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You're Expelled!

Catholic High School Punishes Whistleblower Family

BY MARIA ELENA KENNEDY

When Loretto High School sophomore Katelyn Sills recognized the school's drama teacher, Marie Bain, escorting women into the Planned Parent hood clinic in Sacramento, she told her mother, a pro-life sidewalk counselor at the clinic. Outraged that a teacher at a Catholic high school would serve as an abortion clinic escort, Wynette Sills took photos of Bain and forwarded them to Bishop William Wiegand of the diocese of Sacramento. According to the local press, Mrs. Sills sent the following text to the bishop: "if the identification is verified, clearly this individual cannot be a part of the Loretto staff."

Agreeing with Mrs. Sills, on October 5, Bishop Weigand, citing canon law, ordered the "dismissal of Ms. Bain with all deliberate speed" from Loretto High School, located in northeast Sacramento. When uproar ensued because of the firing of the teacher, Bishop Weigend explained to the faithful in an October 26 letter the Church's teaching on providing or cooperating in abortions. In his letter, he added, the situation "transpiring during October, 'Respect Life' month, has presented the people of our Diocese with an opportunity to reflect upon the centrality of the Gospel of Life to our Catholic faith and to recall the fundamental purpose and mission of the Catholic educational apostolate in the life of our Church."

In spite of a media firestorm that ensued after Bain was dismissed, Bishop Weigand stood firm. In his letter, the bishop explained why he ordered the dismissal of Bain from Loretto High School. "Persons who engage in activities fundamentally opposed to the teachings and beliefs of our Faith," the bishop wrote, "are disqualified from collaborating in the educational apostolate of the Church as principals, teachers, teacher's aides, or catechists. To this end, any person who has actively and publicly advocated or participated in activities contrary to the Gospel of Life, such as supporting or promoting abortion, lacks the threshold qualifications essential to minister to our young people in the Catholic educational apostolate."

Bain's attorney John Poswall filed two separate administrative complaints -- one with the state labor department and the other against the department of fair employment and housing -- against Loretto High School and the diocese of Sacramento. A news release from Poswall's office says that a religious institution's "right to discriminate applies only to the initial hiring decision and promotion." Since Bain, a non-Catholic, did not express her opinions on campus, she did not violate school policy, said the news release. The action of the diocese in firing her, continued the news release, was not only religious but sexual discrimination, since it "was expressly motivated against a woman because of her beliefs and actions related to women's reproduc tive rights and for the specific purpose of making an example of her, as a woman, to other young women." Further, Poswall claims that Bain's activity at the abortion clinic is protected "political activity," for which there is "no statutory exclusion for religious schools."

"Loretto rightly prides itself as an academic institution committed to vigorous debate of ideas and beliefs," said Poswall in filing the action. "Unfortunately, the action of the Bishop, cowering to noisy fundamentalists, threatens to turn Loretto into a Taliban-style institution of thought control and repression."

Subsequent to Bain's termination, Loretto High School expelled Katelyn and barred her family from campus for supposedly threatening staff members. In her blog at "Stand Up and Speak Out," Katelyn says: "Saturday morning, October 29th, via overnight mail, we were informed by the administration of Loretto High School of the 'immediate dismissal' of our family from the school. Coming in the middle of fall term, this dismissal is most unfair and undeserved." According to Katelyn's blog, her family was expelled from Loretto because it "has engaged in 'threats,' 'abuse,' and other 'malicious' behavior toward members of the Loretto community." The Sills family denies that they ever threatened anyone. "Our family has at all times acted respectfully in attempting to resolve a difficult situation for the good of all members of the Loretto community, continuously seeking reconciliation," Katelyn says on her blog.

The Sills family has received support from across the country. In chat rooms, blogs, and e-mails, they have been cheered for taking a stand for Catholic teaching at the high school. Gary Morella, a Catholic who is a research assistant at Penn State, told this reporter, "I contacted this family and gave them my full support. I have been trying to get the news out regarding what's happened to them, which is about as un-Catholic as it gets!" Morella also sent a statement to Loretto High after Katelyn's dismissal. "I have a simple question for you," he wrote school administra tors. "Could you please explain to me how a Catholic student can be expelled from a purported 'Catholic' school for being Catholic? I look forward to hearing from you." As of press time, Morella has not received a response from Loretto's administration.

Katelyn Sills' peers are also rallying to her defense. Andy Nevis, a fifteen-year-old high school student from Sacramento who knows Katelyn Sills, said to me, "Sister Helen Timothy wrote that the Sills had issued 'taunts, threats and verbal abuse directed against members of our school commu nity, as well as a mass e-mail campaign slandering the school's reputation as a Catholic institution.' Unfortunately, the administration has yet to present a single credible piece of evidence to back up this claim."

According to Nevis, "Wynette Sills wrote a letter to the Loretto administration several weeks ago asking for the dismissal of Marie Bain. The letter was respectful and contained no threats. It was merely a letter from a concerned parent who wanted to make sure that her daughter was actually receiving the Catholic education that she was paying thousands of dollars in tuition for. After the dismissal of Mrs. Bain, Katelyn wrote a piece on her blog that was critical of the way the dismissal was handled. However, the post was very respectful and contained no threats. A week later the family was revealed as the source of the complaint by the Sacramento Bee. Again, a post was written by Katelyn Sills on her blog. And again, the post was respectful. Katelyn even included in her post, '...our family appreciates the school and hopes that my younger sister will also be able to go there.' Does that sound like a statement from a family that is slandering the school's reputation? From all the evidence that has been released to the public, it appears the expulsion of Katelyn Sills is merely retaliation for the family's concern that their daughter be given a good, Catholic education."

Bain's attorney John Poswall did not return a call for comment. Sister Helen Timothy, Loretto's president, also did not return phone calls.

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