11:00 am-12:00 pm: The Constitution – why everyone should write their own and follow that one
12:00 pm-1:00 pm: Sodium-free, vegan luncheon (individuals will not be permitted to purchase a better meal from a private vendor)
1:00 pm-2:00 pm: What You Didn’t Know about the UK – How to select gifts for PM’s and break royal protocol
2:00 pm-3:00 pm: How to manage Biden
3:00 pm-4:00 pm: Income Tax Tips 101 with special guest from ACORN
4:00 pm-5:00 pm: Racism in America – how to spin any statement by a conservative to indicate racism