In the July/August Catalyst, we said that “The advanced illness of the AIDS-stricken author [John Boswell] will at least spare us from an endless round of fawning appearances on ‘news’ and talk shows.” There are two problems with this: a) it comes across as callous (though the intent was otherwise) and b) it is inaccurate (Boswell, though ill, is not dying of AIDS). – Ed.
Giving parents the right to choose what school they would like to send their children to is an idea whose time has come. The most popular measure toward that end is the voucher program. If parents could present a voucher to any public, private or parochial school they chose, the net result would be to either make the poor schools better or to drive them out of business. Market discipline is what accounts for success in our economy, and the same principles that work well there could work well in the education industry as well.
Those who favor voucher programs will have their eyes fixed on Jersey City in October. Mayor Brett Schundler has risked a great deal of political capital in promoting vouchers, and if the vote in the Jersey City legislature fails, it would not bode well for him. But he seems confident that he will prevail. According to the Jersey City “Schoolchildren First” Education Act, the legislation would transform the school system as we know it. The legislation:
(a) Encourages a wide array of educational programs in governmental schools and provides financial assistance to families which would like to send their children to non-governmental schools, so that every child may have an expanded opportunity to be taught in the setting and manner which best helps that child learn.
(b) Replaces the bureaucratic regulation of a monopoly as a means of ensuring school accountability with competition, performance measurement, and disclosure, so that student success, not school sameness, becomes the focus of educational effort.
Predictably, the public school establishment is lined up against the bill.
Unfortunately, an honest debate on the issue has not been forthcoming. The ugly specter of anti-Catholicism has been raised by at least one member of the Jersey City legislature. It has been said that the bill is designed to shore up support for the declining interestinCatholicschools. Leaving aside the fact that enrollment in Catholic schools is up, the fact remains that the real beneficiaries of the bill are the parents and children of all religions (and non-believers as well).
Competition among schools would certainly not hurt the good public schools. Competition rewards success and penalizes failure. By working so tirelessly against Mayor Schundler’s effort, the public school industry, represented by unions like the National Education Association, is unwittingly issuing a failing report card to its own schools.
The real strength of Mayor Schundler’s drive for school choice is that the program is confined solely to Jersey City. This way everyone who lives outside the area can judge for himself the effect of vouchers. If it works, other cities, if not states, will want to imitate the success. If it fails, so will the idea of school choice. The smart money says the odds are with Mayor Schundler. And the smart money says that a variant of the Jersey City plan will be coming to a school system in your area soon.
On August 26, the Catholic League condemned the suspension of Thomas Neidl, head of the criminal investigations unit in the N. Y. Attorney General’s office, for simply registering his moral convictions in a private conversation. New York State Attorney General Oliver Koppell suspended Neidl, who is a Roman Catholic, for conveying in a private phone call his reservations about a new state policy that gives health benefits to gay couples; Neidl also registered his misgivings about the propriety of homosexuals rearing children. Although Neidl was eventually reinstated, he first had to extend an apology for his statements.
Dr. Donohue had the following to say about the incident:
“It is an outrage that Catholic employees, working for the state of New York, cannot express their moral convictions – even when done so privately – without triggering legal reprisal. The idea of reinterpreting marriage and the family to accommodate radical gay interests is one that many people, not just Catholics, see as both immoral and ill-advised. But even those who disagree should be expected to practice tolerance, and respect the free speech rights and freedom of religion rights that are embedded in issues of conscience.
“It is no surprise that Attorney General Oliver Koppell has misused his office to impose a politically correct agenda. This is the same man whom I personally filmed standing on the steps of the New York Public Library last March 17th showing his support for the radical gay contingent that sought to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Koppell stood with this group as they made a stream of anti-Catholic statements and were then arrested for attempting to march without a permit.
“What makes this matter so disturbing is that Koppell’s office has a track record of showing blatant partisanship on behalf of the radical gay agenda. In March, the Catholic League pressed ethics charges against one of Koppel’s employees, Assistant Attorney General Jim Williams, for orchestrating, during working hours, a conference on how to change the laws affecting gays and lesbians. The Catholic League’s objection stems from its conviction that those who work for the Attorney General ought to be scrupulously non-partisan and should never partake of efforts designed to change laws that they are sworn to enforce; the New York State Ethics Commission has accepted the case and is presently conducting an investigation into the matter.
“Justice demands that Thomas Neidl be reinstated. It would also be appropriate for Attorney General Koppell to attend sensitivity training workshops on the rights of religiously-informed conscientious objectors. The Catholic League would be happy to conduct a workshop for Mr. Koppell and his staff.”
The following is a list of Catholic members of the United States Congress. We offer it for your information only. We have made no judgement as to their voting records or their Catholicity. Voting record evaluations are available from many organizations, both liberal and conservative.
CATHOLIC MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
CATHOLIC MEMBERS OF THE SENATE
This half-page ad sponsored by the Catholic League ran in all editions of the
New York Times on Monday, August 29.
The Catholic League was glad to contribute $1,000 to help fund a pro-life booth at the Cairo Conference. The money went to the World Organization for the Family and was used to promote a more balanced perspective in the media of pro-life objections to the Cairo Conference.
October 30 to November 6 marks the White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Campaign. Morality and Media, which does splendid work, is conducting the campaign. For more information, write Morality and Media, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, New York 10115 or call (212) 870-3222 for information about the campaign in your area.
In late October, Catholic League president William A. Donohue, and League board of directors member Russell Shaw, will appear on the EWTN show “The Abundant Life.” The show, which is hosted and directed by Johnnette Benkovic, will address Catholic-bashing and the Media. It is scheduled to air on the following dates: October 23 at 6:00p.m.; October 24 at 10:00 p.m.; October 25 at 2:00p.m.; and October 27 at 10:00 a.m.
If your’re a writer, or would like to become one, you may want to contact Hap Corbett, the editor and publisher of The Christian Response. Please write to him at The Christian Response, Route 2, Box 1, Staples, MN 56479- 9030.
How would you react to the following situation? You are reading the New York Times when you come upon a full page ad with the headline “An Open Letter to Pope John Paul II.”
The letter begins with “Dear Pope John Paul II” – no “Your Holiness” or “Most Holy Father,” just “Dear Pope,” Then the text says, “As faithful Catholics…” Now whenever I see, “As faithful Catholics,” I brace myself for the most traditional entreaties – bring back Latin, reverse that girl altar server decision, support Mother Angelica’s TV network, trust The Wanderer, that sort of thing.
Not these faithful Catholics. They want the pope to abandon 2000 years of church teaching on the sacrament of matrimony and its ends.
They think the Church should endorse this statement: “Respect for human dignity demands that we recognize the beauty and goodness of sexual intimacy in committed relationships whether or not they are open to offspring.”
(Imagine the vistas that will open up to us when the Holy Father gets as faithful as these folks – we’ll have committed same sex unions, committed polygamy, committed adultery, and don’t forget committed incest. You too, can be on the Donahue show.
(William F. Buckley had a great response to this: “Some of my best friends are committed fornicators.”)
The open letter went on, “Couples have found that various forms of contraception enhance their mutual satisfaction and caring in sexual love; Vatican opposition devalues this love.”
Sanctification? Eureka! We’ve found it – the Eighth Sacrament – and in an ad in the New York Times! Artificial contraception is a means of grace…film at 11!
This letter from faithful Catholics builds to the following crescendo: “Because of the human pain caused by Vatican opposition to contraception, because such opposition severely worsens our global crisis of population and resources and because the majority of good Catholic s- after long and careful reflection – have rejected it, we say to you simply: on the issue of contraception you are wrong.”
Whew! The pope really needed to get this message, especially since it came from faithful Catholics – I would hate to see what kind of Valentines he gets from unfaithful Catholics.
And just who are these faithful Catholics? Among them are Catholics for a Free Choice, Conference for Catholic Lesbians, Dignity/USA, New Ways Ministries, the Women’s Ordination Conference and Catholics Speak Out.
Since I don’t think the Holy Father is likely to respond to these faithful Catholics directly – after all, causing human pain is a full-time job – I would like to fill in for him, drawing upon one of the pope’s previous statements.
Right here in Los Angeles, on September 16, 1987, Pope John Paul met with all the U.S. Bishops – presumably, faithful Catholics – at Our Lady Queen of Angels Seminary.
He said, “It is sometimes reported that large number of Catholics today do not adhere to the teaching of the church on a number of questions, notably sexual and conjugal morality, divorce and remarriage.
“Some are reported as not accepting the church’s clear position on abortion. It has also been noted that there is a tendency on the part of some Catholics to be selective in their adherence to the Church’s moral teachings.
“It is sometimes claimed that dissent from the magisterium is totally compatible with being a ‘good Catholic’ and poses no obstacle to the reception of the sacraments.
“This is a grave error…”
So, all you faithful Catholics who think the pope is wrong, do me a favor. Think what you want, say what you want, write what you want. Just don’t clutter my line for Communion!
Father Gregory Coiro, O.F.M.Cap., is Director of Public Affairs for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. This article first appeared in The Tidings, weekly of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. It is reprinted here with permission. Father Coiro’s well written and witty column is a regular feature of The Tidings.