Student Denied Opt-Out of Heretical Teacher’s Theology Class

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ST. LOUIS (ChurchMilitant.com) - St. John Vianney Catholic High School in St. Louis, Missouri has denied a student the right to opt-out of a theology class after parents brought to the administration's attention the heterodox and heretical social media activities of the sophomore theology teacher.

This past December, the parents of the student communicated via a series of e-mails with the school's principal, Ian Mulligan, copying the school's president Mike Loyet, to request that their son be allowed to opt-out of Meredith Caul's theology class because of her advancement —both in and out of the classroom — of homosexuality and women's ordination.

Throughout the exchange, Mulligan refused to address specific concerns in e-mail but ultimately rejected the parents' wishes.

Despite providing proof of Caul's dissidence against Church teaching and offering to dual-enroll their son in a comparable theology course through Franciscan University, Mulligan concluded in an e-mail dated Jan. 6:

While we understand that you made a request for him to take a different course in lieu of Sophomore Theology, we did not agree to that as a school. The expectation is that he attends the Sophomore Theology that he is enrolled in to remain a student in good academic standing at Vianney.

Screen captures from Caul's Facebook and Twitter accounts reveal that she has used the classroom to discuss inappropriate sexual matters with students, has endorsed the idea of women's ordination to the priesthood and has supported "Coming Out Day," wherein people are encouraged to express and embrace their homosexuality.

For example, Caul:

• made light of an in-class conversation regarding the immoral sexual activity of one of her students who had apparently received a "hickey." (December, 2019)
• discussed sexual positions with her students (October, 2019)
• posted an in-class conversation regarding "National Coming Out Day," indicating that there was nothing wrong with individuals expressing and embracing their homosexual inclinations (October, 2018)
• applauded a student's argument in favor of women's ordination to the priesthood based upon the assertion that "The Church could always use help. Women have ideas and are, a lot of times, smarter than men." (April, 2018)
• applauded a priest's homily during Mass, highlighting his claim that there are various types of families, including those with "two mothers" and "two fathers," ending with the hashtag "LoveIsLove." (December, 2018)Paste
• applauded and celebrated the same-sex "marriage" of her sister to another woman, even referring to the two women as "wives." (May, 2018)

On Tuesday, January 15, The Lepanto Institute reached out to St. John Vianney High School for comment. Despite repeated attempts to ask for comment, the Lepanto Institute received no response.

Read the rest — including the letter asking the school to cite its policies defending true Catholic teaching and more social media captures — at The Lepanto Institute.

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