Bishop Bootkoski is not being completely clear. Something is missing. Teachers are given one year contracts. Mrs. Januzzi's family has confirmed that she will not have a contract in September 2015. She is currently on "administrative leave." Technically speaking, Bishop Bootkoski is correct; "There has been no interruption in her pay or benefits." What he does not add is the word, "yet."
In Ontario from where I write, Catholic schools have elected Boards of Trustees and are funded from the provincial tax base. They are essentially "public" Catholic schools. Teacher unions are very strong and protective of their members. In other provinces of Canada and certainly in the United States this is not the case. Immaculata High School is essentially "private" in this case "parochial." It is in the Parish of the Immaculate Conception and is owned directly by Paul Bootkoski under the legal provision of a "corporation sole" recognised in the United States of America under Common Law. I've searched the school web page. There is no indication of a Board of Trustees or elected officials. Therefore, one can only conclude that it is part of the overall corporation sole of the Diocese of Metuchen.
This means that Bishop Bootkoski is personally responsible for the decision to not give Mrs. Januzzi a contract for September 2015. His treatment of Mrs. Januzzi is hardly that of a "Shepherd."
The issue is not only Mrs. Januzzi but Bishop Bootkoski's apologia!
"We are a compassionate Catholic community committed to treating our students, faculty and parishioners with respect. We have never wavered from our traditional Catholic teachings."
His Excellency is in fact, not treating Mrs. Januzzi with respect. He has allowed her to be put on "leave" and she will not be rehired in September. He has not defended her against publc calumny and insults. His letter is even more testament to the lack of respect he has shown for his employee of over thirty years. Those in Metuchen are more qualified than this writer to comment on whether the Bishop has ever "wavered from traditional Catholic teachings." In the case of Mrs. Januzzi, however, that does not appear to be true.
'The teacher’s comments were disturbing and do not reflect the Church’s teachings of acceptance. However, she has never been terminated, as some media outlets have reported. She has been put on administrative leave. There has been no interruption in her pay and benefits."
Mrs. Januzzi's comments appear to the right. This is the Facebook post that has caused all of this and it was on her own personal page. If she made a mistake, it was not having her settings to the most private available (a lesson for all). Those who vilified this woman have done a great injustice to her. It has been aided and abetted by her superiors at the school and the parish pastor, a Monsignor, who has in the past downplayed the filming of naked boys in the school's shower room. Now Bishop Bootkoski piles on this woman. He cannot run from the obvious. He states that Mrs. Januzzi's postion has not been "terminated." The Bishop is clearly being Jesuitical in his approach. It seems rather clear that she is being set up not to be "rehired!" This is evident by the Bishop's description of her comments that these comments make her unfit to be a Catholic teacher insinuating that she does not "respect" her brethren and that she has used "harsh and judgemental statements." Not only will she not be rehired by Immaculata High School in September 2015 as confirmed by her family, with this kind of public condemnation by her Bishop, he has essentially rendered her unemployable as a teacher. He has engaged in nothing less than character assassination. Where is his culpability in this?
The Bishop continues:
"Pope Francis reminds us that we are to accept all of our brethren. We must ensure that our educators steer away from harsh and judgmental statements that can alienate and divide us."
Where is the evidence that Patricia Januzzi ever disrespected a student? Any comments about her which I have read, even from those who disagree with her, indicate that she was an outstanding teacher and Catholic. What is "harsh and judgmental" about standing up for marriage between one man and one woman. Does Bishop Bootkowski believe that marriage should be otherwise? or that the Catholics of Metuchen have no right to an opinion or to express it? Perhaps the Bishop needs to read the Code of Canon Law, Can. 212.3 followed quickly by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the Unites States of America. The good Bishop may also wish to recall the words of Our Blessed Lord as recorded in the 10th chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew:
32 Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. 33 But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. 34 Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. 35 For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household.
It is wonderful when these people quote or refer to statements by Pope Francis when it suits their agenda. It is unfortunate that they have forgotten the Pope's desire for "Mercy," but that does not seem to count for Patricia Januzzi.
Coming to the word "agenda;" in the close of his letter, Bishop Bootkowski takes a swipe at those of us who have been raising the alarm at what has happened here:
"We regret that certain individuals and groups are using inaccurate media reports to push their own agendas."
Perhaps we need to give a little education to Bishop Bootkoski. A little history.
I agree with him and I regret that certain individuals and groups are pushing their own agenda.
The fact is, it is an "agenda" and Lloyd Marcus at The American Thinker states quite clearly:
"Homosexual activists attempt to humiliate and politically destroy anyone who dares even criticize their agenda. Meanwhile, the MSM (mainstream media) casts us who believe marriage should remain between one man and one woman as the aggressors, as hate-filled villains."
In Catholic Family News, John Vennari writes,
“The Overhauling of Straight America” by Marshal E. Kirk and Hunter Madsen was expanded into the 1989 book, After the Ball, How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s. It is a blueprint of media and psychology manipulation for widespread public acceptance of homosexuality. One of Kirk and Madsen’s key strategies is to vilify their opponents: “We intend to make the anti-gays look so nasty that average Americans will want to disassociate themselves from such types.”
In 1958, Willard Kleon Skousen a one-time FBI Special Agent, published The Naked Communist which highlighted the communist plan to take over America. These 45 points, most of which have already occurred, were read into the congressional record by Albert Herlong (D-FL). These particular ones stand out relating to this situation:
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all studentnewspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
If one wishes to go back further, one need look no further than the The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita or one can always refer to Bella Dodd, a one-time leader in the American Communist Party brought back to the faith by the Grace of God and Venerable Fulton J. Sheen.
Indeed Bishop Bootkoski, there is an agenda and Catholics can only hope that you'll be enlightened to determine from whence it comes.
For more on my observations of the situation, please refer to those filed at: