Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Karl Keating on the St. Frances de Sales fiasco
I say we just go over there and kick butt. I mean, they're not priests or nothin', so it's ok, right?
Fr. Charles Murr sounds like my kind of priest. You've got to admire a guy
who resigns his pastorate on principle. Here's what happened, according to
"Newsday" and, especially, according to a letter Murr wrote to his flock
on April 5.
St. Francis de Sales Parish, located in Manhattan, has a parish school.
"No one knows what the financial condition of the school really is," said
Murr, because no financial statements have been prepared since 2001. The
school hasn't been paying for insurance or into its pension plan and owes
the Archdiocese $638,000.
Murr tried to get the school administration to prepare financial reports
but had no success, so in January he told the Archdiocese that he was
going to replace the principal and vice principal. The Archdiocese
approved and said it would send auditors to go over the school's records.
Finances weren't the only problem the school had. The school failed to
teach the Catholic faith. The Archdiocese gives standardized religion
tests, and two-thirds of the students at the school failed. "The major
reason for this was that several of our teachers were not committed to
teaching the Catholic faith," wrote Murr.
One teacher took students to non-Catholic religious services on Sunday
instead of to Mass. Another wouldn't teach her students to make the sign
of the cross. A third said that teaching that remarriage after divorce is
a sin violated the students' constitutional rights. Other teachers refused
to teach defined doctrines with which they disagreed.
To resolve such problems Murr appointed a new director of religious
education, but the heterodox teachers "disrupted his classes, belittled
him in front of his students, instructed his students to ignore him, and
even spread slanderous reports about him." Murr decided not to renew those
teachers' contracts. Striking back, the teachers kept their students after
class, read to them the dismissal letter Murr had sent them, and worked
the students into "tearful hysteria."
One might think that the Archdiocese would put down its foot. Well, it
did--on Murr's neck. The chancellor ordered him to renew the employment
contracts of the principal, vice principal, and teachers.
"Since I could not in good conscience, as a pastor charged with the care
of souls, comply with this order, I resigned as pastor," said Murr. On
April 3 the entire eight-member parish council wrote to Edward Cardinal
Egan and told him that they backed Murr and that they all were resigning.
The parish trustees also resigned.
The Archdiocese went into damage-control mode. A spokesman, Joseph
Zwilling, said, "Such a high turnover rate was not what was best for the
school or the students." Huh? What does it matter whether the turnover
rate is high or low? Why should that trump whether the faith is being
taught (versus being undermined) and whether the finances are in order?
Fr. Charles Murr sounds like my kind of priest. You've got to admire a guy
who resigns his pastorate on principle. Here's what happened, according to
"Newsday" and, especially, according to a letter Murr wrote to his flock
on April 5.
St. Francis de Sales Parish, located in Manhattan, has a parish school.
"No one knows what the financial condition of the school really is," said
Murr, because no financial statements have been prepared since 2001. The
school hasn't been paying for insurance or into its pension plan and owes
the Archdiocese $638,000.
Murr tried to get the school administration to prepare financial reports
but had no success, so in January he told the Archdiocese that he was
going to replace the principal and vice principal. The Archdiocese
approved and said it would send auditors to go over the school's records.
Finances weren't the only problem the school had. The school failed to
teach the Catholic faith. The Archdiocese gives standardized religion
tests, and two-thirds of the students at the school failed. "The major
reason for this was that several of our teachers were not committed to
teaching the Catholic faith," wrote Murr.
One teacher took students to non-Catholic religious services on Sunday
instead of to Mass. Another wouldn't teach her students to make the sign
of the cross. A third said that teaching that remarriage after divorce is
a sin violated the students' constitutional rights. Other teachers refused
to teach defined doctrines with which they disagreed.
To resolve such problems Murr appointed a new director of religious
education, but the heterodox teachers "disrupted his classes, belittled
him in front of his students, instructed his students to ignore him, and
even spread slanderous reports about him." Murr decided not to renew those
teachers' contracts. Striking back, the teachers kept their students after
class, read to them the dismissal letter Murr had sent them, and worked
the students into "tearful hysteria."
One might think that the Archdiocese would put down its foot. Well, it
did--on Murr's neck. The chancellor ordered him to renew the employment
contracts of the principal, vice principal, and teachers.
"Since I could not in good conscience, as a pastor charged with the care
of souls, comply with this order, I resigned as pastor," said Murr. On
April 3 the entire eight-member parish council wrote to Edward Cardinal
Egan and told him that they backed Murr and that they all were resigning.
The parish trustees also resigned.
The Archdiocese went into damage-control mode. A spokesman, Joseph
Zwilling, said, "Such a high turnover rate was not what was best for the
school or the students." Huh? What does it matter whether the turnover
rate is high or low? Why should that trump whether the faith is being
taught (versus being undermined) and whether the finances are in order?
