Bravo for the Bishops of Virginia--And Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco

The Virginia Parade:  I've been following this story since I first saw it on the Web yesterday.  Seems there is an annual St. Patrick's day parade in Norfolk, VA (as in so many other cities coast to coast), and this one is apparently run by a regional Council of the Knights of Columbus, a wonderful organization of which I am a proud member at my home parish here in Texas.  That Council decided to invite Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to be Grand Marshal of the parade.  According to accounts in Catholic media, the Council did not bother mentioning this to the pastor of their parish, the Bishop, or the Virginia State Council before they did it.  Gov. McAuliffe is a vocal supporter of abortion "rights", homosexual "marriage"and the HHS mandate, and thus publicly stands against the Church on these and possibly other issues.  For him to be honored by a Knights of Columbus Council is scandalous, to say the least.  The parish pastor, at the urging of his Bishop, contacted the State K of C Council for Virginia, who first told him the decision to honor McAuliffe would be reversed, but then informed him the Council had refused to withdraw its invitation.  As reported here , both Virginia Bishops have now publicly stated their support for the pastor, who has severed the parish's ties with the Council and issued a letter to his entire parish explaining what has happened.  Good for him, and good for the Bishops.  

Archbishop Cordileone's Battle:  You've likely heard or read about this, too.  The short story is, Abp. Cordileone is amending the contracts of the teachers at the Catholic high schools in the SF Archdiocese to clarify that they are expected to adhere to Church teachings when acting or speaking at school or in public.  He makes the point, which seems to me a no-brainer, that teachers in a Catholic school ought not to take public positions or engage in public actions in contradiction to the teachings of the Church.  To no one's surprise, the politicians, most of the teachers themselves, and the usual California-style busybodies have all hyperventilated; the City Council is even threatening legal action against the Archbishop.  Well, excuse me, but these are private schools which are owned by the Archdiocese, which in turn is supposed to have a Constitutional right to free exercise of religion--in this case, obviously, Roman Catholicism.  If you want to oppose Church teachings, fine; you have that right, but not while you're taking a paycheck for teaching in a Catholic school!  Bravo to Archbishop Cordileone for standing up for Christ's Church in the face of secular persecution.  

"Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5: 11-12.)  Amen.