Catholic Schools Week - 2009

[myk]

Well, if they don't have the "support of the school management" that would bring into question the whole ethos of the school.

what do you mean? they have the support of the school management if they are hired by the school. you are suggesting Catholic schools should sack teachers who get pregnant out of wedlock. I presume you would also extend this to teachers who get divorced and gay teachers.

I also don't agree that it would be viewed as "healthy dissent" if a teacher openly challenged the ethos.

you don't agree it would be viewed as "healthy dissent" I presume based on your experience of church leaders. i know lots of church leaders, some in teaching roles, who would definitely view it as such

The point I'm driving at, and what I think the bishops are realizing, is that our Catholic school system is slipping slowly towards secularism and pluralism.

and they are trying to address this. i think it can be addressed, as I outlined in my post above by a number of pastoral leaders in each school.

[tmesis2008]

it sounds like you are advocating a policy of; let he who is without sin teach the first child.

of course such an approach would mean that there are no Catholic ethos schools. I believe Catholic teaching generally accepts that we are all sinners.

John Leo : The case of Michelle McCusker - Townhall.com

The latest episode in these morally confused times occurred in New York recently when a Roman Catholic school fired a teacher because she is single and pregnant. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn claims that teacher Michelle McCusker violated “the tenets of Catholic morality” and thus could not be employed by the school.

For her part, McCusker claims she was discriminated against and on Monday filed a wrongful dismissal complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. McCusker, 26, a well-respected teacher, according to the school’s own principal, said in a statement that she didn’t “understand how a religion that prides itself on being forgiving and on valuing life” could fire her for deciding to have a baby.

[myk]

John Leo : The case of Michelle McCusker - Townhall.com

suffice to say that I strongly disagree with the actions of the school in question.

[Outlander]

My own bunch of happy athiests are having no problem with the catholic school system.

They hear some of the fairy tales from time to time, but generally shrug them off as being of the same genre as beauty and the beast.

Best comment was from a 7 year old: "Daddy, couldn't Jesus have been a looney"

[tmesis2008]

suffice to say that I strongly disagree with the actions of the school in question.

Well, I thought you would. My point is that we should get wary when religious people who control religious schools start talking about a "risk to the ethos" of schools, because it doesn't take much in that situation for good teachers to start getting fired for not upholding the ethos.

That is why I am interested in what "ethos" actually means to these people.

[myk]

Well, I thought you would. My point is that we should get wary when religious people who control religious schools start talking about a "risk to the ethos" of schools, because it doesn't take much in that situation for good teachers to start getting fired for not upholding the ethos.

That is why I am interested in what "ethos" actually means to these people.

i'm confident that the archbishop is not advocating firing teachers due to the nature of their private lives. I'm pretty sure he wants schools to pass on the teachings of the gospels; you know love, charity, and redemption in God, that sort of thing...

[kellsangel]

i'm confident that the archbishop is not advocating firing teachers due to the nature of their private lives. I'm pretty sure he wants schools to pass on the teachings of the gospels; you know love, charity, and redemption in God, that sort of thing...

People who do not believe in Catholic superstition find it impossible to contemplate a career in teaching due to the dominance of the faith school system.

If you don't believe in the superstition you can't get a job so why enter teaching.

This factor excludes the most able and brightest cohort of the population from the teaching profession

[myk]

People who do not believe in Catholic superstition find it impossible to contemplate a career in teaching due to the dominance of the faith school system.

If you don't believe in the superstition you can't get a job so why enter teaching.

This factor excludes the most able and brightest cohort of the population from the teaching profession

assertion alert! assertion alert!

you are wrong on all three counts, no get back in your cave troll!

[tmesis2008]

People who do not believe in Catholic superstition find it impossible to contemplate a career in teaching due to the dominance of the faith school system.

If you don't believe in the superstition you can't get a job so why enter teaching.

This factor excludes the most able and brightest cohort of the population from the teaching profession

I'm sorry, that simply isn't true. My wife is a teacher (she's taken a break to look after the childer) and her and her erstwhile colleagues are the most godless lot going.

[myk]

I'd be willing to bet a large amount of money that if I did my HDip I'd never be accepted for a job in a Catholic School.

are you saying you would be barred simply because you are an atheist, or are you thinking of another reason?