I wrote last week about Patricia Jannuzzi, the Catholic teacher removed from a Catholic school for defending Catholic teachings about marriage.
This week the plot thickens, with the diocese telling the New Jersey press that Jannuzzi has never been told she was fired, and they are “baffled” why anyone (especially Jannuzzi’s family) is suggesting otherwise.
Yesterday, Patricia Jannuzzi’s lawyer finally spoke to the press in response to this statement, and what he said is not pretty for the diocese:
“At every point in our discussions the diocesan lawyers told us repeatedly there was no way that Patricia Jannuzzi would ever come back to the Immaculata classroom under any possible scenario,” Oakley told MyCentralJersey.com. “On Thursday by phone, the diocesan lawyers told me clearly and finally that Patricia Jannuzzi would be terminated as of the end of August, end of discussion.”
“Something is baffling here, clearly, but not why the Jannuzzi family believed Patricia Jannuzzi had been fired,” Oakley added.
It is not enough, apparently to fire a Catholic school teacher for defending the faith. The diocese has to sully her good name by pretending it has never done any of those things, and implying she’s a liar. This gets worse and worse.
Nor is it just on marriage issues that Catholics are being attacked. I learn from Anne Hendershott that last week a priest in the diocese of Scranton apologized for showing an anti-abortion film to Catholic students, after some parents protested to the media. The CCD teacher resigned.
These scorched-earth tactics work: How much of Catholic teaching are Catholic bishops willing to abandon to get out from under bad publicity?
And when will they learn they cannot manipulate this media in their favor? The truth will come out.