Pell’s principal plan

Gay and lesbian teachers face a clampdown under a proposed fidelity oath in Catholic schools, former religious educators claim.

Under plans drafted by Bishop Julian Porteous, principals, their deputies, and religious education coordinators will swear to the moral teachings of the church.

“It won’t have any impact on regular teachers, but if someone were to stand for executive leadership they would need to meet some expectations in themselves with regard to Catholic life,” Porteous said.

“Cardinal [George] Pell wanted to see the pastoral care plan strengthen Catholic life, and this was a proposal to affirm existing guidelines from the Catholic Education Office.”

Porteous denied the plans were an attempt to stifle modern thought, such as condom advocacy among students.

“Christ said the truth will set you free. Truth is a liberation, a freedom, not an imposition or a restriction in people’s lives,” Porteous said.

Michael Kelly, a 17-year veteran religious educator in Catholic schools, said gay teachers doing a good job traditionally weren’t questioned about their private lives.

“This is going to put a lot of pressure on principals to clamp down, or to be seen to be clamping down,” Kelly said.

Now a spokesperson for the Rainbow Sash movement for gay Catholics, Kelly said it was unprecedented for the oath, originally designed for bishops, to be applied in this way.

“The oath will create a fearful mood in Catholic schools, a crisis of conscience and a lot of resentment,” he said.

“The reality is a lot of principals and deputies in Catholic schools are quite progressive; they also know a lot of teachers don’t follow all church teachings, and a lot of students don’t believe in church teachings.

“Catholic schools should be about education, not indoctrination. It’s going to be complicated for principals and religious educators to deal with gay students in ways that are compassionate and responsible.”

Independent Education Union spokesman Dick Shearman said he did not believe the proposal would put the civil liberties of teachers and principals at risk because details about their private lives are protected under workplace agreements.

“We’ve dealt with this with a clause to not act in your public life in a way which is contrary to church teachings,” he said. “We expect that to continue. The current situation mightn’t be to everybody’s approval, but there’s no change. It absolutely wouldn’t affect the status of gay teachers.”

Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby spokesman Ghassan Kassisieh said the current status offered no protection to Catholic school staff because religious schools had legislative exemptions under anti-discrimination laws.

“They can expel a student or fire a teacher purely on the basis of their sexuality or de facto status without any ramifications,” Kassisieh said.

Tony Rowe, who spent 18 years as a religious educator and sporting coach in Catholic schools, said he left seven years ago after being pressured by a parish priest.

“It became too difficult for the school to have a gay teacher,” Rowe said. “Most of the teachers knew and, after I left, students told me they knew.

“Once a student asked me if I was gay; I said it didn’t matter to the education he was receiving, but what if the kid had told someone? I could have lost my job at any time and there’s nothing I could have done about it.”

Rowe said directives such as the one proposed would place students at risk by driving sexuality education underground.

“The school was supportive of us teaching about contraception, homosexuality, and encouraged us to deal with students going through things like abortions – but they didn’t want it to be publicly known that’s what we were doing,” he said.