Archdiocese defends efforts in behalf of gay students

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 4, 1998 by Teresa Malcolm

Efforts to make Catholic high schools places where gay, lesbian and bisexual students are safe from harassment have been defended by the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese. The initiatives taking place at Catholic high schools in the Twin Cities area are consistent with Catholic teachings and doctrine, a statement from the archdiocese said.

The Nov. 10 statement came in response to criticism in The Wanderer, an ultra-right newspaper based in St. Paul. The newspaper said gay activist Bill Kummer of Minneapolis, who served as a resource for the archdiocesan Catholic Education and Formation Ministries office, had "used" Archbishop Harry J. Flynn and other archdiocesan officials to promote a gay agenda. The Wanderer said that at the conference of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries in Rochester, N.Y., Kummer boasted he had transformed nine of the 11 Catholic high schools in the archdiocese into "gay friendly" schools.

St. Paul's archdiocesan officials said they listened to the same recording of Kummer's remarks and came up with a different interpretation. "After a careful review of the tape by archdiocesan leaders, it is clear that Mr. Kummer said nothing that would give a reasonable person the idea that he had intended to deceive anyone regarding this matter," the archdiocesan statement said.

Thomas McCarver, director of the Catholic Education and Formation Ministries office, equated the initiatives with issues of racial and gender bias and other strands of prejudice that are unacceptable according to Catholic church teaching. He said bias against gay and lesbian students "has been ignored, and that's the reason for our schools taking these initiatives."

Training offered to Catholic high school faculty and administrators teaches that gay, lesbian and bisexual people deserve to be respected and treated with the dignity all God's creatures have a right to expect.

"The archbishop's position is that we teach within church teaching, and we have," McCarver said. He said faculty members have reported a change of climate in the schools as a result of the initiatives. "If it was OK to bash someone in the past, it isn't now," he said. "It's about how we behave toward one another. We're trying to teach kids what's right."

Briefs, gathered from news services, correspondents and staff, are compiled and edited by Teresa Malcolm.