Openly Gay Catholic High School Student in Iowa Wins $40,000 College Scholarship

Comments

Any parent who raised their kid Catholic should be tortured to death.

on May 8, 2012 at 9:44 AM

I'm shocked.

Oh, no, wait, I'm looking for another word that means, um, not-shocked.

Good on this kid. Bad on his folks for paying for Catholic schooling (and feeding the hierarchy) and forcing all that on their kid.

Allyn on May 8, 2012 at 9:47 AM

Well, at least it sounds like the staff and school are doing it right. Silver lining?

Tracy on May 8, 2012 at 9:47 AM

Fuck the school...take the money

Cato the Younger Younger on May 8, 2012 at 10:05 AM

I think this is technically in the category of an "It's ALREADY Getting Better So You Can Tell The Bishop Who Runs Your School To F*** Off Because You're Gone Gone GONE From This Hick Town" moment.

Pope Buck I on May 8, 2012 at 10:12 AM

PS - Dan? Where can we donate to the Eychaner Foundation? A link would be nice!

Pope Buck I on May 8, 2012 at 10:14 AM

When I was a kid in Seattle one of the Catholic high schools - I can no longer remember which one - ran a math competition for middle-schoolers: their kids versus us nerds from the public school's Math Olympiad team. We unsurprisingly took all the winning slots in the competition, and I was delighted that as a result of my place in the contest I was not only offered some sort of scholarship to the school (maybe as much as a couple thousand dollars, if I remember), which I was never going to accept, but also $30 cash money, which a quarter-century ago was a pretty good deal for a Saturday afternoon doing middle-school math problems.

Warren Terra on May 8, 2012 at 10:15 AM

Right. The Catholic Church would never want anyone to think that it supports someone like this young man who stands up against the kind of discrimination that leads thugs to beat someone like Matthew Shepherd to a pulp and then string him up to die like...Jesus? No, the Catholic Church would never want that.

tniel on May 8, 2012 at 10:15 AM

Wow, that will cover an entire year at some schools!

Max Solomon on May 8, 2012 at 10:16 AM

I'm going to go beat the bishop right now in protest!

debug on May 8, 2012 at 10:21 AM

@9, He's an Iowa resident going to an Iowa state school, one of the requirements for winning the scholarship. And a quick look at the fees for a resident that $40,000 will cover his entire college education. So it's a pretty big fucking deal.

moosefan on May 8, 2012 at 10:24 AM

If the bishop says we're not going to do it, I can voice my objection to it, but there's not a whole lot I can do.—School Board President Edward O'Neill

Call his bluff. Invite the foundation rep and carry on as if the bishop never so much as farted in church. What's he going to do, fire everyone? Make a scene at the ceremony?

rob! on May 8, 2012 at 10:33 AM

I hope other students at the school will boycot the graduation ceremony in support.

Spokalou on May 8, 2012 at 10:34 AM

Firm and polite emails to admins?

Atkinson, Joel joeya52732@yahoo.com

Birdsley, Dan danielbirdsley@gapa911.us thebirdsleys@mchsi.com

Dehner, Maggie jgdehner@msn.com

Dickherber, Beth pbnt4@yahoo.com

Kaczinski, Joel Treasurer joel.kaczinski@mchsi.com

Kuntz, Fr. Ken Pastor kuntzk@diodav.org

Mulholland, Joanne Secretary rjmulholland@q.com

O'Neill, Ed President eoneillclinton@yahoo.com

Peart, Nancy Administrator npeart@prince.pvt.k12.ia.us

Roling, Sharon Administrator sroling@prince.pvt.k12.ia.us

Streveler, Tom Vice President Tis1@mchsi.com

Vander Bleek, Maureen mvbleek@yahoo.com

on May 8, 2012 at 10:49 AM

@12.. insubordination in the catholic church is not lightly tolerated. they could move him to a gulag in indiana. they could forbid him to preach or pastor they could close the school entirely if they wanted i don't think they could excommunicate him, but they could and would make the rest of his professional life miserable.they could do worse. they've done worse.

reverend dr dj riz on May 8, 2012 at 11:00 AM

@11: i thought the exclamation point was a clue, but i'll make sure i add "THIS IS A JOKE" next time.

Max Solomon on May 8, 2012 at 11:03 AM

The article mentions he's taken same-sex partners to school dances before. Hope he already had his senior prom, because I assume squashing that is going to be the bishop's next move.

on May 8, 2012 at 11:04 AM

thank you, riz. the indiana gulag archipelago is the name of my next book. also, the catholic church could certainly discipline all or any of the parties involved, but would they do that in the age of the interwebs? i'm curious to see how this all plays out.

scary tyler moore on May 8, 2012 at 11:10 AM

@16, Hardee-fucking-har. I figured you might be trying to be funny but since $40,000 really will only cover the cost of a year of college at a lot of US colleges I thought I'd point out that the scope of this scholarship means that it's much more significant.

moosefan on May 8, 2012 at 11:13 AM

Bishop Martin Amos has no self respect. So he should be forgiven. He really is pitiful. Keaton Fuller gets my congratulations. Bishop Amos could learn from you. But he won't.

Vince on May 8, 2012 at 11:19 AM

Forget Martin Amos, I'll stick with Martin Amis: "“It is straightforward—and never mind, for now, about plagues and famines: if God existed, and if he cared for humankind, he would never have given us religion.” "

Tom Sackett on May 8, 2012 at 11:21 AM

@18 They would and have recently. Re: Excommunicating heads of Catholic hospitals who approved life-saving abortions, plus the whole militaristic witch hunt against American nuns for spending too much time feeding the poor and not enough time raging on abortion and the gays.

MK1 on May 8, 2012 at 11:44 AM

I don't know why any self respecting person wants to be Catholic anymore.

Amanda on May 8, 2012 at 12:09 PM

Religion ruins everything. End. Of. Story. Let the "But MY flavor of faith..."-ing begin....

JJinAus on May 8, 2012 at 12:33 PM

It's obvious that pope Benny the Rottweiller has decreed to all Bishops to toe the official Vatican line against homos. The school does have an alternative: ignore the bishops last minute pansy ass objection, do the right thing and give Fuller the award at Graduation.

alisamc on May 8, 2012 at 2:11 PM

proves you don't have to be intelligent to be bishop in Iowa

BrotherBob on May 8, 2012 at 2:28 PM

Proud of my cousins who go (and graduated from) Prince of Peace in Clinton for circulating like crazy the petition for the school to change their minds.

Ptera on May 8, 2012 at 2:38 PM

Here it is, btw

Ptera on May 8, 2012 at 2:39 PM

Thanks, Ptera.

Sandiai on May 8, 2012 at 3:01 PM

Bishop Martin Amos (R) in a scene of happy domesticity with another man. (Story here.) Now why would he want to deny that to anybody else?

Amos's predecessor in the Diocese of Davenport, William Franklin, believed in "the principle of subsidiarity, where problems are solved at the most local level at which they can be reasonably solved." Now why would Bishop Amos want to take that judgment away from his school board?

rob! on May 8, 2012 at 3:11 PM

The school officials and students really should rally around this kid and either go against the Bishops decision or hold a separate event off site so this student can be properly acknowledged. There is absolutely no excuse for such an act of intolerance. Rather than be proud of this student for coming into his own in a school that teachers Christian principles, he is being punished for it. Such a shame.

gsmith8822 on May 8, 2012 at 7:10 PM

Let's all be nice to the school administrators, who seem to have encouraged him to apply for the scholarship and supported the boy. The sole problem here appears to be the bishop, so flamemail to the school side of things seems to be friendly fire.

I did wonder about this, though:

"We cannot allow any one or any organization which promotes a position that is contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church to present at a diocesan institution."

That makes sense, when seen in isolation. I don't think that a Catholic school should be obliged to allow the participation of gay groups any more than a secular school should be forced to have religious groups participate. That said, however, it is one of those "we have rules, but we're only applying them to you" things. Capital punishment is against Catholic doctrine, but I don't see them banning pro-death-penalty politicians or parties from attending and participating.

seeker6079 on May 9, 2012 at 7:07 AM

Openly Gay Catholic High School Student in Iowa Wins $40,000 College Scholarship

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