And, finally today, another footnote to material I've previously posted here: several days ago, I told readers about the controversy brewing in the Catholic diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, where Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, OP, recently gave a presentation at Charlotte Catholic High School that outraged some students and parents. I linked to an open letter (pdf) students and parents have placed online, expressing their shock that a Catholic authority figure would seek to peddle to high-school students long-outmoded theories blaming parents for the sexual orientation of their children (absent fathers produce gay sons), and connecting homosexuality to masturbation and pornography.
The letter notes that there actually were young gay people in the audience as Sister Jane Dominic spoke, and her mischaracterizations of her gay brothers and sisters affected those young people. And concerned their parents. Some of the students and their friends report that they were so upset by what Sister Jane Dominic said that they tried to leave the assembly, but were not permitted to do so.
An update: last evening, a meeting was held at Charlotte Catholic High School to hear the concerns of parents and students. As the Charlotte Observer reports,
So many parents lined up to speak that the meeting with high school officials, the school’s chaplain and the Diocese of Charlotte’s vicar of education lasted more than an hour longer than scheduled.
The paper also reports that the school's chaplain, Father Matthew Knauth, issued an apology to parents for what Sister Jane Dominic had to say in her March 21 presentation. Sister Jane Dominic had been slated to speak next month at the Charlotte diocese's youth conference, but her community--the Nashville Dominicans--has now cancelled that presentation.
All this has happened after the students and parents who objected to Sister Jane Dominic's presentation at Charlotte Catholic High School put a petition online that has now been signed by over 4,300 people. Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis did not attend last evening's meeting with parents, by the way.
He apparently had another engagement.
The graphic is from the recent PRRI survey of American attitudes about LGBT issues.
