CALIFORNIA
National Catholic Reproter
Dan Morris-Young | Feb. 4, 2015
Faculty handbooks of the four high schools owned and operated by the San Francisco archdiocese will carry a new, free-standing section for the 2015-16 school year that puts teachers and faculty on notice about heightened demands regarding adherence to Catholic teaching, particularly on sexual issues, and warns against taking public positions that are contrary to church teaching.
The section:
* Delineates areas of church teaching on “sexual morality and religious practice” it says needs more clarity and emphasis;
* Underscores that “administrators, faculty and staff of any faith or no faith are expected to arrange and conduct their lives so as not to visibly contradict, undermine or deny” church doctrine and practice;
* Calls on “administrators, faculty and staff who are Catholics” to “not only avoid public contradiction of their status as professional agents in the mission of Catholic education,” but to also “conform their hearts, minds and consciences, as well as their public and private behavior, ever more closely to the truths taught by the Catholic Church”;
* Warns educators to “refrain from participation in organizations that call themselves ‘Catholic’ but support or advocate issues or causes contrary” to church teaching.
Developed by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and titled “Statement of the High Schools of the Archdiocese of San Francisco Regarding the Teachings and Practice of the Catholic Church,” the new 2,000-word faculty handbook section was made public Tuesday afternoon during meetings between administrators of the four schools and their faculties and staffs.
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