Cordileone answers his critics

The archdiocese of San Francisco is embroiled in controversy in the wake of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s decision to add new “morality clauses” to the handbook for Catholic schoolteachers. Most of the clauses deal with homosexuality and birth control and critics say they give a distorted view of Catholic identity. In the US, such handbooks are considered part of a teacher’s contract and so failure to abide by its terms could result in employment being terminated.

The clauses insist that teachers must not support any deviation from church teaching in their life away from the school, so they would not be permitted to ­advocate same-sex marriage by signing a petition, or the ­provision of free birth control.
Some 400 students, parents and teachers gathered for a candle­light vigil in front of the city’s St Mary’s Cathedral. Some held signs that read “All are welcome” and “Teach Acceptance”.

Archbishop Cordileone also responded to a letter from a group of state legislators who had asked him to reconsider his additions to the handbook. He complained of distorted reporting about the handbook changes and pointedly asked the legislators: “Would you hire a campaign manager who advocates policies contrary to those that you stand for, and who shows disrespect towards you and the Democratic Party in general?”

BOSTON: Boston’s Holy Cross Cathedral announced it will be leasing an adjacent lot currently used as a car park to a developer who plans to erect a building with 160 apartments and ground-floor retail outlets. The developer will pay the parish rent for the land annually. “We have to come up with creative ways in which to help the parish sustain itself,” cathedral rector Fr Kevin O’Leary told the Boston Globe.

Boston’s cathedral fell on hard times in the post-war era. Built in the city’s historically Irish South End, its parishioners began moving to the suburbs in the 1950s  and the neighbourhood became blighted and dangerous. In the past 15 years, gentrification has begun and dilapidated buildings are being restored.

WASHINGTON: Cardinal Donald Wuerl welcomed more than 1,300 preparing to enter the Church at Easter at a Rite of Election held at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the First Sunday of Lent. “Your call to conversion is a visible sign that women and men, young and old, from all walks of life, are continuing to respond to our Lord’s invitation: ‘Come, follow me,’” the cardinal told the congregation.

In the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Georgia, Archbishop Wilton Gregory held the Rite of Election at a suburban conference centre because the 2,000 catechumens and candidates were too many to fit into any of that city’s churches.