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February 3, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The Vatican has tasked pro-LGBT Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey to intervene in the case of an archbishop revoking the Catholic identity of a Jesuit-run high school over its refusal to not renew the contract of a teacher in a same-sex “marriage” only to have the Vatican suspend the archbishop’s decision.
Senior Vatican officials close to both the Congregation for Catholic Education and in the Secretariat of State confirmed to The Pillar last week that Cardinal Tobin was asked in 2020 to intervene in the case and help reach a settlement.
In June 2019, Indianapolis Archbishop Charles Thompson cut ties with Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School after administrators refused to follow his directive not to renew the contract of a male educator in a same-sex “marriage.” The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” The Archdiocese’s policy is that Catholic school teachers “must convey and be supportive of all teachings of the Catholic Church.”
When the school refused to follow the policy, the Archbishop decreed that the school “can no longer use the name Catholic and will no longer be identified or recognized as a Catholic institution by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.” The school appealed to the Vatican around June 2019. The following September, the Vatican temporally suspended the archbishop’s decision. As of this writing, the school still identifies itself as a “Catholic” school.
“It is not clear when a resolution might be reached, but curial officials say the Vatican hopes Tobin will find a resolution agreeable to both the archdiocese and the Jesuit province that runs the high school,” The Pillar reported.
The Vatican’s choice of Tobin as a mediator in the case is suggestive of what kind of resolution spiritual leaders in Rome may be looking for.
Tobin was made a cardinal by Pope Francis, himself a Jesuit, in 2017 while serving as Archbishop of Indianapolis. Tobin has a long history of backing the normalization of homosexuality within the Catholic Church. He has endorsed pro-LGBT celebrity priest Fr. James Martin, personally welcomed an “LGBT Pilgrimage” to his cathedral, and holds that the Church is “moving on the question of same-sex couples.”
Last month, Tobin signed a statement in partnership with a pro-homosexual advocacy group that tells young people who identify as LGBT that “God is on your side.” The cardinal raised eyebrows in 2018 when he tweeted “Nighty-night baby. I love you,” claiming later after deleting the tweet that it was “meant as a private communication with one of my sisters.”
A curial official told The Pillar that Tobin was an “obvious and trustworthy” mediator in the case because of his close link with his former archdiocese as well as his reputation with the Jesuit Order in Rome.
Reported The Pillar:
“The situation (when it was appealed to the congregation in 2019) was very adversarial, very emotional, you can say,” the official said.
“It was decided that reconciliation is needed first, not a judgment (from the congregation). Cardinal Tobin is very trusted, very good at restoring difficult situations in this way.”
LifeSiteNews reached out to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis for comment. Communications director Greg Otolski said there’s nothing much to say at this point because “nothing much has changed” since 2019.