Removal of a number of statues and other smaller Catholic icons from the campus of San Domenico School in San Anselmo has raised concerns among some parents.
In an email to the school’s board of directors, Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and the head of school, parent Shannon Fitzpatrick objected to the removal of the statues and other steps the school has taken in an effort to make the school more inclusive.
She wrote, “In our time here, the word ‘Catholic’ has been removed from the mission statement, sacraments were removed from the curriculum, the lower school curriculum was changed to world religions, the logo and colors were changed to be ‘less Catholic,’ and the uniform was changed to be less Catholic.”
Amy Skewes-Cox, who heads San Domenico School’s board of trustees, said the relocation and removal of some of the school’s 180 religious icons was “completely in compliance” with San Domenico’s new strategic plan.
She noted that it was unfortunate the removal of the statues occurred at about the same time as the unrest in Charlottesville over the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and that the issues are “totally different” and have “absolutely no connection other than it is change, and people have a hard time with change.”
Skewes-Cox said, “If you walk on the campus and the first thing you confront is three or four statues of St. Dominic or St. Francis, it could be alienating for that other religion, and we didn’t want to further that feeling.”
Fitzpatrick, who has an 8-year old son at the school, wrote that she became concerned with the direction of San Domenico when it removed “first reconciliation and first communion from the second-grade curriculum,” last year.
Head of School Cecily Stock said the year before last the school began offering catechism after school and then last year phased it out entirely.
“We had very few families interested. I think last year it was fewer than five,” Stock said. “It just made sense to have the students prepare for communion with their local parishes where they would be with a larger group of students.”
Stock said, “Over the last few years we’ve had fewer Catholic students as part of the community and a larger number of students of various faith traditions. Right now about 80 percent of our families do not identify as Catholic.”
Rather than indoctrinate students in Catholic theology, San Domenico provides students with instruction in world religions and philosophy.
“It’s really about empowering each student and giving them the information so they can discover their own purpose, their own truth,” Stock said.
Mirza Khan, the school’s director of philosophy, ethics and world religions, said, “The Dominican teaching philosophy is not to teach there is only one truth.”
Full story at marinij.com.
So who needs a Catholic school that’s not Catholic?
Note well that the school does not call itself Catholic in its name. It is “San Domenico School”. That’s it. There isn’t a cross in its logo. Just a “S” and a “D” intertwined. That’s it. It is very, very, VERY difficult to find any mention of the school’s Catholic affiliation on its website, but there are ample links to the school’s inclusivity and diversity policy. Shameful. Christ weeps, but he should be furious. I am.
“San Domenico” is “Saint Dominic” in Italian, just like “San Francisco” is “Saint Francis” in Spanish.
However, I do fear that the leaders of San Francisco might now try to also wipe out Catholicism from their legacy, maybe by renaming the city “Frank City” or “Frank’s Place” or something equally idiotic…
Exactly
Hmmm. Mirza Khan reclaims that “..the Dominican teaching philosophy is not to teach that there is only one truth.”
Yet St. Dominic chose the representative colors of the order, black and white, because he intended to display that in teaching the truth of the Catholic Faith, there was no grey area, and that by successive distinctions, one could resolve a question until it was as clear as black and white, truth v. falsehood, one Catholic Faith v. heresy.
A shame that M.Khan, so knowledgeable in world religions, knows so little. A fine teacher, no doubt.
A phony Catholic school in the Bay Area headed by a homosexual propagandist is not surprising. Take out the diocesan directory, turn to the page that lists Catholic schools, throw a dart at the page, and it will land on a phony Catholic school that indoctrinates students with homosexual propaganda.
By the way, the head of school probably takes in over $200,000 per year in salary for doing the Devil’s work. The whole state of affairs in the Church is so deeply saddening and maddening.
Read the school’s horrific diversity statement: https://www.sandomenico.org/about/inclusivity-diversity
The Catholic Church should simply close its schools that refuse to operate as truly “Catholic,” and stop misleading and deceiving everyone! How AWFUL, no Catholic catechism training, in a so-called “Catholic” school! Wonder what Archbishop Cordileone thinks of this school— and what actions he will take?? Will he remove the name of “Catholic” from this school, and exclude it from his Archdiocese?? This is the centennial of the child saints’ apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, and the Archbishop is planning a big religious celebration! Groups of Catholic schoolchildren ought to participate! We desperately need good Catholic schools!! Hope the Archbishop can help with this problem!
The schools that are. Losing are the older Catholic schools in poorer neighborhoods. This is the legacy of the Superintendent of Catholic Schools. Sad!
Because they are independent they are not under archdiocese control. Otherwise they’d be stopped dead. The truth is that just don’t want to be Catholic. Full stop.
A Catholic School is first and foremost a teacher of the Catholic faith. Math and Literature are a plus, although we all know about a liberal education, in the traditional sense. Yes, Head of School, your job is to convert those who are not Catholic. If people of other faiths don’t like our statues and dogma, they should send their kids to another school. If not enough Catholic children attend the school, shut it down. Comparative Religion is a subject for public schools. Catholic is for Catholics. If teachers don’t believe the Catholic faith, as taught in the Catechism, they should not be on the staff. It’s time to take our schools back or shut them down. Where is the Archbishop on this?
Just think if we have no good Catholic schools where are our future Priests going to come from? This diversity and inclusive nonsense is all the work of the devil himself. This fixation on diversity and inclusiveness is both anti Christian and anti Catholic. Imagine that a statue of Jesus alienates students of other religions. Jesus Christ King of Kings Lord of Lords True God and True Man is coming soon like a thief in the night. Pray America Pray.
Cox, the Board of Trustees is not capable or the correct person from the Director’s Job so she should be dismissed immediately! There are many much more qualified potential director’s that can replace her and would do an excellent and correct job!
If you don’t realize this its most of California that is destroying America.
Just look at all the Anti-American protests in Berkeley and downtown Los Angeles, and in Hollywood where these Anti Americans and recent immigrants are not trying to assimilate into being American but destroying faith, family and destroying America
California really needs to be excommunicated from the Church and its Statehood Withdrawn from America as its become and out-of-control, Anti-Church, Anti-American Cult.
Once again these “Catholic” schools ceased being Roman or Catholic decades ago Vatican II saw to that. Please stopped being shocked by new stories like this it has been going on for years and will continue to happen. Just like the false narrative of Confederate statues being ripped up and destroyed by people who are “offended” by them the Left is utterly erasing our history statue by statue, much like ISIS destroyed 4000 year old pagan statues in Iraq because it offended Islam or the giant Buddha statues blown up by the Taliban in Afghanistan years earlier. Remember those Southerners that died in the War of Northern aggression were AMERICANS as well, Protestant, yes Catholics, Cherokees, and yes many BLACKS fought for the South!!
More about this fraud of a Catholic school, which has been dismantling its Catholic identity systematically for years. Those who run the school are enemies of the Church:
“In our time here, the word ‘Catholic’ has been removed from the mission statement, sacraments were removed from the curriculum, the lower school curriculum was changed to world religions, the logo and colors were changed to be ‘less Catholic,’ and the uniform was changed to be less Catholic.”
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/26/forget-lee-washington-christ-statue-must-go-catholic-school/
SAD.
Matthew 10:33 — “Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
Jesus is VERY CLEAR on this point.
As Archbishop Corleone said a few years back, “the goal of Catholic schools is to makes saints.”
What will the people in charge do next? Remove all crosses and crucifixes? Remake the chapel into an all purpose gathering room?
Yes, MM, you are right.
But bluntly, these people dont believe in God. What a medeival concept!
Although the public schools are excellent in my little town in Northern California, several years ago I enrolled my children in a nondenominational Christian school because my husband and I wanted our children to have a Christian education. Although the school leaders knew we are a practicing Roman Catholic family, they made no effort to make the school “friendlier” or more comfortable for us. For example they did remove the King James Bibles or install a cross with a corpus. Nor did they provide our kids with a Catholic Bible. Instead, the staff tried to convert our kids to Protestantism! Catholic Schools need to stay true to their mission!
This is a truly vicious Gaystapo Thought Police Pogrom – purporting to care about “Alienating” Non Catholics enrolling children in a Catholic School – when the Homosex Pander or Perish Pogrom is itself deeply offensive to the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2357) pushing “Acts of Grave Depravity” that are “Intrinsically Disordered” as part of the Curriculum – Alienating Catholics
This is Public Scandal Harming Children – they should get new leadership or cease pretending to be Catholic
A few years ago, Boston College removed Crucifixes from the classroom, leaving only their shadows on the walls. BC admin made the same claim of alienating non-Catholics, especially Muslims. A Muslim student was interviewed and said the Crucifixes did not trouble him at all but their removal did. He asked: How can I have any respect for a Faith which does not respect itself?
I saw similar shadows of the Cross in classrooms at Holy Names ‘college’ in Oakland
I had attended a seminar in which the President of the School gave opening remarks – singling out the one Most Important figure whose guidance the School and seminar should seek = saul alinsky
I believe that Jesus may have gotten a brief mention in passing somewhere during the festival – but the crowd (particularly the Staff & Students) seemed deeply opposed to virtually all the Catholic Church Taught, although they had no qualms about taking over the facilities for their own radical Leftist / Gender Feminist / Homosex partisan politics
Dear Watchman,
Bless your heart, but I have known a few PrIests (and very traditional) NEVER went to Catholic Schools!
And they were/are AWESOME TRADITIONAL PRIESTS!!!
St. Patrick’ Seminary has Father George Schultze a the helm….the Seminary is in GREAT hands!
Horrifying
It’s a familiar pattern. A once-firmly-Catholic school, established through great sacrifices, finds its Catholic enrollment declining due to the “spirit” of Vatican II and the shrinking size of Catholic families. A group of barely Catholic and non-Catholic people gradually takes control of the Board of Directors and the school then moves to become just another expensive secular private school. Woodside Priory in Portola Valley is another example of this degeneration.
As is Sacred Heart Schools/Preparatory in Atherton.
As is Notre Dame in Belmont.
As happened to the RSCJ-run Convent of the Sacred Heart in El Cajon and the University of San Diego, which now holds an annual “drag show”. RSCJs are the same order of nuns who run the Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton. They went off the rails in the wake of Vatican II, and had to sell their convent in El Cajon after parents started pulling their children out. That property is now Shadow Mountain Community (mega) Church, pastored by Dr. David Jeremiah.
San Anselmo Catholic school is “alienating” God!
The diocese should just close the place down if it is embarrassed being identified as Catholic. Let the
public school system take in all the children. It has lost its purpose for being.
The Archdiocese has no legal control over the school, which is independent of the archdiocese’s organizational structure. The archbishop does have the canonical authority to tell the school that it can’t call itself Catholic, but the school is voluntarily disassociating itself from Catholicism already. It’s really not a Catholic school in any way, shape or form today, and the school’s trustees affirm that with every decision they make.
Ms. Skewes-Cox is following the same plan as when the religious symbols at Georgetown were covered
when then Pres Obama went to speak there. How insane to deny what the symbol of the Catholic Church is.
It is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to open the gates of Heaven for us. Wake up people. Ms. Skewes-Cox is attempting to change the teaching of the Catholic Church. Let her go and run something else and leave our Catholic schools alone. Although, I understand that the enrollment is 80 per cent non Catholic. Why is this?
BTW – Does anyone know if the ‘school’ teaches that the Rainbow is a symbol of Great Importance – shown to Noah after the Flood…
And not a cheap scam to push perversion like putting a ‘happy face’ on toxic filth
Diane thank you for your kind words. May God bless you and your family.
Scientific American’s Transgenderism Issue Only Delegitimizes Science
It represents a wholesale retreat from the principle that science should be apolitical, further jeopardizing the integrity of science and potentially inflicting real harm on people
https://thefederalist.com/2017/08/28/scientific-americans-transgenderism-issue-delegitimizes-science/?7
If you need proof that the line between science and politics has been irrevocably erased, look no further than the September edition of Scientific American.
In a special issue entitled “Sex and Gender,” the magazine purloins the progressive political agenda and attempts to give it a scientific mooring even when none exists. It represents a wholesale retreat from the principle that science…
Also, in January of this year, once-respected National Geographic came out with an edition that featured a 10 year old transgendered boy on the cover.
We have written to cancel both our subscriptions,and explained why we didn’t subscribe to Psychology Today, but to Natl Geo, and will do so no more. One was a family subscription going back to 1955.
But I doubt they will care. “Forward!”
Catholic school YES or NO? No Catholic theology taught so that the phase out education for First Holy Communion altogether? If this “fits into the school’s agenda” – then we conclude this Dominican Institution is departing from bringing its student body closer to the Faith and it is (or is rapidly moving toward) being non Catholic in mission. What next? Will the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael be “dialoguing” their way out of their Catholic habits and into the Muslim burka so as to be more inclusive?
Does the Diocese run or otherwise sponsor the school? If not, a civil court may not support any effort Archbishop Cordileone may make to exercise authority.
$30,000 fees per year? That means only the upper, upper income earners can afford to send children there.
How elitist!!!
Looking at the rainbow adorned picture, it’s not hard to tell where the principles loyalties lie. She (not the statues) needs to be removed IMMEDIATELY.
i cannot believe, but. . . I fully agree with “Bob One.”
My work here is done.
Relativism at its finest. Jesus rejects those who reject him. Souls in danger.
RA: can you cite sources that support your assertion that blacks, on their own volition and without coercion, fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War? I highly doubt this claim.
Fred, I was born in the north way, way after the Civil War, but it makes sense that those blacks related by blood to slave owners, and many were, would fight for the south. Many American blacks have middle or last name Lee, or did, and not from Asia but from Robert E. Lee. My own relatives have the middle names Sherman & Lee. I do not think Robert E. Lee had children from slaves, but some slave owners did. I myself have 2% Sub Saharan African with each approx. 1% coming in to my linage at two different times. Mostly likely had black and white ancestors fighting on both sides.
Amy Skewes-Cox heads San Domenico School’s board of trustees. She said the reason that the statues were removed was because they “could be alienating” to other religions. (Rainbow-themed profile picture from Facebook)
Amy Skewes- Cox, The video in this story linked below has brought forth great comfort to thousands of people from different religions all over the Internet. Listen to the woman’s words, “Only holy things remained standing!”
Miracle Statue of Mary Survives Hurricane Harvey Destruction, Gives Hope to Family
https://churchpop.com/2017/08/28/miracle-statue-of-mary-survives-house-destroyed-by-harvey-gives-hope-to-family/
Decommissioning Anyone?
“Removing Catholic School’s Statues May Be Necessary
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/removing-catholic-schools-statues-may-necessary/
San Domenico School in San Anselmo, Calif., has voluntarily chosen to remove or relocate most of its Christian statues and artwork to appease non-Catholic students. Many Catholics are horrified, but sometimes it’s entirely appropriate for a Catholic school to remove all Catholic imagery—like when it’s being decommissioned as Catholic, which is precisely what ought to happen in this case
When the Catholic Church decommissions a church building, the adornments are properly disposed of and, hopefully, sent on to other Catholic parishes that are still able to fulfill their…
American Catholic version of the Chinese ‘cultural revolution’.
This is obscene.
I am not Catholic, and I was very disturbed to hear about this. Please put your statues back. That would be the smart, and right thing to do.
If people go to a Catholic school and find your beautiful statues offensive, then they should go to some other school.
I like learning history, religious history, and all the evils, troubles and beauty that entails.
This kind of insane appeasement is about as ridiculous as it gets, and will eventually turn into a terrible dark place, and continue to homogenize our landscapes, as well as our brains.
Pathetic, very wrong decision.
I hope to God, the parents paying their money get this changed back.
a catholic school, or at least was one until they removed the word catholic, is worried about offending students/families who do not share in the catholic faith to which i say why are you enrolling non catholic students? not enough students to keep you catholic, then you either close it down or change to a non secular school and get off the church property.
imagine if students and their families were offended by that church next to the school, would they just tear down the church? i’m sick of people who enter into things that they don’t want so that they can destroy that thing and not jus schools, it’s the same people that move into a quiet suburb ad then try to turn it into something that resembles a loud urban area.
catholic schools need to stop hiring non catholics.