Assholery and inconsistency in the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church doesn't exactly have a squeaky clean record. Asking some of my friends how they felt about it got a pretty similar response (whether they were actually Catholic or not): a big sigh, an eye roll, and usually something along the lines of, "It's whatever."

It probably doesn't come as a shock to many that the church has now done something to offend even more people.

Two children in Boulder were denied re-enrollment at a private Catholic school because their parents are lesbians. When the church allowed them to baptize their children, the parents made a promise to raise their children in the Catholic faith. They also never hid or lied about their relationships.

Of course, since the school is private, it has legal rights to accept or deny whomever it so chooses. The problem is that the school had already allowed the children to attend the school for three years before finally rejecting them.

But I'm not arguing whether or not the Catholic Church needs to start accepting homosexuality or what the Bible says or anything like that. What I'm trying to say is that children shouldn't be held accountable for what their parents do.

Furthermore, it's hypocritical of the school to enforce certain aspects of its teaching onto parents and students while ignoring others.

If they're going to deny people because of what the Catholic Church teaches, then they need to deny people based on all the rules. They also say that divorce, birth control, and children born out of wedlock go against the church, so why aren't the children of divorced, unmarried, or birth-control-using parents also denied admission? Or what about parents who are abusive, or parents who cheat?

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput got involved and said that the decision was in line with the Church's teaching and that all parents were expected to agree with those beliefs. Clearly, that is not the case. Family members, however, say they will still continue to be Catholic and attend church (although they don't attend the same church anymore due to the media hype around this situation).

The whole thing makes me wonder how these young girls will grow up to feel about a church that they have been openly rejected from. They weren't even rejected for something they did personally; it was because of their parents' relationship.

Which is actually another line in the school's rationale: It didn't want to put these girls in the position of listening to why homosexuality is against what the Bible says, while knowing that their parents are the people being discussed. But just because they "won't be around" for these discussions doesn't mean they still won't hear it. Anyone who has gone to school, public or private, knows that some kids are bullies and won't hold back no matter what.

Considering the Catholic Church's recent history of near-constant scandal, being judgmental and pushing people away is really the last thing it should be doing. And if school administrators really want to follow the Bible, they should push all of it and really follow what Jesus said.

Because we know, if there was one thing Jesus was totally for, it was discrimination.