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Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
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View Poll Results: Should Bishop Martino Permit Diocesan Educators to Unionize?
Yes 8 47.06%
No 7 41.18%
I Don't Know 0 0%
I Don't Care 2 11.76%
Voters: 17. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 03-01-2008, 10:07 PM
 
1,245 posts, read 3,173,018 times
Reputation: 535

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Quote:
Originally Posted by MermanMike View Post
The atmosphere locally is that this is one incredibly unpopular bishop for closing so many catholic schools.
Why are those schools closed? Low enrollment is my guess. A good portion of the reason for lower enrollment is rising tuition. People can't afford the tuition at the schools. If you pay the teachers more and give them better benefits, tuition will go up, enrollment will drop and more schools will close.
I'd love to get my kid out of Wyoming valley hell, but I can't afford the tuition, even with the Catholic discount my wife would get for the kids.

Something we overlook too, is the fact that the church, IMHO, would never allow its own employees to picket against it.
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Old 03-01-2008, 10:26 PM
mgb
 
97 posts, read 259,726 times
Reputation: 63
If the Bishop were smart, he would let the teachers have their union, give them the salary raises, benefits, etc., and his hands will be clean for the inevitable closing of more schools, as more families will not be able to afford the tuition. Of course, closing schools will result in some of those teachers losing their jobs, but this is the reality. You can have many low-paying jobs, or a few high-paying jobs, but you can't have many high-paying jobs unless you are the government, which just raises taxes when needed. Right now there are people struggling to make tuition payments, if it keeps going up, only the well-off will be able to afford it, which is not a bad idea if you are a wealthy parent looking to make sure your child's classmates are equally well-off. The Catholic schools have been in financial trouble since we lost our 'free' teachers:nuns and priests. And for the record, this issue does not just affect Catholics. If all the Catholic schools close, everyone's taxes will go up to make way for the influx.
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Old 03-02-2008, 08:25 AM
 
2,760 posts, read 3,935,264 times
Reputation: 1977
My feeling the old adage of "...do as I say, not as I do..."is applicable to this Bishop and his decision. The RCC has always had at the core of its teachings social justice and support for the working men and women through support of unionization. The Bishops decision flies in the face of that premise. As some previously mentioned it all comes down to the mighty dollar, BUT lets not forget The Roman Catholic Church is one of the RICHEST organizations IN THE world!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 03-02-2008, 08:44 AM
 
Location: wilkes-barre
1,973 posts, read 5,255,283 times
Reputation: 1003
The catholic church is swaying further and further away from what it was intended to be. First with the molestation cases against all these catholic priest'. Now with Bishop Martino shuting down all the churches and schools. And refusing to discuss these issues with the parishoners. He certainly does not come off as a man of God, but more like a corporate hatchet-man. Now the diocess will not even recognize the teachers union. I am proud of the walk out that happened at Holy Redeemer in Wilkes-Barre. The teachers and students are united and they're taking a stand for what they believe to be right whether the bishop likes it or not. I think Jesus would have done the same. I hope the walk out in Wilkes-Barre is repeated across the entire diocesses, and the message is heared loud and clear.
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Old 03-02-2008, 09:11 AM
 
50 posts, read 186,248 times
Reputation: 17
The teachers, students and the Bishop can protest, support or give a straight no directive. The heart of the school is what the parents are in agreement with. The school can only survive with the support of the parents. The bottom line is tuition and can the parents still afford to have their children attend with an increase for teachers salaries and benefits fought for by a union. Let the parents decide for a salary increase not a union, the teachers must have made it known what they are looking for this year. If the parents can't afford it ,the school will most likely close in the next few years. It is not easy for any Catholic school to survive these times. Sadly to say these teachers may be replaced in a heartbeat by the Bishop, he has to work within financial limits or the diocese will demand closure.
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Old 03-03-2008, 06:12 AM
 
Location: Scranton
2,940 posts, read 3,941,713 times
Reputation: 570
I'm sick of everyone putting down Bishop Martino for making tough decisions that need to be made in the diocese. The school system has been a unorganized mess in the diocese for years that was bleeding money. There were schools that had 40 kids in buildings that could fit 500 kids. What a waste of money to maintain and heat a big old building that has hardly any students, yet the parents whine and complain like little children when these schools are consolidated with other nearby schools. Why should we Catholic parishioners continue to foot the bill through our weekly offerings at our parishes for these parents, who more than likely put their kids in the Catholic schools only because they think their kids are too good for public school? If these parents want every old school building with 40 students left open and the teachers to have their union benefits, then tell them that tuition will be raised to $30,000/year. If these teachers don't like what the diocese is offering, then let them go and get jobs at public schools....which if they are such great teachers, they should have no problem finding a job. They're not good Catholics, the way they are disrespecting our Bishop and trying to shake down every Catholic in the diocese for more money.

Personally, I think they should just do away with the diocese-run Catholic school system anyways. The schools are hardly Catholic anymore....its mostly just all lay teachers who couldn't get a job in the public schools....there's not many nun or priest teachers anymore. Plus, because of these lay teachers, the cost of Catholic school education is only attainable for well-off families....essentially making them an exclusive club for the rich, who feel that they are too good for public school. Back in past generations, most of the teachers were nuns and clergy who did not have to be paid an additional salary and benefits, keeping the costs low or even free for members of the parish.
Stop the diocese from subsidizing these schools and let these parents foot the entire bill for their kids' education if they don't want them to mingle with the "common folk" in public schools.

That's my opinion...a practicing Catholic and graduate of public schools.
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Old 03-03-2008, 06:19 AM
 
Location: Scranton
2,940 posts, read 3,941,713 times
Reputation: 570
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnqpublic View Post
Seems to me that the Bishop doesnt practice what he preaches. The church has changed drastically since I was young, it used to be about religion, now its about the holy $$$$$
It obviously about the $$$ for the teachers....they don't care how much they drain from services the diocese provides to the poor, as long as they get their Cadillac benefits and Luigi and Guido at the union hall get their cut.

I hate how you and others say that the Church only cares about money. Well, news flash: just like every person and every other organization, the Church only has a finite amount of money. God does not just pump an unlimited amount of money to the Church. And the reason that the Church doesn't have the money that it used to is that people have gotten far away from God and aren't going to Church like they used to. There's not as much money coming in anymore, and the Church has to make tough financial decisions. Keeping a school system that has become essentially an exclusive school system for the rich should not be a high priority of the Church.

Most of those teachers are just the ones who couldn't get public school jobs.
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Old 03-03-2008, 06:24 AM
 
Location: Scranton
2,940 posts, read 3,941,713 times
Reputation: 570
Quote:
Originally Posted by Louis Lagana View Post
The bishop's reluctance to allow a teacher's union is simple to understand.

A teacher's union would demand an increase in the embarrassingly low salaries paid to Catholic school teachers. The church NEEDS that money to settle and keep quiet the many child molestation charges they are constantly faced with, here and throughout the country.
Oh please. Typical anti-Catholic propaganda. If you're going to paint all Catholic clergy as child molestors, you might as well paint all teachers that way as well. And youth sports coaches, and boy scout troop leaders. Because those are all occupations that you hear of sexual assaults against minors. It doesn't happen anymore amongst priests than it does among teachers and other occupations that deal with kids. The media just likes to sensationalize the Church molestation issues because it likes to slam the Church and slam Christianity at every opportunity.

Anyone in this thread who brings up the molestation cases loses all credibility in this argument, in my opinion. Its apples and oranges, and Catholic clergy are not the only ones guilty of these disgusting crimes.
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Old 03-04-2008, 03:38 PM
 
3 posts, read 8,138 times
Reputation: 10
Default Nonsense

Nonsense! Offer the catholic church a cash donation of the MANY MILLIONS they have thrown away to settle molestation lawsuits, and every school would stay open. But the pope, the cardinals, and those do nothing bishops in fact DO NOTHING but talk. Every one of the hundreds of child molesting pedophile priests should be fully prosecuted under the applicable state laws!!!
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Old 03-04-2008, 05:05 PM
 
15 posts, read 70,160 times
Reputation: 14
I just quit my job working as an instructional aid in a local catholic school. I quit after waiting to hear from either my regional director or the Scranton Schools Human resource director. I was not being paid minimum wage! I worked there over a year and suddenly my duties changed ans well as my hours. I never agreed to this! I had my daughter enrolled in the school as well, so i did not want to quit. i wanted to work things out. I loved my job, and i loved the children i worked with. i did not want much...only what I was entitled to. I never received any acknowledgement, no matter how many phone messages or letters i wrote. However, it seems that the Nuns at the school must have known that i was "rocking the boat" because they took it out on my daughter.....I will not get into that here, but I will tell you that i never in a million years thought that things like that still went on in Catholic schools. Well, they definately do. So, I quit over the Holidays and filed a complaint with the Diocese and with the DOL &I. I am STILL fighting for my unemploymrnt! It's a nightmare! I still have good friends at the school and they tell me how crazy everyone is there since i left....
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