A RC primary school head in Liverpool and his civil partnership
For those in the UK, please note the impact of the SORs – Sexual Orientation Regulations – in a this recent and worrying news. Not long ago we were assured that religious liberty in the UK would not be infringed. We were being alarmist in our responses and things would be just fine under the new regime. The SORs would simply correct the injustices of the past and create a better, more humane society. We insisted that far more was at stake, far more would be lost, and yet were dismissed as over-anxious reactionaries.
Now we have a situation in which a confessional school is unable to determine its moral ethos and standards. The entire school community realizes its head has had a civil partnership ceremony with a fellow teacher and a reception at a RC parish centre! This speaks literally volumes to the staff, the kids, the parents and the local community about sex, marriage and family. Is this slippage or collusion or both?
For those who wish to do respond, see the emails and phone numbers at the end.
From the Telegraph
School cannot sack head in ‘gay marriage’
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:37am BST 14/08/2007
Lawyers have told the Roman Catholic Church that it cannot sack a Catholic headmaster who has entered a civil partnership with a male teacher.
The Archdiocese of Liverpool has been unable to take action against Charles Coyne, the head of St Cecilia’s primary school, who has registered a partnership with Richard Jones, who is believed to work at a nearby school.
Pope Benedict XVI has called civil partnerships “anarchic” and a danger to the family.
The couple, who live together, had a reception in a parish centre.
Local Catholics and family campaigners have urged the authorities to take action over the “scandal”.
One churchgoer said: “Senior officials are aware of this yet they have done nothing. It’s unacceptable.”
Norman Wells, the director of the Family Education Trust, said: “It is not unreasonable for parents sending their children to a faith school to expect the headteacher to be living according to that faith.”
The archdiocese – which is headed by Archbishop Patrick Kelly, the second most senior cleric in England and Wales – said it was powerless.
It said in a statement that Mr Coyne had run St Cecilia’s for many years and “matters relating to his personal life have in no way interfered with his management of the school”.
A spokesman for the archdiocese said senior officials, including Fr Michael O’Dowd, the episcopal vicar for schools and colleges, had discussed the case as issues of employment law were involved.
“Legal advice was sought,” the spokesman said. “The Church was advised that in this case nothing could be done, despite the fact that the head was acting contrary to Church teaching.”
One bishop, the Rt Rev John Jukes, said school governors should ask a head teacher to step down if he or she openly flouted the Church’s moral code.
“I would ask heads to think about the example they are setting to their pupils and the local community,” said Bishop Jukes, an auxiliary bishop emeritus in Southwark.
The bishop said each case was different, and added that it was possible for male friends to share a house together without breaching Catholic moral teaching.
A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said there was an expectation that the person upheld the position of the Church if they had been employed “to present and represent the Catholic faith”.
She added there were “a series of factors to consider” including “the specifics of the case involved and the type of role someone has been employed to carry out”.
The Rev Richard Kirker, the general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, predicted that Mr Coyne’s “courageous” step would be followed by others in senior posts.
“This will be very helpful to everybody who expects the Catholic Church to be open and honest,” he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/13/ngay113.xml
“Nothing We Can Do” Says Liverpool Archdiocese about Openly Gay Headmaster
By Peter J. Smith
LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom, August 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool is telling parents and faithful Catholics that it has no power to sack a Catholic headmaster who has entered into a civil partnership with a male teacher.
The Daily Telegraph first reported that the Catholic Church will take no action against Charles Coyne, the head of St. Cecilia’s primary school, who has a registered homosexual partnership with Richard Jones, another schoolteacher.
“Legal advice was sought,” said an archdiocesan spokesman. “The Church was advised that in this case nothing could be done, despite the fact that the head was acting contrary to Church teaching.”
The spokesman said that senior church leaders – such as Archbishop Patrick Kelly, the second leading prelate in England and Wales and Fr. Michael O’Dowd, the Episcopal vicar for schools and colleges – were informed of the case and the complications of employment law, which forbids discrimination against “sexual orientation.”
The Telegraph continued to report that the archdiocese’s paralysis and inaction has fomented a scandal among British Catholics. One Catholic was quoted as saying: “Senior officials are aware of this yet they have done nothing. It’s unacceptable.”
Adding to the scandal, however, was the discovery that Coyne and Jones had a “reception” in a Catholic parish centre.
LifeSiteNews.com contacted Norman Wells, director of the UK’s Family Education Trust, who stated: “It is not unreasonable for parents sending their children to a faith school to expect the head teacher to be living according to that faith.”
“We shouldn’t write off such parents as irrational homophobes,” Wells continued. “Like many others, they have genuine concerns about the health and social consequences of homosexual lifestyles and want influential figures in their children’s lives to be people who share their values.”
However the Telegraph reports that British bishops have offered thus far confused and half-measured responses to the situation. The Liverpool archdiocese said in a statement that Charles Coyne had run St. Cecilia’s primary school for many years and “matters relating to his personal life have in no way interfered with his management of the school.”
“I would ask heads to think about the example they are setting to their pupils and the local community,” Bishop John Jukes of Southwark told the Telegraph, adding that school governors should ask a headmaster to step down if he openly flouted the Church’s moral teaching. However Bishop Jukes then went on to state that male friends may share a house together without violating Catholic moral teaching: a self-evident truth that faithful Catholics say obviously does not apply in the case of Headmaster Coyne and his homosexual liaison.
To contact the Archdiocese of Liverpool:
Liverpool Archdiocesan Centre for Evangelisation
Croxteth Drive
Liverpool
L17 1AA
Tel: 0151 522 1000
List of Departments: http://www.archdiocese-of-liverpool.co.uk/lace.htm
Christian Education Department
LACE, Croxteth Drive, Liverpool, L17 1AA.
Tel: 0151 522 1050
Fax:0151 522 1060
Director Desmond Seddon
e-mail: d.seddon@rcaol.co.uk
To contact Archdiocese Of Liverpool Schools Department
Schools Department
LACE, Croxteth Drive, Liverpool, L17 1AA.
Tel: +44 (0)151 522 1071
Fax: +44 (0)151 522 1082
E-mail: aes@rcaol.co.uk
Episcopal Vicar for Schools And Colleges: Very Reverend M O’Dowd
Director: Frank Cogley
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