TOO CATHOLIC: Catholic School Removes Teacher for Defending Faith.

When Patricia Jannuzzi, a religion teacher at Immaculata High School in the Diocese of Metuchen, posted a statement supporting traditional marriage on her personal Facebook page, angry same-sex “marriage” advocates, some of them Immaculata alumni, demanded that she be removed from her teaching position, and that the school address the “homophobic undertones in the school.” . . .

Much of the media—including the local newspapers—have described Jannuzzi’s Facebook posting as a “rant” . . . Pointing to her statement that “(gay activists) want to reengineer western civilization into a slow extinction,” as evidence of her hatefulness, more than 1,000 individuals have signed the petition to have her removed. And, rather than defending Jannuzzi for her willingness to defend Catholic teachings, the principal and the pastor of her school have suspended her—sending a letter to alumni [PDF], parents and students apologizing for “any hurt this has caused to any individuals and the negative light in which it has cast our school.”

And, to make matters worse, on March 20, Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski, the episcopal leader of the Diocese of Metuchen, appeared to concur with the high school administrators by saying that “the teacher’s comments were disturbing and do not reflect the Church’s teachings on acceptance…. Pope Francis reminds us that we are to accept all of our brethren. We must ensure that our educators steer away from harsh and judgmental statements that can alienate and divide us.”

The teacher was reinstated, but “in announcing Jannuzzi’s return, the pastor who oversees Immaculata School, Msgr. Seamus Brennan, conveyed the unmistakable message that in his view, Jannuzzi had been rightly disciplined:”

It is the School’s position that a Catholic school teacher must always communicate the faith in a way that is positive and never hurtful. Tone and choice of words matter and I trust Mrs. Jannuzzi’s stated promise to strive always to teach in a spirit of truth and charity.

Given Mrs. Jannuzzi’s otherwise good reputation as an educator over her 30 years at Immaculata, Principal Jean Kline and I have made the decision to reinstate her as a teacher as of today.

In other words, she’s back, but only under agreement to keep her mouth shut.

All of this is reminiscent of something that happened last year. A nun spoke candidly at a Catholic high school about human sexuality and sociology — and there was an uproar. For additional details, see Austin Ruse’s “What Really Happened at Charlotte Catholic HS”:

The immediate result is that at least some teachers became enraged. One math teacher, Catherine Bischoff, walked out of the talk because she was so upset, and announced that her class would have an open day, no teaching, because she was so angry.

According to this student, Bischoff told her class, “The God I believe in loves you all. Don’t let anyone bring you down. I’m telling you I love you. The God I believe in wouldn’t say those things about you.” According to my source, the students “were like, yeah!” The student said the controversy . . . “would have passed much more quickly except for the faculty and a few students. And the parents took it much too far. It was the parents who were so angry.”

Emma Winters, daughter of math teacher Joanne Winters, went so far as to put up a petition on Change.org . . .

The petitioners . . . “resent the fact that a school wide assembly became a stage to blast the issue of homosexuality after Pope Francis said … ‘we cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage, and the use of contraceptive methods.’”

The petition closed with a call for condemnation of “world hunger, gun violence, the death penalty, unjust care of the elderly, human trafficking, genocide, discrimination etc.; OR been promoting: love, prayer, the Beatitudes, practical ways to serve Christ, patience, just war theory etc.” . . .

Shelley Earnhardt, a divorced mother of a Charlotte Catholic student, sent out an email asking people to write to the Pope, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. “In my home, there was outrage, embarrassment, sadness, disbelief, and further reason for my 16 year-old to move as far away from her religion as possible and as soon as she can.” She said, “the overall flavor and tone of the talk was that of overt sexism, the near bullying attitude toward gay men and women, facts and figures thrown out with no scientific basis whatsoever, grossly overstated generalizations regarding both the roles of men and women in relationships and in society, the sad state of children raised in one-parent homes, the perversion of the gay community in general.” . . .

A group of Charlotte Catholic mothers told me that the parents were so angry because the nun’s talk highlighted their own personal shortcomings. “Their sins are coming to light; divorce, promiscuity, contraception, abortion, even homosexuality.” . . .

The nun . . . immediately cancelled all of her upcoming speaking engagements. Reliable sources tell me she received too many threats of violence to proceed. Such is the tolerance of the sexual left. She has gone on a sabbatical from her teaching job at Aquinas College in Nashville, which is run by her congregation. And sadder still, the head of that college criticized Sister for going beyond her scholarly expertise, as if scholars are only ever allowed to speak in their area of specialty.

Note that both in this case and in the case of Jannuzzi, the enemies were leftists on the inside, mostly degenerate females and homosexuals, who could simply repeat back lessons they had been taught by those in authority. And these are the same people that those in authority want to bring into the Catholic Church through “outreach.” How about keeping them out, and defending true believers of the faith?