CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Appeal
New contract and handbook language proposed by the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco this week warning Catholic high school faculty and staff that homosexual relations and other sexual activities outside of marriage are “gravely evil” has led to an outcry by the LGBT community and its supporters.
In a letter sent this week to teachers in the Archdiocesan Catholic High Schools, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone wrote that the schools must strive to be truly Catholic institutions. In an effort to reach that goal, the Archdiocese of San Francisco is adding statements of Catholic teaching on sexual morality and religious practice into the faculty and staff handbooks of the four archdiocesan high schools and proposing new contract language to “clarify” the church’s view.
The handbook additions, which would take effect in the 2015-16 school year, will apply to Archbishop Riordan High School and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco, as well as Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield and Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo.
According to the Archdiocese of San Francisco, there are about 315 teachers at the four schools who belong to the teacher’s union, which is currently negotiating a new contract, expected to take effect on Aug. 1.
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