On April 11, representatives from two homosexual groups, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and Dignity, along with a left-wing entity, Faithful America, are expected to present petitions to the Diocese of Rockville Centre requesting that Nicholas Coppola be reinstated to the post he held at St. Anthony’s in Oceanside. Coppola was dismissed from his voluntary positions at the parish after it was disclosed that he “married” his boyfriend.
Bill Donohue comments as follows:
The internal affairs of the Catholic Church are not the business of the public, and this includes outside advocacy groups as well as government agencies. Among the internal issues of the Church are employment decisions. Just as it is the right of a yeshiva to insist that its employees abide by Judaic strictures, it is the right of a Catholic school to insist that its employees respect Catholic teachings. Regrettably, GLAAD, Dignity and Faithful America show nothing but contempt for this verity.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hosanna-Tabor that employment decisions by religious institutions are free from government policing. At issue was the right of a midwestern Evangelical Lutheran school to terminate a religious teacher. The teacher argued that she was the victim of discrimination and asked to be reinstated. She lost 9-0.
Hence, those promoting the cause of Nicholas Coppola have already lost in the courts. So now they are trying to win in the court of public opinion. It won’t work. The American people respect the autonomy of religious institutions to craft their own rules and regulations, and they do not look kindly on bullying.
How ironic it is that those who have been screaming the most about the evils of bullying are the very ones who are its greatest practitioners—against Christians, no less. It’s time they learned the virtue of tolerance.
