There’s been a lot of buzz in the Catholic blogosphere (blogohemisphere? hemiblogosphere?) about a homosexual couple who enrolled their adopted sons into kindergarten at a Costa Mesa Catholic school. Apparently, parents of some of the other students are having a conniption over this and demanding that only Catholics in good standing be allowed to enroll children in St. John the Baptist School.
Not all of the parents oppose the enrollments and one of them, John Stephens, says most of what I’m thinking.
"As for a moral covenant solution, I just think that most parents in school, if not all of them, are sinners in a lot of ways. I certainly don’t want my kids’ admission into the school to be based on my morality."
"These kids are baptized Catholics, so they’re entitled, therefore, to be members of our parish, which includes going to our school. No one suggested the kids did anything wrong, so I don’t see how anyone could exclude them from the school. Even if you took the position that homosexuality is a bad thing, logically you would want the kids to get a good Catholic education so they could eventually get exposure to the faith on the issue of homosexuality."
Let us suppose that the punishment for the sins of the father should be visited upon the son. Is homosexuality more wrong than adultery? Than contraception? Than abortion? Than taking the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin? Homosexual acts are but one small part of the sin of lust. What of the other six capital sins? Surely nearly every parent of a child at that school is guilty of one or more of them. Should their kids be kicked out? Heaven forbid!
However, the truth is that everyone is responsible for his/her own sins. This was established before Jesus came and pointed out the message of love the Jews had been blind to.
"Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is lawful and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The soul that sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." – Ezekiel 18:19-20
These children have a decent chance of learning the teachings of the Church through their Catholic education, perhaps even witnessing to their parents against homosexuality.
Or at least they had a decent chance until their story made news. Heaven only knows how this will scar them. How many reporters will harass them? How many classmates will torment them? How many parents will look down at them? How many lawsuits might they have to endure? May the Lord bless them and keep them.