Being a Confessor of the Faith in Mishawaka, Indiana
Wikipedia defines a Confessor as:
The title confessor is used in the Christian Church in several ways. Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith, but not to the point of death.
I recently blogged about Nan Gilbert, a member of the PNCC who has been discharged from her job simply for her membership and allegiance to the PNCC. You might think: isn’t that employer horrible, persecuting people for their faith in Jesus Christ and their allegiance to Him.
Funny thing, she worked for a Roman Catholic high school run by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. Note that the school still lists her as a member of their staff on their website (as of the writing of this post).
I attempted to confirm the events with the Ecumenical Officer for the Diocese, the Rev. Robert C. Schulte and the school’s principal, Mr. Carl Loesch. Fr. Schulte responded but refused to comment on the status of Ms. Gilbert, citing confidentiality. Ms. Gilbert has personally confirmed these events with me.
Ms. Gilbert was told to renounce her affiliation with the PNCC and come back to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. She was also asked to renounce any relationship with her fiancee, a former cleric of the Roman Catholic Church. Upon refusing she was told that she could either resign or be fired.
From my perspective, there is the potential for further repercussions aimed at Ms. Gilbert based on what she has reported to me. The whole episode is truly insidious, truly sinful.
In the end this is simple coercion and prejudice. While coercion is allowed for by Roman Catholic Canon Law, this would be an area outside Canon Law, because it affects the member of another Church — an area covered in joint agreements and by the Roman Church’s own prohibitions against coercion. So it comes down to bullying.
Here’s an excerpt from Marian’s Mission Statement:
…As a Catholic community, Marian values the sanctity and individuality of each student and strives to live the example of Jesus Christ as teacher and servant.
Is that saying that Jesus as teacher and servant treated His co-workers without sanctity or individuality? Don’t you just love mission statements. So many words, never reflected upon, never considered. Just a decoration on one’s website. If they cannot follow their Mission Statement how can they follow the Popes and the Gospel?
Grant this, O Christ, that we may never let ourselves be broken by threats, persecution and suffering, but always firmly and faithfully profess Thy holy faith. And when false human judgments pursue and wrong us, grant us the faith of the apostles and courage of the martyrs, that we may be capable to suffer and even die for Thee. Amen. — From the Prayer for the First Station. The Stations of the Cross, A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.
Here’s a better Mission statement:
“Fides suadenda est, non imponenda”
(Faith is a matter of persuasion, not of compulsion)
Your report speaks for itself:
Ms. Gilbert was told to renounce her affiliation with the PNCC
and “COME BACK to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church”.
She was also asked to renounce any relationship with her fiancee,
“a FORMER CLERIC of the Roman Catholic Church”. Upon refusing,
she was told that she could either resign or be fired.
Ms. Gilbert was once a ROMAN Catholic. She chose to become engaged
to a FORMER cleric of the Roman Catholic Church. That is her right
under American law. But, the Roman Catholic Church does NOT have
to approve or support her decision.
She has NOT “suffered persecution and torture for the faith”. She lost
voluntary employment in a ROMAN Catholic school where her contract
“may” have required her to be a believing, practicing ROMAN Catholic.
In any case, a Roman Catholic high school (just as a Protestant or
Jewish school) has the right to determine employment conditions for
its private school employees. No one has a constitutional or religious
right to work in a Catholic school.
The whole episode is hardly “insidious” or “sinful”. It is regretable
because Ms. Gilbert wants to “eat her cake and have it too” (which,
by the way, is the correct, original version of the adage). She now
knows that personal decisions may bring unintended consequences.
Thomas.
As does your comment.
Did you ever consider the fact that people attach themselves to a job, and give their heart and soul to it, and expect to be retained as long as they are competent at it. I would expect the Roman Church to be practicing charity, especially in times of economic turmoil. Recall that Canon Law requires Bishops to care for people, including clerics they depose (yes including pedophile priests etc.) if they cannot support themselves.
Dcn. Jim
Sorry but I lean towards Thomas’s point here, and I’ve lost friends/been the target of underhanded attacks because of changing churches. These are ex-RCs and the RC Church as a private institution has the right to make and keep its own rules for employment.
There are several problems as I see it.
The first is the simple. Depending on which state you are in; you may very well be fired for any reason (right to work) or perhaps not. I am not sure about Indiana. The laws vary, so that’s one aspect. Of note, as well, is the recent tendency among States to set aside religious exceptions and base things purely on the state’s desire. Take for example the demand that Roman Catholic institutions provide insurance for employees that covers birth control (New York is just one example). You can say the Roman Church has the right to act, but that right may be limited or non-existent in civil law. The Church’s response to States in cases like these is typically weak (thus they provide the required insurance and pass out high dose “emergency” contraception in their hospitals).
Secondly, I tend to see the Roman Church at odds with itself on so many issues. On Labor issues they tend to support the rights of workers when those folks work for someone else. Their history of labor relations, in dealing with their own employees, is mixed at best, and sometimes very poor. For all the encyclicals on labor and the value of work, throwing someone out on the street just isn’t right. Those actions do not jive with the Church’s social teachings – a built in inconsistency. Of course sin – but the organization should be able to avoid the near occasion, and correct itself when sin occurs.
Third, the Roman Church has remedies built into Canon Law for the members of their flock who disobey. They have a right to use those remedies. The problem is is that those remedies require judicial action, a series of warnings, and then the imposition of the remedy. The remedy is not discharge from employment. Excommunication sure, Bishop Hodur burned his for all it mattered. The punishment the Church chose in this case was not meant as a remedy, it was meant as a punishment.
Fourth, this is Benedict’s restoration gone awry. His work in correcting the abuses – particularly rampant in the American Church – is being taken as license for being hard. If the American Bishops wish to get in line they should correct their liturgies and clean their own houses. Rather, it appears that they are creating “examples.” Sure you can throw everyone out. Those not with us – off the boat. Does that further salvation or is it minimalism and legalism on steroids? I think the later.