Charlotte Catholic High School and officials from the Roman Catholic Diocese Of Charlotte last night spent almost three hours in a closed-door meeting with 1000 angry parents whose children had been subjected to homophobic lies by a regular guest lecturer.
LOOK:Â Catholic School Under Fire For Teaching Masturbation, Poor Parenting Lead To Being Gay
Two weeks ago, Sister Jane Dominic Laurel delivered a presentation on gender that included all-too common anti-gay lies. Gay men are exceptionally sexually promiscuous and have 500-1000 sexual partners, Sister Dominic reportedly told the high school students. She also reportedly portrayed same-sex couples as child abusers, claimed that masturbation, being raised by a single parent or growing up in a household with an absent father, and watching pornography lead to people becoming homosexual.
A great many of the students, and upon hearing, their parents, were so outraged the archdiocese agreed to last night’s meeting.
Father Matthew Kauth, the school’s chaplain responsible for inviting Sister Dominic to deliver the lecture, admitted to parents that even though he had heard her making the offensive attacks against LGBTQ people, he “assumed her goodwill. She didn’t say anything that was contradicting to our faith.”
The Catholic News Herald, the only media outlet to be allowed in to the meeting because it is the official publication of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, published a statement by Father Roger Arnsparger, the diocese’s vicar of education:
Father Arnsparger explained that Sister Jane “has been invited to give this presentation very many times throughout the country in many dioceses and with great interest and success. Many said that the first part of her presentation at Charlotte Catholic High School was excellent and fully in line with the Catholic faith. There was unfortunately a misunderstanding about the content of the last part of the presentation. In that part, I understand that Sister used data from the Linacre Quarterly, a reputable journal, and from other sources. That data can be debated and, in fact, is debated back and forth by scholars who are researching the areas of human sexuality. Because of the ongoing debate, it would have been better if these studies and data were omitted from the presentation to the students.”
The Linacre Quarterly is a Catholic medical journal, so its objectivity could be questionable regarding issues like homosexuality.
There is absolutely no reasonable “ongoing debate” however, about the controversial comments Sister Dominic made, and for the archdiocese to claim otherwise is false.
Parents speaking to the school leaders expressed their outrage, according to the Catholic News Herald.
The first parent to speak said her student came home after the March 21 assembly feeling ashamed and embarrassed.
“Where was the trust? Where was the communication?” she said, directing her comments to Father Matthew Kauth, the school’s chaplain who arranged for the assembly. “It is trust. It is respect. It is confidence. I have lost confidence. I do not trust your judgment and I do not respect (Father Kauth).” Her comments drew loud applause from many others.
One parent told Father Kauth, “You have divided parents, you have divided students, and we’ve lost respect for you.”
A parent who said she was representing lesbian, gay and bisexual students at Charlotte Catholic High School said Sister Jane “pounded home the message” that if these students are questioning their sexual identity, they had better stay in the closet. She also said she felt the presentation created nothing but an unsafe environment for these students at the school.
“I trust the administration here and it has brought very good and energetic talk into our household,” one parent said, but they were booed.
Another parent told Father Kauth, “You don’t know best for our children. What are you planning on doing for the healing? We want our children to remain Catholic, but we are being pushed away by the climate of what is going on here.”
“We all need to recognize that there are gay and lesbian students at Charlotte Catholic High School,” said the parent. The parent further explained that gay and lesbian students need to be embraced with love, not hatred. He said the discussion was “over the top” and never should have been allowed in the first place.
Meanwhile, outside the meeting, parents, students, and supporters of the LGBT community handed out bracelets that read, “We are all God’s children.”
(Refresh page if tweet and image do not appear)
More than 1,000 turn out for meeting about controversial speaker at Charlotte Catholic. http://t.co/58P5nyDBdA pic.twitter.com/D1TvkI4BiE
— Rick Thames (@rthames) April 3, 2014
Â
A lesson that apparently wasn’t taught — or learned — by the leaders of Charlotte Catholic High School, or the archdiocese.
Image: Screenshot via Vimeo