Abbot Austin Murphy, of St. Procopius Abbey and chancellor of prestigious Benet Academy, expressed last October being “deeply troubled” by Benet’s decision to hire a women’s lacrosse coach who was in a same-sex relationship. His New Year’s resolution was to pull the plug on the Abbey’s relationship with an annual $50,000 support for Benet, which it oversees. The academy “doesn’t comport with Catholic teaching on sexuality,” Murphy cited, in his New Year’s lump of coal to Benet’s 1,400 students.
While the vast majority of America and much of the world has entered the 21st century on enlightenment over homosexuality, the Benedictine monks of St. Procopius Abbey, and much of the Catholic hierarchy, apparently prefer to fade into irrelevancy rather than switch. Nineteenth century thinking on the subject is just fine for them.
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Benet Academy elders initially bowed to the will of the Abbey, which founded Benet 120 years ago and provided secondary education excellence in Chicago’s western suburbs. They withdrew their coaching offer to the gay candidate after her same-sex relationship was revealed. But a firestorm of pushback by over 4,000 students, school administrators, alums and parents on the lunacy of their action overpowered their delusional Abbey overseers.
That annual $50,000 withdrawn by St. Procopius Abbey might well be replaced by donations from enlightened Catholics and others of good will. Abbott Austin Murphy and his Benedictine monks would be wise to use their new revenue source for extensive psychological counseling to peel back the centuries of fear, ignorance and yes, loathing of gay individuals.
Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn
Mad at CPS teachers
As a CPS parent of two kids, I am pissed at the teachers. They are not “locked out.” They chose not to show up to work. There’s a difference. If they show up tomorrow, there will be school.
I’d like to work from home too, but my job requires me to show up. My kids need to be tested for math and science, not COVID. By keeping my kids in CPS, I have failed them. After this joke of a year, they will join the many others and never go back. My wife and I are only sorry we waited so long. The union and CPS deserve each other.
Robert Vivalet, Beverly
Time for vouchers
Throughout the pandemic, parochial schools have safely remained open, while Chicago Public Schools were closed, leaving students with remote learning, where “learning” seemed to take a back seat to “remote.” The public schools eventually reopened this school year, but with more problems with the CTU, teaching and learning have ceased, creating a problem for the students as well as their families.
It’s time to revisit the school voucher issue.
Larry E. Nazimek, Avondale
