Activists seeks ouster of San Francisco archbishop over morality clauses

Catholic News ServiceApril 16, 2015

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone

The San Francisco Archdiocese said the full-page advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle April 16 urging Pope Francis to oust San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone over morality clauses and other policies "is a misrepresentation of Catholic teaching."

The ad also is "a misrepresentation of the nature of the teacher contract, and a misrepresentation of the spirit of the archbishop," the archdiocese said in a statement released the day before the ad's publication. "The greatest misrepresentation of all is that the signers presume to speak for the Catholic community of San Francisco. They do not."

Signed by more than 100 local Catholics, the ad is in the form of an open letter to Pope Francis, asking him to replace Archbishop Cordileone with "a leader true to our values and your namesake."

The letter claims the archbishop has "fostered an atmosphere of division and intolerance," saying he "coerces educators and staff of our Catholic high schools to accept a morality code which violates individual consciences as well as California labor laws."

It is referring to proposed new clauses to contracts for teachers in archdiocesan Catholic high schools to further clarify that Catholic schools "exist to affirm and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as held and taught by his Catholic Church."

The San Francisco Archdiocese is adding detailed statements of Catholic teaching on sexual morality and religious practice to the faculty and staff handbooks of archdiocesan high schools to take effect in the 2015-16 school year. The statements cover church teaching on abortion, same-sex marriage, artificial contraception, and other tenets of the faith.

The handbook and contract changes reiterate more strongly what archdiocesan officials say is the responsibility of teachers and staff not to contradict Catholic teaching in school and in their public lives.

Signers of the ad said that "teachers, students and parents are overwhelmingly opposed to the archbishop's proposal and said the "mean-spiritedness" of the proposed language for the faculty handbook "sets a pastoral tone that is closer to persecution than evangelization."

The ad also claimed the archbishop "disregards advice from his priests" and instead relies on a "tiny group of advisers" recruited from outside the archdiocese.

The San Francisco Archdiocese in its statement said that local church officials have "met with a broad range of stakeholders" and have "engaged in a constructive dialogue on all of the issues raised in this ad. We welcome the chance to continue that discussion."

Catholic News Service

Show Comments (

)

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

ed gleason

9 years ago

Catholic people here, [not just activists] in San Francisco have taken a while to know that A/B Cordileone has come here with an agenda that San Francisco culture needs to be confronted.. First on his own installation, the Episcopal bishop was left in the cathedral basement so as to not allow him to process in with the Greek Orthodox bishop. He left. The A/B then immediately replaced the Sulpician rector, a century old order at the seminary. He brought in outside priests to staff chancery positions and the Star Of the Sea parish fiasco. He established an Office of Catholic Identity and revised the HS teachers handbook to establishh a so called moral qualifications regimen. He claims no intent to snoop but everyone knows that every parish has anonymous snoops to report what 'they' think is acceptable behavior. He constantly accepts invitations to speak on denouncing same sex civil marriage to Red Meat conservative audiences... all should know by now that horse died about a year ago. He hired a PR firm to whine about bad press. And as a Star Of the Sea parent .said a large protest meeting . 'You came here to start a fight and now you got one''

Martin Eble

9 years ago

This a well funded campaign by folks with a long track record with Call to Action, Dignity, and other groups known for rejecting Catholic teaching. The ad was signed by individuals like Clint Reilly, whose firm Clinton Reilly Campaigns worked for U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Sens. Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, by Brian Cahill, who has been an outspoken critic of Catholic teaching on homosexual relationships and several U.S. Catholic bishops. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/archdiocese-anti-cordileone-ad-misrepresents-catholicism-70438/ "Red Meat conservative audiences" apparently is San Francisco jargon for "practicing Catholics who adhere to the Catholic faith".

ed gleason

9 years ago

Martin; A/B Cordileone already has his plane ticket to Washington DC to speak next week at the National Association For Marriage for the second year in a row. NOM has been a fierce supporter/protector of the Duck Dynasty's anti-gay rants. Because there is no way A/B Cordileone could organize Red Meat audiences in the Bay Area, so he needs air fare to meet with bussed in bigots in DC, Pelosi, Boxer and Feinstein you seem to know but how about Duck Dynasty who I am guessing is not on your screen.?

Martin Eble

8 years 12 months ago

Archbishop Cordileone has consistently resisted pressure from the usual suspects in San Francisco to “tone it down” about the Church’s teachings on abortion and the norm of male-female marriage and the nuclear family. The June 19 march on the Supreme Court, The March for Marriage, is a pro-marriage event. It is a march in affirmation of the vision promoted by Pope Francis, who recently said, “We must reaffirm the right of children to grow up in a family with a father and mother.” The point of this event is not to single out a group of individuals and target them for hatred, and the archbishop has stated that were that true, he most certainly would not be there. As the Bay Area founder of Voice of the Faithful I appreciate you see this through a somewhat different color lens than we do in the middle of the United States, but most of us are just thankful we are not in San Francisco and that our own representatives do not give the impression to the rest of the country that yours gives. Apparently from all the well-funded anti-Archbishop Cordileone propaganda recently, folks there have been getting away with calling themselves “Catholic” but acting otherwise for quite some time, and the correction underway with Archbishop Cordileone at the helm is long overdue. https://www.catholicvote.org/nancy-pelosi-lectures-abp-cordileone-don’t-march-for-marriage-i-respond/

ed gleason

9 years ago

Martin; I'm not only not the founder of Call To Action bay area I'm not even a member.. Poor reseach always gets skewed stuff.. A/B Cordileone will be at the NOM DC conference next week and you ought to remind him to not get in a picture with Duck Dynasty swamp people because you seem to judge people a lot by whom they associate with .. I wish America Mag would put up a pic of Duck Dynasty so we can all judge the hirsuteness of the NOM group. As far as your knock on San Francisco, let it be known that for years we in SF have given sanctuary to your youngsters who flee from your mid-west bigotry. No thank you is necessary.. .

Jim McCrea

9 years ago

This is not only a storm in the Catholic world, but the secular press recognizes that the pigeons have come home to roost for A/B Cordileone: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/nevius/article/Time-for-Catholic-church-to-face-up-to-reality-in-6204533.php

Martin Eble

9 years ago

The San Francisco Chronicle has a solid track record of anti-Catholicism.

ed gleason

9 years ago

By the way none of us in SF think of ourselves as stakeholders. we are Baptized Roman Cathoilics .. clue in the PR guys and vet their crap before they send it out. .

Tim O'Leary

9 years ago

Here is a quote from Archbishop Cordileone to those trying to hurt him, get him removed, etc. "Please do not make judgments based on stereotypes, media images and comments taken out of context. Rather, get to know us first as fellow human beings. I myself am willing to meet personally with any of you not only to dialogue, but simply so that we can get to know each other. It is the personal encounter that changes the vision of the other and softens the heart. In the end, love is the answer, and this can happen even between people with such deep disagreements. That may sound fanciful and far-fetched, but it is true, it is possible. I know it is possible, I know this from personal experience. When we come together seeking to understand the other with good will, miracles can happen. When all is said and done, then, there is only one thing that I would ask of you more than anything else: before you judge us, get to know us. Sincerely, Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone"

Justin McLellan – Catholic News Service

Skateparks, gyms and breweries: The right and wrong way to repurpose a closed church building

John W. Miller

Why People Are Rejecting Religion—and How to Draw Them In

The Editors

The danger of turning ‘brain death’ and organ donation into culture war issues

Jason T. Eberl, Michael Olson, Becket Gremmels, E. Wesley Ely, John J. Raphael, Allen J. Aksamit, Laura B. Webster

Patriarch Sabbah: The real cause of the war in Gaza—and the only path to peace

Michel Sabbah

Your source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more.

Regional Directors of Youth Ministry and Discipleship

Jobs

Community at the Crossing

Volunteer / Vocation

Benedictine Spiritual Direction Training & Certification Program

Retreats, Spiritual Resources

Jesuit Spiritual Center at Milford

Retreat Houses, Retreats

Assumption University

Education, Universities

The latest from america

Scott Loudon and his team filming his documentary, ‘Anonimo’ (photo courtesy of Scott Loudon)

The Jesuits’ musical legacy: A mission opera debuts in Bolivia

This week, a music festival returns to the Chiquitos missions in Bolivia, which the Jesuits established between 1691 and 1760. The story of the Jesuit "reductions" was made popular by the 1986 film ‘The Mission.’

Phillip Alcon Ganir, S.J.April 19, 2024

Pope Francis tells children: You can’t build peace while ‘lying on the couch’

The world can change for the better only when people are out in the world, “not lying on the couch,” Pope Francis told some 6,000 Italian schoolchildren.

Cindy Wooden April 19, 2024