Hundreds Of San Francisco Catholic School Teachers Urge Archbishop To Remove Morality Clauses

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Teachers and staff from four Catholic High Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area are urging their archbishop to remove morality clauses from the faculty handbook.

Teacher Jim Jordan said Tuesday a petition with 355 signatures of teachers and staff collected in the past two days will be delivered to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone by union representatives.

The clauses recently proposed by Cordileone outline the church's teaching that sex outside of marriage, homosexual relations, abortion, masturbation and the viewing of pornography are "gravely evil."

The language "undermines the mission of Catholic education and the inclusive, diverse and welcoming community we prize at our schools," said Jordan, who is an English teacher in San Francisco's Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory.

State lawmakers have criticized the statement Cordileone proposed adding to the faculty handbook and asked for a probe of working conditions at the archdiocese's four San Francisco Bay Area Catholic high schools.

Late Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors joined the criticism and passed a resolution asking the conservative Catholic leader to respect the rights of teachers and administrators, the San Francisco Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/1BS8Fdz).

"These actions really conflict with the values of San Francisco," said Supervisor Mark Farrell, who introduced the resolution. "In San Francisco, we stand up for everyone. We stand up for our LGBT community and honor and embrace those who do the same."