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News & ArtsTuesday, May 8, 2012
Education / Religion / LGBTQITSLFA Openly Gay Catholic High School Student in Iowa Wins $40,000 College Scholarship
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, May 8, 2012 at 9:38 AM
But the scholarship won't be presented to him at his graduation ceremony—despite assurances from the school itself that it would allow the organization that grants the scholarship to present it to the student who won it—because the award, like the student who won it, is way too gay for Bishop Martin Amos.
2
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.
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.
5
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.
7
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.
8
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.
11
@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.
12
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'NeillCall 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?
14
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
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
15
@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.
16
@11: i thought the exclamation point was a clue, but i'll make sure i add "THIS IS A JOKE" next time.
17
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.
18
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.
20
@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.
21
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.
22
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.” "
23
@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.
26
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.
28
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.
31
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?
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?
32
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.
33
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:
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.
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