Education, religion and a youth movement all collided Thursday night as high school students across the Bay Area fought for their teachers. The question is — is the Catholic Archdiocese listening?
Students from the four Catholic high schools say they felt compelled to speak up, many showing the hashtag #teachacceptance.
“I think as a community we are hurting at this time,” said Gina Welisch, a student. “I think the Archbishop’s language is hurtful and offensive to a lot of people.”
The rally comes after San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s proposed changes to the faculty handbook and a morality clause as part of the teachers’ contract.
Erick Orantes graduated in 2008 and is worried students and teachers will be impacted.
“Rather they will be bound to this policy where sexuality, abortion and current events around these subjects aren’t topics to be talked about,” he said.
Daniel Kahn sees it differently. “On the grounds that it’s a Catholic School it has to fall in parallelism with the Catholic Church doctrine," he said.
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The proposed clause includes language against homosexuality, same sex marriage, contraception. Recently, the Board of Supervisors said the clause was unwanted. A petition was delivered opposing it.
Jim Jordan teaches at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory. He's concerned about the changes.
“Catholic Schools traditionally offer education rather than indoctrination,” Jordan said. “It’s just not what we do. Indoctrination is not what we do and this language in this context is judgmental.”
