Catholic school's enrollment of gay couple's sons angers some parents

Published: 2005-01-19

COSTA MESA, Calif. (CNS) -- School officials at St. John the Baptist School in Costa Mesa rejected demands from a group of school parents that the school only accept families who pledge to abide by church teachings. The parents' call for a pledge was primarily in response to the school's enrollment of two students this fall who are the adopted sons of a gay couple. Eighteen parents signed a letter in December that said in part, according to a copy obtained by the Los Angeles Times daily newspaper, that their efforts were not "meant to be a radical or mean-spirited approach to Catholic education," but instead a "straightforward assurance to any prospective parent that their child will be taught the fullness of Roman Catholic doctrine." Father Martin Benzoni, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish, rejected the parents' demands and released a new policy emphasizing that a child's education comes first and that a family's background "does not constitute an absolute obstacle to enrollment in the school." The priest, who could not be reached by Catholic News Service, told local reporters that the two kindergarten boys at the center of the conflict had been baptized in the faith and deserved a Catholic education. Father Gerald Horan, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Orange, where St. John the Baptist is located, told CNS in a Jan. 6 e-mail that he agreed with the school's administrators in opposing the "introduction of any moral scrutiny or conformity in school admissions policies."

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