The Score is now Lions 9, Christians 0

At the September 18, 2008 hearing before the PA Labor Relations Committee on House Bill 2626, National Association of Catholic School Teachers President, Rita Schwartz, gave the following answer to Committee members when asked if there was a method within the Church to resolve grievances such as that against union-busting Bishop Joseph Martino.

After explaining the process for recourse against a bishop's actions, Schwartz gave an honest appraisal of the outcomes of those filings across the United States. "The record is, essentially, Lions 8, Christians 0." Schwartz was giving her slant on how teacher grievances actually shake out in Catholic schools, because they are filed with boards composed of other bishops.

Today, word reached us from Rome that our petition for recourse filed against Bishop Martino for union-busting "cannot be recognized." That now makes it Lions 9, Christians 0.

Even though all who were part of the decision to deny the recourse were bishops themselves, one would have thought that our complaint would have been given a fair hearing. But honestly, one would have thought this only if one were not living in the real world.

To put things in perspective, this decision was made by the same institution that sent Galileo to the Inquisition for asserting that the sun was at the center of the universe. Though the Church finally admitted their error in Galileo's case, it took them six centuries to come to that conclusion. Enough said.