Benet Academy and 21st-century Catholicism

When it comes to navigating the Catholic Church into the moral enlightenment of the 21st century, high-ranking church officials keep rowing in the opposite direction.

Benet Academy’s administrators quickly reversed a tone-deaf decision to withdraw a coaching job offer to a superb candidate when they discovered she was gay, but they did so only after more than 4,000 students, alums and parents demanded she be hired.

But just a week later, Benet Academy’s chancellor, Abbot Austin Murphy of St. Procopius Abbey, issued a statement saying he was “deeply troubled” by the hiring decision. He said it raises questions about whether the public lives of Catholic school employees should follow the church’s moral teaching. He’s decided to pray for spiritual guidance on how to proceed.

Apparently, Chancellor Murphy has yet to get the message the vast majority of practicing Catholics in the United States — and indeed the vast majority of Americans — have moved on from the dark days of fear and loathing of homosexuality.

Murphy does realize, however, he’s on thin ice, stating, “Disagreements about the morality of homosexual acts should not be construed as hate.”

It’s not hate that concerns those of us who are disappointed that a high-ranking Catholic educator would factor in a person’s sexuality when making a hiring decision. What we see is simply an ignorance of human nature and a failure to recognize the mission of any religion. It should be to honor and celebrate diversity, rather than use it as a litmus test to keep talented people from fulfilling their dreams.

Murphy should be deeply troubled, not by a gay person coaching lacrosse players, but by his own deeply flawed approach to judging those he accepts into his community. Let’s hope his prayers lead him to the enlightenment he has so far avoided.

Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn