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Published: October 30, 2009
Pro-lifer Wanted
Diocese of Sacramento
Editor: the following appeared on the Sacramento diocese website.
The Diocese of Sacramento has an immediate opening for a Respect Life Coordinator. This full-time position provides leadership in all aspects of the Catholic Church’s pro-life mission, including education, public policy advocacy and pastoral care (especially for those suffering after abortion). The successful candidate must:
• be a practicing Catholic
• have at least two years of proven experience in pro-life work
• be fluent in both English and Spanish
For a full job description click here . Please send resume and cover letter to personnel@diocese-sacramento.org no later than October 31, 2009.
Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 4:02 AM By Charles O'Connell
Regarding Bishop Soto's decision to include among the qualifications for Respect Life Coordinator, the requirement that the candidate be fluent both in Spanish and English: Some people have objected that this criterion is "unfair". LISTENING: To use the analogy of one of those old Motorola car radios, we often observe how people's "talk" switch gets stuck in the "on" position, so that they are unable to function in the "receive" mode. To extend this picture to this instance, it's necessary for those who have objections to the Bishop's policy in this regard to understand, that most people for whom English is a second language, much more readily understand English, than speak it with fluency and subtlety. Add to this fact, the same criteria that are cited in support of the several qualified, English-only candidates - the fact that they "know the lay of the land", and that they have "walked the walk" - such criteria actually reinforce the centrality of the bi-lingual qualification: For if such interpersonal qualifications are critical, then a candidate who is handicapped by lack of Spanish fluency will be unable to function effectively to meet the position requirements.
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Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 4:04 AM By Charles O'Connell
DIVERSITY: One person objecting to the Bishop's decision, cited the fact that there are many Russians in Sacramento, for whom knowledge of Spanish would be irrelevant. In fact, Sacramento has the greatest ethnic diversity of any place in the United States. However, most of the Russians in question, or Hmong, or Chinese, are not Catholic. There's some confusion of roles here: The Diocesan Respect Life Coordinator, may have some extra time (!) to spend out on the front lines, but this is not a recruitment for Sidewalk Counselor - if such a recruitment were at issue, then fluency in the various ethnic languages may be a qualification. (I'm sure you can fill in the rest.)
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Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 4:05 AM By Charles O'Connell
ENGLISH ONLY: Ever notice how few English surnames are now present in the populace, how few Netherlands and Scandinavian, and even how the German names are in decline? These groups largely contracepted themselves out of existence. The Hispanic cultural inheritance, which prominently features love for children and dedication to families, is justly becoming the majority in our state and area. Considering that this area is historically Mexican, why don't we have a requirement that English speakers learn Spanish? (I read a free Spanish newspaper while waiting for take-out food; I can certify that Hispanics regard such attitudes as deeply offensive; such attitudes can only be counter-productive to our work. And I relate personally to this: In my ethnic group's past, "Irish Need Not Apply" is a strong collective memory.) In reality, if we are going to dedicate ourselves to pro-life work, we need to divest ourselves of nativist and libertarian attitudes - which, it could be argued, have proven themselves to be allied with the anti-life cause - and just stick to the main subject at hand.
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Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 4:07 AM By Charles O'Connell
ENTITLEMENT: In theologian Michael Novak's 1993 sympathetic essay regarding the lack of authorization for the Church to ordain women to the priesthood, "Women, Ordination and Angels" (First Things on-line, April 1993), we read that "There is no evidence that in His dealings with humans God acts by an egalitarian principle. Among all humans, He singled out the people of Israel. In every generation, He 'elects' His own. God's choice has never been transparently based upon equal merit (or any merit at all). On the contrary, it induces to wonder and even fear; its workings are mysterious." I think we are sliding into the mentality of our opponents, rather than the attitude of emulating Christ's servitude for us, to think that a kind of personal "fairness" is a primary criterion in important recruitments like the Respect Life Coordinator. Rather, God has a distinct life plan for each one of us - most of them are in quiet and hidden stillness - that we have to discover, and not agitate for what we want. As someone who worked in an employment office for 10 years and processed 50,000 job applications, I can certify that the issue of fairness in the recruitment process is actually located in a social-scientific area of study. The actual issue is that, once position qualifications have been established, "fairness" consists in ensuring that the process be conducted impartially and dispassionately.
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Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 1:47 PM By WOODY GUIDRY
UNLESS YOU ARE FLUENT IN BOTH ENGLISH AND SPANISH--You would not be able to direct and coodinate RACHEL'S VINEYARD RETREATS which are currently done separately in both English, exclusively and in Spanish, exclusively. You would not not be able to assist staff with SPANISH-ENGLISH INTERPETATIONS. These are in the "full job description" found at the top of this page if you click on it.
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Posted Saturday, October 31, 2009 4:20 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
Although I am no fan of Bishop Soto, he is right in asking that the his "Respect Life Coordinator" be fluent in both Englist and Spanish. His vocation is the salvation of souls, and that respects all languages. Unfortunately many immigrants, both legal and illegal, do not know the English language, so this is a valid requirement.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
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Posted Wednesday, November 04, 2009 10:16 PM By JLS
Multiple languages are not that hard to learn for someone who wants to learn them.
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