There was a fan running, but the body heat from people constantly trickling in made the room uncharacteristically warm for an early spring evening.
By 5 p.m., around a hundred people were gathered in the meeting space in the Boulder Public Library, chatting and smiling easily. Over the next hour, tears appeared in the eyes of several in the room, but an undertone of support remained.
On Monday, March 15, those gathered at the community forum hosted by Boulder Pride came together for their own reasons, but those who spoke seemed to all agree that this was not an issue of faith, but of Catholic Church hierarchy.
“I believe the archbishop has no power over us,” said James Vacca, a teacher of a class on the Bible at Boulder High and a panel member. “He represents the [Roman Catholic] Church, he is not the church.”
This theme of Church against a portion of Catholics who align with tolerance and inclusion, rather than the Church against liberal or gay rights activists who are not religious, echoed through out the evening.
The forum was organized by Boulder Pride, a local LGBT community center, to offer a space for community members to discuss the recent de-enrollment of two children of a Boulder lesbian couple from the Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Boulder. A panel that included various Catholic people, members of the LGBT community and parents from Sacred Heart was organized to share comments on the matter.
According to a statement, the couple released to Boulder Pride, the parents (who wish to keep their names private) were told that the family would not be welcome in the school long term. They had sent the children, who were baptized at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, to three years of preschool at the institution.
Both parents were born and raised Catholic and chose to baptize their children although they were aware of the policies regarding non-traditional families, according to their statement. They said they considered Catholic schooling a healthy option for their children.
“We value what a Catholic education can offer our children from an academic, religious and moral standpoint,” they wrote in their statement.
Though the parents said in the statement that they did not wish to bring the issue public, the media became aware of the story and the parents felt they should “clarify misconceptions.”
The forum brought together Boulder residents from outside the school that said they felt affected by the Church’s action. Christina Meares, a 24-year-old interdisciplinary studies major at Naropa University, said she came because she identified her experience in an Evangelical Christian community.
“They basically excommunicated me because I’m a lesbian,” Meares said.
Meares said she now considers herself to be spiritual, but is not affiliated with a particular religion.
Several parents of Sacred Heart students attended the meeting to share their disappointment with the decision. Still, most also said they support the teachers and the school as a whole because they consider the root of the issue to be in Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.
“The issue would be easy to resolve in my mind as far as pulling my own children out, if I didn’t realize what an incredible educational opportunity and environment those teachers and administrators offer to our children,” said Carrie Van Heyst, a mother of two pre-kindergarten students at Sacred Heart.
The Archdiocese of Denver released a statement on March 5 that stated, “No person shall be admitted as a student in any Catholic school unless that person and his/her parent(s) subscribe to the school’s philosophy and agree to abide by the educational policies and regulations of the school and Archdiocese.”
The parents questioned in their statement the approval of families with divorced parents, non-Catholic parents or any number of other conditions that do not meet Church criteria.
“There seems to be a subjective rating system of which sins are more unacceptable,” they wrote.
In his March 10 column, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput offered justification for schools that “accepted students of other faiths and no faith, and from single parent and divorced parent families.”
“These students are always welcome so long as their parents support the Catholic mission of the school and do not offer a serious counter-witness to that mission in their actions,” Chaput wrote.
According to their statement, the parents of the de-enrolled students claim to do their best to live this mission, despite their exclusion from the school.
“We will continue to raise our children with strong Catholic values and hold faith that through our actions, we are doing our part to create a more loving, inclusive world,” the parents wrote to close their statement.
Contact CU Independent Speak Out! Editor Molly Maher at Maherm@colorado.edu.
