Michael Gaynor
Bishop Wiegand: Good work done, more good work to do
By Michael Gaynor
In Loretto High School, a Catholic high school in Sacramento, California, there is student rebellion of sorts. Because a teacher who had served as a Planned Parenthood volunteer and publicly written in favor of facilitating abortion for students, was terminated. Thanks to William K, Wiegand, Bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento (who may have needed to let the school principal know he would shut down the school if necessary to move her to do what she should have done without any need for encouragement).
At a recent open house at the school, some parents sensed that something was very wrong. Examples: (1) a poster on one wall stating that "Our girls can be anything they want to be" and showing a group of girls dressed as a coven of witches; (2) bookshelves displaying the books of notorious clerical dissenters; and (3) another poster promoting an event sponsored by the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the name of which does not even hint that it is a Planned Parenthood donor. See http://tinyurl.com/bqr5p.
Later that night the rightly very concerned parents discovered the inspiration for these decidedly unCatholic displays in a Catholic high school. This article on the front page of the Sacramento Bee (http://tinyurl.com/93fbo):
"A drama teacher at a Catholic high school in Sacramento was fired Thursday after church officials learned she had previously volunteered at an abortion clinic, school officials said Friday.
"Marie Bain, 50, of Sacramento, who had taught at Loretto High School since August, was dismissed after a student's parent obtained pictures showing Bain escorting people into a Planned Parenthood clinic last spring.
"The pictures were delivered to Bishop William K. Weigand, head of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, who outlined the decision to terminate Bain in an Oct. 5 letter to the president of the all-female school.
"'Obviously, the very public nature of Ms. Bain's previous volunteer activity at a Planned Parenthood Clinic is inconsistent with her position as a teacher at a Catholic high school and her role as a collaborator in the formation of Catholic women,' Weigand wrote. 'Abortion is gravely immoral and Ms. Bain's active and public participation in the procurement of abortions is morally inappropriate and unacceptable with regard to her work as a teacher at Loretto.'
"Reached at home Friday night, Bain acknowledged that she had been fired and that she had volunteered at Planned Parenthood before taking the Loretto job.
"'There are many things I would love to say, but I don't want to jeopardize anything. I am pursuing many avenues,' she said.
"Bain's termination, announced Friday afternoon, was met with tears from students at the college preparatory school on El Camino Avenue. She was described as a passionate teacher with a dramatic personality who pushed her students to memorize their lines with precision.
"Bain had been preparing her students for a four-day run at the end of the month of 'The Young and Fair,' N. Richard Nash's 1948 play about balancing one's idealism and personal ethics.
"'She is exceptional'" said Sister Helen Timothy, the school's president. 'Students thought very highly of her.'
"'We lost a great teacher,' said Cynthia Mitterholzer, the dance instructor who will take over for Bain.
"Mitterholzer said teachers working at a Catholic school understand they must follow certain rules.
"However, 'I think that your personal life is your personal life, and she complied with everything asked from the school in her contract.'
"Weigand, who is out of town, was unavailable for comment.
"The Rev. Charles McDermott, vicar episcopal for theological affairs for the diocese, said employing teachers who have volunteered at abortion clinics sets a poor example for students.
"'To support abortion is contrary to the position the church has held for nearly 2,000 years,' he said.
"If you participate in that way, you are not qualified to teach in a Catholic school because teachers are inevitably role models.'
"School officials at Loretto conduct extensive background searches before hiring teachers. The searches typically focus on employment and criminal history and do not often delve into volunteer work, Timothy said.
"Timothy said that Bain's views on abortion did not surface during interviews and that she was unsure if they would have disqualified the teacher.
"'We hire teachers for their talent and experience and she signed a contract with certain terms and conditions' to uphold Catholic values, Timothy said. 'And during her employment at Loretto she was compliant.'
"In July, a letter to The Bee signed Marie Bain of Sacramento voiced opposition to laws requiring teens to notify parents if they have an abortion.
"'Like it or not, teens get pregnant,' the letter stated. 'And the most important issue is keeping them safe. Safe means access to reliable health care, not gut-wrenching red tape.'
"Before being hired at Loretto, Bain taught in the Los Rios Community College District.
"She volunteered weekly for about nine months for Planned Parenthood, greeting patients and ushering them past anti-abortion protesters who frequently demonstrate outside clinics, said Katharyn McLearan, director of public affairs for the local Planned Parenthood Mar Monte.
"'We have protesters who hold very graphic signs and are very intimidating, and they sometimes come up to patients' cars,' said McLearan. 'She was there to be a friendly face and address their concerns.
"'It is concerning to us that people are targeting their employment just for being involved,' said McLearan, who said Bain contacted Planned Parenthood on Friday to inform the agency of her termination.
"Weigand, in his letter, said the case serves to emphasize the importance of checking employee backgrounds to ensure that 'those entrusted with forming responsible Catholic women at Loretto High School share our important Catholic moral beliefs and can serve in all respects as worthy role models for our young women.'"
Let there not be any confusion: the Catholic Church is not tolerant of abortion or those who facilitate and promote it. Because abortion is gravcely sinful.
Canon 1398 of the 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law specifies that "[a] person who procures a successful abortion incurs an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication." Meaning that a pregnant woman who chooses death for her unborn baby and all of her formal co-conspirators are excommunicated without the need for an official decree at the instant her pregnancy is terminated.
Canon 1323 provides that no one can be excommunicated who has not turned 17; was, without fault, ignorant of violating the law; acted under physical force, or under a chance occurrence that could not be foreseen or avoided; acted under compulsion of grave fear; or lacked the use of reason. Unless it applies, excommunication is automatic.
A 1988 Vatican ruling by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, the Vatican office charged with authoritative interpretations of canon law, defined "abortion" as any method used to terminate a pregnancy from the moment of conception and explained that the prohibition against abortion, in the sense of the deliberate termination of a pregnancy, is absolute.
According to Redemptorist Father Brian Johnstone, a bioethics expert at Rome's prestigious Alphonsian Academy, the only instance in which the removal of a fetus may be tolerated by official Catholic teaching is if the mother urgently requires a life-or-death procedure with the unwanted consequence of ending her pregnancy. A pregnant woman with advanced cervical cancer, for example, could have an operation to remove the cancer, which would also mean removing the fetus. In Catholic moral theology, this is understood as the principle of "double effect." The positive effect, saving the life of the mother, being what is intended, while the negative effect, the death of the fetus, is merely foreseen.
In 1869, Pope Pius IX declared that the fetus, "although not ensouled, is directed to the forming of man. Therefore, its ejection is anticipated homicide" at any stage of pregnancy and incurs excommunication.
Canon 1329 specifies that accomplices to an act that triggers automatic excommunication are also subject to the same penalty if "without their assistance, the crime would not have been committed."
Canonists interpret accomplices to include the doctor and nurses who perform the procedure and friends or family (such as the husband or boyfriend) who cooperate directly, for example, by paying for the abortion or driving to the clinic.
According to Canon 1331, an excommunicated person cannot have any ministerial part in the celebration of the Eucharist or other ceremonies of public worship; cannot receive the sacraments; and cannot exercise any ecclesiastical offices, functions, or acts of governance.
Such a person surely should not be considered as a teacher in a Catholic school, unless and until that person repents and is received back in the Church.
To knowingly tolerate the presence of such a person as a teacher for that would be a scandal and would sow confusion.
Tragically, there was such scandal and there apparently still is much confusion at Loretto high school.
What is tragic, if the Sacramento Bee article is accurate, is that the Catholic high school principal and other faculty at the school saw nothing wrong with retaining (and hiring) pro-abortion a Planned Parenthood activist to teach at a Catholic girls' school.
Thank God for Bishop Wiegand.
The good Bishop was absolutely right to terminate an employee who promotes and facilitates abortion and publicly wrote in favor of facilitating abortions for students.
BUT, there is more work for the good Bishop.
There is a whistleblower, deserving of respect, to protect. From the high school principal!
Sacramento attorney Vincent DiCarlo advised me that "[it seems clear that, if the statements in the story that are attributed to the principal and other staff are accurate, something continues to be seriously wrong at this school," and he "certainly would not entrust it with the education of any of [his] daughters."
Understandably so!
And thanks be to God for the person who blew the whistle on the Planned Parenthood volunteer, who chose to infilitrate Loretto high school and whose presence there seems to have been ardently desired by the principal and a number of faculty and students.
The whistleblower reportedly observed Ms. Bains working as a volunteer at a Planned Parenthood facility on days when abortions were performed, serving as what is known as a volunteer "deathscort." Standing outside the clinic and ensuring that abortion-minded woman have as little contact with prolife advocates as possible.
What is most disconcerting is the report that it required the intercession of the good Bishop to end Ms. Bain's employment by a Catholic high school.
Photographic evidence of Ms. Bain's active participation at an Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Sacramento reportedly did not cause the school principal to take the necessary action.
When the same evidence reached the good Bishop, he did not flinch. He did what needed to be done.
Now the good Bishop needs to investigate whether his Catholic high school principal wrongfully banned the whistleblower from campus, by email.
How about giving the whistleblower an award for protecting young Catholic women from the insidious influence of Ms. Bains (whose effectiveness obviously was enhanced by her status as a Catholic school teacher) and a key to the campus instead of a persona non grata notice? And the Catholic high school principal an extended leave of absence to go on retreat and pray?
© Michael Gaynor
In Loretto High School, a Catholic high school in Sacramento, California, there is student rebellion of sorts. Because a teacher who had served as a Planned Parenthood volunteer and publicly written in favor of facilitating abortion for students, was terminated. Thanks to William K, Wiegand, Bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento (who may have needed to let the school principal know he would shut down the school if necessary to move her to do what she should have done without any need for encouragement).
At a recent open house at the school, some parents sensed that something was very wrong. Examples: (1) a poster on one wall stating that "Our girls can be anything they want to be" and showing a group of girls dressed as a coven of witches; (2) bookshelves displaying the books of notorious clerical dissenters; and (3) another poster promoting an event sponsored by the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the name of which does not even hint that it is a Planned Parenthood donor. See http://tinyurl.com/bqr5p.
Later that night the rightly very concerned parents discovered the inspiration for these decidedly unCatholic displays in a Catholic high school. This article on the front page of the Sacramento Bee (http://tinyurl.com/93fbo):
"A drama teacher at a Catholic high school in Sacramento was fired Thursday after church officials learned she had previously volunteered at an abortion clinic, school officials said Friday.
"Marie Bain, 50, of Sacramento, who had taught at Loretto High School since August, was dismissed after a student's parent obtained pictures showing Bain escorting people into a Planned Parenthood clinic last spring.
"The pictures were delivered to Bishop William K. Weigand, head of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, who outlined the decision to terminate Bain in an Oct. 5 letter to the president of the all-female school.
"'Obviously, the very public nature of Ms. Bain's previous volunteer activity at a Planned Parenthood Clinic is inconsistent with her position as a teacher at a Catholic high school and her role as a collaborator in the formation of Catholic women,' Weigand wrote. 'Abortion is gravely immoral and Ms. Bain's active and public participation in the procurement of abortions is morally inappropriate and unacceptable with regard to her work as a teacher at Loretto.'
"Reached at home Friday night, Bain acknowledged that she had been fired and that she had volunteered at Planned Parenthood before taking the Loretto job.
"'There are many things I would love to say, but I don't want to jeopardize anything. I am pursuing many avenues,' she said.
"Bain's termination, announced Friday afternoon, was met with tears from students at the college preparatory school on El Camino Avenue. She was described as a passionate teacher with a dramatic personality who pushed her students to memorize their lines with precision.
"Bain had been preparing her students for a four-day run at the end of the month of 'The Young and Fair,' N. Richard Nash's 1948 play about balancing one's idealism and personal ethics.
"'She is exceptional'" said Sister Helen Timothy, the school's president. 'Students thought very highly of her.'
"'We lost a great teacher,' said Cynthia Mitterholzer, the dance instructor who will take over for Bain.
"Mitterholzer said teachers working at a Catholic school understand they must follow certain rules.
"However, 'I think that your personal life is your personal life, and she complied with everything asked from the school in her contract.'
"Weigand, who is out of town, was unavailable for comment.
"The Rev. Charles McDermott, vicar episcopal for theological affairs for the diocese, said employing teachers who have volunteered at abortion clinics sets a poor example for students.
"'To support abortion is contrary to the position the church has held for nearly 2,000 years,' he said.
"If you participate in that way, you are not qualified to teach in a Catholic school because teachers are inevitably role models.'
"School officials at Loretto conduct extensive background searches before hiring teachers. The searches typically focus on employment and criminal history and do not often delve into volunteer work, Timothy said.
"Timothy said that Bain's views on abortion did not surface during interviews and that she was unsure if they would have disqualified the teacher.
"'We hire teachers for their talent and experience and she signed a contract with certain terms and conditions' to uphold Catholic values, Timothy said. 'And during her employment at Loretto she was compliant.'
"In July, a letter to The Bee signed Marie Bain of Sacramento voiced opposition to laws requiring teens to notify parents if they have an abortion.
"'Like it or not, teens get pregnant,' the letter stated. 'And the most important issue is keeping them safe. Safe means access to reliable health care, not gut-wrenching red tape.'
"Before being hired at Loretto, Bain taught in the Los Rios Community College District.
"She volunteered weekly for about nine months for Planned Parenthood, greeting patients and ushering them past anti-abortion protesters who frequently demonstrate outside clinics, said Katharyn McLearan, director of public affairs for the local Planned Parenthood Mar Monte.
"'We have protesters who hold very graphic signs and are very intimidating, and they sometimes come up to patients' cars,' said McLearan. 'She was there to be a friendly face and address their concerns.
"'It is concerning to us that people are targeting their employment just for being involved,' said McLearan, who said Bain contacted Planned Parenthood on Friday to inform the agency of her termination.
"Weigand, in his letter, said the case serves to emphasize the importance of checking employee backgrounds to ensure that 'those entrusted with forming responsible Catholic women at Loretto High School share our important Catholic moral beliefs and can serve in all respects as worthy role models for our young women.'"
Let there not be any confusion: the Catholic Church is not tolerant of abortion or those who facilitate and promote it. Because abortion is gravcely sinful.
Canon 1398 of the 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law specifies that "[a] person who procures a successful abortion incurs an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication." Meaning that a pregnant woman who chooses death for her unborn baby and all of her formal co-conspirators are excommunicated without the need for an official decree at the instant her pregnancy is terminated.
Canon 1323 provides that no one can be excommunicated who has not turned 17; was, without fault, ignorant of violating the law; acted under physical force, or under a chance occurrence that could not be foreseen or avoided; acted under compulsion of grave fear; or lacked the use of reason. Unless it applies, excommunication is automatic.
A 1988 Vatican ruling by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, the Vatican office charged with authoritative interpretations of canon law, defined "abortion" as any method used to terminate a pregnancy from the moment of conception and explained that the prohibition against abortion, in the sense of the deliberate termination of a pregnancy, is absolute.
According to Redemptorist Father Brian Johnstone, a bioethics expert at Rome's prestigious Alphonsian Academy, the only instance in which the removal of a fetus may be tolerated by official Catholic teaching is if the mother urgently requires a life-or-death procedure with the unwanted consequence of ending her pregnancy. A pregnant woman with advanced cervical cancer, for example, could have an operation to remove the cancer, which would also mean removing the fetus. In Catholic moral theology, this is understood as the principle of "double effect." The positive effect, saving the life of the mother, being what is intended, while the negative effect, the death of the fetus, is merely foreseen.
In 1869, Pope Pius IX declared that the fetus, "although not ensouled, is directed to the forming of man. Therefore, its ejection is anticipated homicide" at any stage of pregnancy and incurs excommunication.
Canon 1329 specifies that accomplices to an act that triggers automatic excommunication are also subject to the same penalty if "without their assistance, the crime would not have been committed."
Canonists interpret accomplices to include the doctor and nurses who perform the procedure and friends or family (such as the husband or boyfriend) who cooperate directly, for example, by paying for the abortion or driving to the clinic.
According to Canon 1331, an excommunicated person cannot have any ministerial part in the celebration of the Eucharist or other ceremonies of public worship; cannot receive the sacraments; and cannot exercise any ecclesiastical offices, functions, or acts of governance.
Such a person surely should not be considered as a teacher in a Catholic school, unless and until that person repents and is received back in the Church.
To knowingly tolerate the presence of such a person as a teacher for that would be a scandal and would sow confusion.
Tragically, there was such scandal and there apparently still is much confusion at Loretto high school.
What is tragic, if the Sacramento Bee article is accurate, is that the Catholic high school principal and other faculty at the school saw nothing wrong with retaining (and hiring) pro-abortion a Planned Parenthood activist to teach at a Catholic girls' school.
Thank God for Bishop Wiegand.
The good Bishop was absolutely right to terminate an employee who promotes and facilitates abortion and publicly wrote in favor of facilitating abortions for students.
BUT, there is more work for the good Bishop.
There is a whistleblower, deserving of respect, to protect. From the high school principal!
Sacramento attorney Vincent DiCarlo advised me that "[it seems clear that, if the statements in the story that are attributed to the principal and other staff are accurate, something continues to be seriously wrong at this school," and he "certainly would not entrust it with the education of any of [his] daughters."
Understandably so!
And thanks be to God for the person who blew the whistle on the Planned Parenthood volunteer, who chose to infilitrate Loretto high school and whose presence there seems to have been ardently desired by the principal and a number of faculty and students.
The whistleblower reportedly observed Ms. Bains working as a volunteer at a Planned Parenthood facility on days when abortions were performed, serving as what is known as a volunteer "deathscort." Standing outside the clinic and ensuring that abortion-minded woman have as little contact with prolife advocates as possible.
What is most disconcerting is the report that it required the intercession of the good Bishop to end Ms. Bain's employment by a Catholic high school.
Photographic evidence of Ms. Bain's active participation at an Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Sacramento reportedly did not cause the school principal to take the necessary action.
When the same evidence reached the good Bishop, he did not flinch. He did what needed to be done.
Now the good Bishop needs to investigate whether his Catholic high school principal wrongfully banned the whistleblower from campus, by email.
How about giving the whistleblower an award for protecting young Catholic women from the insidious influence of Ms. Bains (whose effectiveness obviously was enhanced by her status as a Catholic school teacher) and a key to the campus instead of a persona non grata notice? And the Catholic high school principal an extended leave of absence to go on retreat and pray?
© Michael Gaynor
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