RELIGION-SPAIN: Vatican Draws Fire for Meddling in Teaching

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, May 22 2001 (IPS) - A central trade union and a prominent expert in constitutional law called for a review of Spain’s ties with the Vatican, concerned about the influence of the Roman Catholic Church on the teaching of religion in public schools, which led to the dismissal of a high school teacher who married a divorced man.

Lawyer Gregorio Peces-Barba, one of the seven drafters of Spain’s constitution, said he was surprised that it was the state that hired Spain’s public high school teachers and the Church that fired them.

He argued that it was time for the Constitutional Court to study the constitutionality of many aspects of the state’s special agreements with the Vatican.

The Church’s criticism of a respected theologian’s views on sexuality and the hierarchy’s opposition to the use of the condom are other questions that have raised controversy in Spain.

Resurrección Galera, who teaches religion at a public high school, told IPS that she was waiting for a formal letter from the bishops’ office informing her that her annual contract would not be renewed, before she acted. She did not rule out the possibility of bringing legal action on charges of wrongful dismissal.

Galera works in the town of Los Llanos de la Calzada, in the southern province of Almería, where she lives with her husband Johannes Romes, a German reporter. The couple got married in a civil ceremony in April.

Both Galera and Romes are Catholics, and in order to have a church wedding, they are waiting for Romes’ divorce to go through. Romes married his first wife in 1968 and was separated seven years later.

On May 10, the head of the bishops’ office for teaching, Antonio Rueda, called Galera in and told her to choose between resigning or facing the non-renewal of her contract – the equivalent of being sacked.

Rueda also told Galera not to go public with the situation – a warning that the bishops’ office reiterated to her family by phone, according to the teacher.

“I’m not hurting anyone, I lead a normal life, I haven’t changed the teaching style I have used for years, and no parent, school principal or anyone has ever complained at any point in my career,” said Galera.

The bishops’ office in Almería acknowledged that the teacher had been called in by Rueda, and that he had informed her that the office for teaching had heard about her marriage, “which she admitted.”

“Why should I hide what I feel for someone I love and who loves me?” wondered Galera.

But the bishops’ office, after admitting that the teacher had the right to marry whoever she wanted, said the lifestyles of those who taught religion must be coherent with the rules and spirit of the Church, and that “rights and duties must not be separated.”

Although the school in which Galera teaches is public, it is run by the bishops’ office. Throughout Spain, the Church recommends the religion teachers in all schools, whether or not they are administered by the bishopric, although the teachers are formally hired by the state.

However, Spain’s 13,000 religion teachers also sign contracts with the Church, which must be renewed annually.

The General Union of Workers, the central trade union affiliated with Spain’s socialist party, argues that the contract system violates Spanish law. Trade unionist Jesús Ramón Copa maintains that the agreement signed with the Vatican must be revised to bring the hiring and firing of religion teachers into line with local legislation.

That agreement governs every aspect of church-state relations, as well as how religion is taught in Spain.

Spain’s other big central trade union, the pro-communist Workers Commissions, said Galera’s dismissal was “absolutely unacceptable” because it violated basic rights like the right to privacy and work. Both labour confederations pledged to back Galera to the ultimate consequences.

The Episcopal Conference, the Church’s highest-ranking body in Spain, defended its authority on Apr 24 to “monitor all religion teachers in public and private schools, whether or not they are of the Catholic faith.”

While Galera prepared to fight for her rights in Almería, theologian Marciano Vidal received an official notification from the Church containing objections to “major errors that can harm the faith” – a reference to his preaching in favour of more flexible rules on sexuality.

The letter came from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a Catholic Church group that has the mission of “promoting and guarding the doctrine of the faith and morals,” and which, under its original name – the Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition – has fought heresy since 1542.

Vidal, a Catholic theologian who is well-respected by his colleagues, did not make any public statement regarding the criticism, but later gave a conference on morality, sexuality and in vitro fertilisation in the Spanish capital.

At the conference, he advocated an ethics of “weakness and failure of the flesh,” given the human being’s fragile condition, and called for a gradual approach in the application of Christian comprehension and morality.

He also urged Christian benignancy in pastoral work, rather than moral severity, which he said he did not reject, but believed should be applied in a more gradual manner.

In the northeastern port city of Barcelona, meanwhile, a Catholic Church group, Young Christians of Catalonia, called Sunday for “a young Church, open to the present and the future.”

A communique issued by the group suggested that sexual relations be seen as a symbol of commitment to and esteem for one’s partner, and that “non-natural” birth control techniques be allowed.

The Constitutional Court, meanwhile, announced that in the next few days, it would pronounce itself on the appeal for legal protection brought by a religion teacher in a school in Murcia, in southeastern Spain, who was laid off by the bishop of Cartagena when it came to light that he was a married priest.