Catholic teacher contract specifies banned practices

[rug]

2:41 p.m. EST March 7, 2014
Michael D. Clark

Teachers in Cincinnati Archdiocese schools could lose their jobs if they violate a new employment contract that clamps down on their personal lives beyond school walls.

The new contract obtained by The Enquirer has doubled in size and is strikingly different from previous Archdiocese teacher employment agreements.

For the first time, it details prohibited practices such as gay "lifestyles," out-of-wedlock relationships, abortions and fertility methods that go against Catholic teachings.

The contract for the 2014-15 school year explicitly orders teachers to refrain "from any conduct or lifestyle which would reflect discredit on or cause scandal to the school or be in contradiction to Catholic doctrine or morals." It goes so far as to ban public support of the practices.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/education/2014/03/06/catholic-teacher-contract-specifies-banned-practices/6148399/

I wonder if the contract prohibits lying.

Meanwhile . . . .

Former vice principal suing Eastside Catholic

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Mark-Zmuda-lawsuit-Eastside-Catholic-248892101.html

[goldent]

1. I'm ok with some provisions regarding public immorality or defiance

This is a defacto condition of employment in many places, especially public figures. But purely private lives should be left alone.

[No Vested Interest]

2. This new contract is obviously to protect the Archdiocese from lawsuits when a teacher

or employee is fired for expressing their opinions that are contrary to Catholic doctrine.

Last year a vice principal at a local Archdiocesan high school was fired after expressing support for gay marriage.

A year or two before, an unmarried teacher was fired when she requested maternity leave; IIRC, she may have had a female partner. She said she did not know that her actions were contrary to Catholic doctrine because she was not Catholic. (I believe she taught computer skills, thus had no reason to be familiar with Church teaching.)

It's a very sticky subject, in that parents are paying big tuition (ca $3000/yr for elementary students, $8000-10,000 for high school) to have their children in these Catholic institutions; many are there just for the fine education, others are there to learn Catholic thought and doctrine. It's possible that many of the parents live in contradiction to Catholic doctrine and morals. Some may feel that muzzling teachers' free expression of opinion is immoral if not illegal, while others will agree with the Archdiocese.