Robert George pens an open letter to the Holy Father, asking him to do what we have no doubt he is willing to do–but, as in many cases, what we would certainly appreciate his doing more firmly and publicly! I have emphasized what I take to be the key line in this worthy missive, below:
Here in the United States we are blessed with many bishops who join you in bearing witness to these profound and indispensable truths. Even in the face of social and economic pressure on them to yield or go silent, they boldly and joyously proclaim the Church’s teachings on marriage and chastity. None has been more fearless or ardent in upholding these beautiful and liberating teachings than Salvatore Cordileone, the Archbishop of San Francisco. Faithful Catholics in his archdiocese and throughout our country have been edified by his labors—particularly those addressed to ensuring that the Catholic schools under his care teach and model fidelity to Catholic doctrine in all matters of faith and morals. Unsurprisingly, however, these labors have drawn the antagonism of many who despise the Church’s moral teachings, especially those concerning marriage and sexual morality.
This morning, a group of people published an open letter to you in a San Francisco newspaper urging you to remove Archbishop Cordileone from his office. They identify themselves as Catholics and plead with you to send them a new archbishop that will be true to what they describe as “our values.” But their values, unlike the values proclaimed and upheld by Archbishop Cordileone, are not the values of the Catholic faith. Their complaint against the Archbishop finally comes down to his refusal to bow down before the values of contemporary secularist sexual morality and gender ideology. For this, however, he should be applauded and encouraged, not condemned, much less ousted.
Be assured, Holy Father, that the “prominent Catholics,” as the media describes them, who call on you to remove Archbishop Cordileone do not speak for the faithful Catholics of San Francisco. Already, a movement has emerged to support and encourage the Archbishop. It is a movement of grateful Catholics—not “prominent” people—but ordinary men and women, many of them immigrants or the children of immigrants from many lands. These men and women are grateful to have an archbishop who believes and teaches what the Church believes and teaches. They send their children to the diocesan schools because they desire for them an education imbued with a Christian spirit and shaped by the teachings of the Catholic faith. Their spirits have been lifted by Archbishop Cordileone’s tireless work to ensure that such an education is available to all who desire it.
With gratitude to God for your own witness and ministry, I humbly ask you to join those of us who are supporting and encouraging Archbishop Cordileone. It would be a wonderful thing for you quietly to let him know that he has your blessing, and that the insults and defamations he is experiencing as a result of his faithful apostolic work are a participation in the redemptive suffering of Jesus, who said: “anyone who would be my disciple must take up his cross and follow me.”
(source: A Letter to Pope Francis | Robert P. George | First Things)
There are many more supporters. Too many folks are confused, thinking that the service of God, or the service of the servants of God, is a matter of pandering to constituencies after the manner of politicians in a mass-market democracy. But, even setting aside the question of truth for a moment–always a dangerous thing to do, even for sake of argument–what does it make sense to expect from those who dedicate their lives to their belief that the Creator of the universe cares about humanity and has spoken?
Does it make sense to expect them to rewrite the Creator’s explanations to suit the preferences of creatures?
What would it say about their faith if they did?
But there are plenty of voices speaking the faith of the Church back to her, and in front of the world. And, Deo volente, they will someday be able to do so in a country where calumny and slander do not replace public justice.
And if not, well, we’ve been there before. In fact, that’s where we started.
In the meantime, a little roll call:
Your Excellency, We’ve been monitoring the recent controversy surrounding your decision to insert morality clauses into teacher contracts in schools in your Archdiocese. Given the hostility to the teachings of the Church and growing attempts to coerce our institutions, your decision is perfectly reasonable. As you know, such clauses are nothing new and represent a commitment to fulfill a basic promise to those families who entrust their children to the care of the Church. We want you to know that we are praying for you and support you 100%. As the Archbishop of San Francisco, you are responsible for insuring that all schools including the children in their care are taught the faith. To avoid any confusion, it’s indeed crucial that all those involved in the care of these children act in harmony with the teachings of the Church.
(source: petition san francisco | CatholicVote.org)
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone is under attack by powerful forces within the city who want him to abandon plans to require Catholic high school teachers to uphold Catholic teachings in their professional and public lives. A variety of news sources have been reporting on the plight of Archbishop Cordileone who came under fire last month when he proposed new morals clauses in teacher contracts that would require teachers to “arrange and conduct their lives so as not to visibly contradict, undermine or deny” church teachings, such as its opposition to abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage. Faculty would be required to refrain from publicly supporting “any cause or issue that is explicitly or implicitly contrary to that which the Catholic Church holds to be true . . .” As the Archbishop recently clarified, a “Catholic school relies on its teachers to share basic Catholic insights concerning truth with students, in order to accompany their students on the path of discovering, appreciating and appropriating the truth.”
(source: Time to Support Archbishop Cordileone’s Fight to Save Catholic Schools | Women of Grace)
In an op-ed column published in the Wall Street Journal, Ryan Anderson and Leslie Ford of the Heritage Foundation defend San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone against his critics. The archbishop’s new policy, barring Catholic-school teachers from public support of policies that contravene Church teachings, is not an infringement on the teachers’ rights, the writers argue; it is bid to ensure that Catholic schools promote Catholic principles, and maintain their distinctive identity.
Bishop Robert F. Vasa, bishop of the Diocese of Santa Rosa issued the following statement in support of the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s participation yesterday in the March for Marriage in Washington, DC. Archbishop Cordileone is both a friend and someone I greatly admire. I find most admirable his strong desire to preserve a proper definition of marriage. As the renowned contemporary moral theologian William May says, “Marriage unites a man and a woman with each other and any children born from their union.” Marriage is thus much more than simply the public recognition of a committed relationship between two persons. I fully support the work His Excellency is doing to proclaim “the truth about marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife.” I therefore fully support his active participation in the March for Marriage held on Thursday, June 19, in Washington, DC.
…the criticism thrown at Archbishop Cordileone is wholly undeserved, argued Bob Laird, defending the San Francisco archbishop as “a true shepherd of Catholic schools.” “If the mission of Catholic schools is to form students both in knowledge and in faith, then he is simply doing his job to ensure that teachers have the necessary qualifications for religious education,” Laird wrote. “Hasn’t the National Football League been pressured to care about the image that its employees (the players) portray off as well as on the field? Would it make sense for a Burger King employee to publicly tout the superior qualities of a McDonald’s Big Mac? I don’t think so,” he said. “It also doesn’t make sense to employ a teacher in a religious school who openly flouts the beliefs of the employer.” “Dissenting opinions are not new in the Church, and they deserve a patient and merciful response,” Laird noted in the article. “But Christ did not alter his teachings in order to please his listeners… It’s ludicrous to think that Catholic school teachers should be invited to teach dissent by word or example.”
(source: Archbishop Cordileone a ‘True Shepherd of Catholic Schools,’ Argues Newman Society’s Bob Laird)
And this is why, over against this background, it is pretty obvious what kind of misrepresentation is afoot in the San Francisco Chronicle editorial on the matter: First, there’s the willful misrepresentation of Cordileone’s actual position, as though requiring Catholic teachers to teach and model the Catholic faith were an unexpected and extreme rhetorical gesture, rather than precisely why the Catholic Church has pastors and teachers.
Then, there’s the preposterous notion that the Archbishop is some sort of vote-seeking politician or other hireling of “the People” as conjured by the chattering classes.
Finally, there’s the incredibly risible notion that any collection of advocates against the teachings of the Church could ever “speak for the Catholic community” anywhere. Even the Archbishop, even a cardinal, can’t speak with authority against the Church’s teachings–even the Pope doesn’t have any such power. That is part of what it means when we say that he is “infallible” (it does not mean he gets to make up whatever he wants). So the archdiocese is not “trying to marginalize” anyone–it is reminding them that, insofar as they choose to be dissenters, dissenters is what they are.
Thus, then, the inflammatory nonsense:
Cordileone is simply grandstanding by demonizing same sex-marriage as “gravely evil” in his morality clause. How can the city of St. Francis remain silent when its religious representative espouses such archaic and hateful views? We’ve already seen how the archbishop’s supporters are trying to marginalize opponents. In a statement this week, the archdiocese said those who signed the ad “presume to speak for the Catholic community of San Francisco. They do not.”
(source: S.F. Archbishop Cordileone wanted a fight, and now he has lost – San Francisco Chronicle)
In fact, what faithful Catholics will note, even if they have been caught up in the confusion and misinformation that swirls around this issue, is that the Archdiocese telling public opponents of Church teaching that they ought not “presume” upon authority they do not have is not an inconsequential flight of rhetoric; it is moral teaching.