Well, it seems that the Diocese of Ft. Wayne-South Bend, IN has once again used it muscle to take away the livelihood of one of it's employees. The person in charge of the food service department and cafeteria at Marian High School in Mishawaka, IN has lost her job of 9 years, which has brought an annual profit to the school of approximately a quarter million US Dollars each year, because she would not renounce her membership in the Polish National Catholic Church. Ms. Nan Gilbert (her name is still, as of this writing, on the Marian website) has personally contacted me about this situation and it is outrageous. This is total and utter religious discrimination that obviously comes from the top-down-- Bishop John M. D'Arcy. Bishop D'Arcy has run roughshod over employment law with diocesan employees for over 20 years, from keeping out a teacher's union to forcing people to sign less favorable contracts when the previous ones were still in effect to firing people due to their strongly held religious convictions.
She is a member of the Polish National Catholic Church, and according to the 2006 Joint Declaration on Unity, there should be no proselytism among members of the two sister churches. So, not only has D'Arcy broken State and Federal discrimination laws, he has also broken a concordat signed by the leaders of both the Roman Catholic and Polish National Catholic Churches which was brought about as a result of a dialogue started at the request of the late Pope John Paul II in 1982 (official meetings having begun in 1984). The biannual meetings can be seen here.
So, not only does Bishop D'Arcy fully support LifeTeen and it's pedophilic bent, but he also breaks the Roman Catholic Canons (see Canon 844, paragraphs 2-3) and the results of years of ecumenical dialogue. In doing this, he shows that he has no regard for people who give their lives for the school and a church that is not even their own.
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5 comments:
this is not the only time a PNCC member (or relative) has lost a job in the RCC. A woman who was an organist in the RCC in Pittsburgh was fired for being married to a PNCC priest.
What is the point in dialog if the RCC is going to keep pulling this kind of stuff?
I will continue to pray for sincere dialog and effort amongst both Churches.
I can agree with you that the local Roman authorities might be bullies but on the other hand they have a right to make own rules about employment as a private institution. No-one has a 'right' to work for them. The obvious solution is for Nan Gilbert to get another job.
It also gets more complicated if she's a former RC and/or her husband is an ex-RC priest, in which case an RC institution not hiring or retaining her is understandable.
Thank you for your comment. While I do indeed see where you are coming from (and in most cases, that would be true), this is a totally different scecario... they actually BROKE their own rules in doing this. According to the 2006 joint declaration on unity between the RC and PNCC churches (available at www.usccb.org), there is to be no proselytizing or discrimination between the two sister churches. If an individual in good conscience goes from one church to the other (either way), there is to be no reprucussions for the individual. This is where the problem lies.
I'm fairly sure that non-proselytism means not trying to convert people who are not former members of one's church. For example the PNCC has been around over a century so there are born members. ISTM to the RCs a former RC claiming the same privilege as a born PNCC is rather like the man who kills his parents then asks for mercy because he is an orphan.
Um...kinda wanted to say i have been with fot wayne south bend diocese, im a teen, and i have been going to life teen since i first could. ive even gone on the retreats that they offer to renew our prayer life and give us a more faith-filled reason to live. And i have to tell ya just because one bad person that just happened to start life teen did it for his own sick kicks does not mean that others cant take life teen and make it into a beautiful thing. Teens are now freely able to come every wednesday and Sunday do some prayer, worship, and other fun, religion oriented activites. Im just thinking you dont have all of the details on what life teen is really all about.
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