Priest: 'It's for the Good of the Child, Parents'
In March 2010, ABC News and others sources reported that a child, currently a preschool student at the Sacred Heart of Jesus school in Boulder, Colorado would be allowed to finish the current school year, but would not be readmitted for kindergarten in the fall.
This decision was taken after the sexual orientation (lesbian) of the child's parents came to the attention of the parish priest, the Rev. Bill Breslin and the Archdiocese of Denver.
In a blog posting, Father Breslin said he acted on behalf of a "clear-seeing and committed Catholic community."
The Archdiocese of Denver stated, in part: "Parents living in open discord with Catholic teaching in areas of faith and morals unfortunately choose by their actions to disqualify their children from enrollment. . . To allow children in these circumstances to continue in our school would be a cause of confusion for the student in that what they are being taught in school conflicts with what they experience in the home."
One wonders how the Archdiocese decided to evict this kindergartener and not the children of (1) divorced Catholics (2) unwed Catholics (3) Catholics who do not regularly go to Mass (4) Catholics who have managed to cross the doctrinal line on any number of other prohibitions or requirements.
One wonders if the Sacred Heart of Jesus, supports the rejecting of any little ones. I doubt it.
Is "Catholic doctrine" properly invoked when a child is singled out for humiliation and rejection? Whenever the line-drawers have to draw a line, "Catholic doctrine" is trotted out like a lame horse.
There is plenty of doctrinal equivocation when the notion of disciplining pedophile priests comes up. Then, "Catholic doctrine" is suddenly very uncertain and unclear. But when an innocent little kid is in the cross hairs of "Catholic doctrine," WHAM! With the certitude of a drunk in a bar, the fist comes down on the little kid.
Meanwhile, back in a more complicated reality, there is evidence the self-described "clear-seeing" Father Breslin might want to take into account - if only to reject it, along with this kid, and the kid's lesbian parents, who, for some reason, wanted their child to receive a Catholic school education.
On June 9, 2010, the Slatest announced that a long-term study of same-sex families has been released, and has concluded, as the Slatest headlined it:
"Lesbian Parents Are, Well, Better"
"The results from the longest-running study of same-sex families are in, and they show that the children of lesbian parents perform better than their peers on both social and academic tests. The 25-year study followed 78 children born to lesbian couples who all used donor insemination to become pregnant.
"Controlling for similar financial and educational backgrounds, the study found that the children of lesbian couples scored lower than their peers on measures of aggression and rule-breaking while outperforming in positive areas. "The results should be considered by those who oppose the rights of gay and lesbian couples to adopt children" said Nanette Gartrell of the University of California-San Francisco, who has worked on the study for a quarter-century.
"Currently, a handful of states prohibit same-sex or unmarried couples from adopting. "It's a great tragedy in this country," Gartrell told New Scientist. "There are so many children who are available for adoption but cannot be adopted by same-sex couples." More than 100,000 in the United States alone, according to the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a research and advocacy group. "The institute estimated that just 4 percent of all adopted children ... live with gay or lesbian parents, despite research suggesting that same-sex couples may be more willing than heterosexual couples to adopt."
Colorado quotes: Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures
That doctrinally suspect comment from Jesus about accepting the little ones: Matthew 19:14, Luke 18:16
