Archbishop Cordileone, Catholic Teachers, and the "Torre Test"

     Many of you are familiar with the name George Steinbrenner, the long-time owner of the New York Yankees, arguably the most famous sports team in the world.  Steinbrenner was reputed to be an erratic and difficult man who could be very unpleasant to work for.  Nonetheless, Joe Torre successfully managed his baseball team for many years.  When asked how he was able to put up with his prickly and demanding employer, Torre replied (as best as I can recall), “You take the man’s money, you put up with his _____" (I have excised the scatological term used by Mr. Torre, but you get the idea).  It seems like a pretty straightforward proposition: you do what you’re hired to do, and if you can’t or won’t do the job, go somewhere else.

Former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre

     Simple, and yet there are those who just don’t get it, at least as it applies to Catholic schools.  For instance, there has been a lot of fire directed at San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone because of his insistence that teachers in the Catholic schools in his diocese agree to refrain from publicly opposing the teaching of the Catholic Church.  There was even a petition sent to the Pope signed by purported “prominent Catholics” asking that Archbishop Cordileone be removed.

     Let’s look at this first from a purely worldly point of view, and apply the “Torre Test”.  Should Coca-Cola, for instance, be forced to hire and continue to pay someone who publicly advises people to drink Pepsi instead?  Should the Democratic National Committee be compelled to maintain on its payroll a person who actively criticizes the Democratic Party, and even campaigns for Republicans?  Of course not.  No organization or employer should have to subsidize an employee who is directly acting to undermine its mission, not Coca-Cola, not the Democratic Party, and not the Catholic Church.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone

     The Catholic Church, of course, is quite different from  a soft drink manufacturer, which is answerable to its shareholders, or a political party, which is answerable to its members and its supporters.  The Church is answerable to a Higher Authority, by whom it has been commissioned to “make disciples of all the nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).  And even if the secular world can’t be expected to share the Church’s understanding of itself, those who claim to be Catholic, “prominent” or not, must do so, or cease to be Catholic.  They must recognize their Bishop, the successor of the Apostles, as the guardian of the Deposit of Faith in his diocese.  In fact, if the Bishop weren’t requiring his teachers, at the very least, to refrain from public disloyalty to the Church (a pretty low threshold), Catholics would have much better grounds to complain to the Pope.

     This situation is the unfortunate product of living in a rapidly secularizing world.  There is enormous pressure to conform to a society that is increasingly at odds with the Gospel. All the more reason for us lay Catholics, who also have a responsibility commensurate with our station to defend the faith, to know the teaching of the church, to witness to it in our own lives, and to support our bishops, priests, and faithful Catholic educators as they work to fulfill their mission in the face of ever greater attacks.  If Joe Torre could put up with a little abuse for the sake of his pay check, we can certainly do the same for the Creator of the Universe.    

(Sign an online petition in support of Archbishop Cordileone)