Comments on: Blogswarm for Katelyn Sills

By: John

John — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I'll just say taht I've studied drama throughout highschool and college, and at no point has the question of whether the instructor used to work at a planned parenthood clinic ever had any bearing on a class.

I just hope that the poor woman they ran out of the school has the gumption to press a wrongful termination lawsuit.

It's sad that the daughter is suffering out of this, but it's her mother's fault, and it's her mother you should criticize.

By: Funky Dung

Funky Dung — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

You miss the point. This is a Catholic school. A quote from Katelyn's post:

"At a Catholic school, people can reasonably expect that the staff will support Catholic teaching. This does not mean that the teachers have to be Catholic. I have had many teachers that I admire and are not Catholic. However, Ms. Bain did not just disagree with the Church. Her moral identity is in direct conflict. John Paul II states that abortion 'is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being,' and that 'it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church.' This was not some small issue. When a teacher at a Catholic school has actively demonstrated that her beliefs are contrary to the Church on an issue that the Church believes is 'deliberate killing', something is very wrong.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

The girl has all but called her former teacher a murderer; for what possible reason would I participate in a blogswarm that supports her and her rhetoric?

It doesn't matter that this woman was an escort for Planned Parenthood and worked in a Catholic school. Here's what matters: if she had been conveying her pro-choice opinions to the students, that would have mattered. If she had been a religion teacher, then perhaps what she does with her time outside of the classroom would have mattered. But as a drama teacher, it shouldn't matter if she's escorting women to Planned Parenthood clinics so long as she is not expressing her pro-choice opinions to students.

The Church will lose this lawsuit (and there will be a lawsuit), and it should.

By: John

John — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

you're also going to be somewhat hard pressed to find an anti-abortion drama teacher

By: John

John — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Following on Nathan's comment, I have no pity at all for this girl. Had she said "hey, my mother did this of her own accord, leave me out of it" that'd be one thing. The moment she gets on board with frog marching a teacher, it is good right and just of others to denounce her.

By: ...

... — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

The Church shouldn't lose this lawsuit. (Take a look at the comments box on Katelyn's post; an employment lawyer said pretty much the same thing.)

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the Boy Scouts are free to ban gay men from serving as scout leaders. It's called freedom of association. The Founding Fathers liked that.

The Church — and its affiliated institutions, like Catholic schools — are a private organization like the Boy Scouts. Why should the Catholic Church not have the right to fire a teacher whose public activity is in direct conflict with the Church's moral teachings?

Let's extend your reasoning… A private Jewish school hires a teacher, who is then seen participating in a neo-Nazi rally. Under the logic you're proposing, it would be 'ideological discrimination' for the school to fire that teacher, despite the fact that the teacher's public activities were in direct conflict with Judaism.

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah, she listed her occupation as bothering democrats, and you want me to send her a thinking of you card. She's egging people on and getting the response you would expect.

I do think however that the school has the legal right to fire the teacher.

By: Funky Dung

Funky Dung — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

You've made an intelligent observation and written a polite comment to express it. The vast majority of her detracters have not. Egging on or not, the screeds left by the first few neanderthals to comment were unnecessary and only serve to prematurely end rational discussion.

By: Funky Dung

Funky Dung — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Regarding "bothering Democrats": Can't you take a joke?

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

'Regarding "bothering Democrats": Can't you take a joke?'

Not really. I went in expecting to feel sorry for her, then I read that comment, thought about it for a few minutes and realized she must like Geogre Bush.

I was tempted to leave the rudest comment I could come up with.

Well, I did laugh the other day when a Republican at work suggested a hybrid tax to offset the gas tax, but that was pretty funny.