"Catholic teacher investigated after students complain of anti-gay comments"

edmontonjournal.com

The Edmonton Catholic school board is investigating a veteran teacher, Albert Felicitas, for anti-gay comments he allegedly made in his Grade 12 Religious Studies class. The board has temporarily removed Felicitas from the classroom, says board spokeswoman Lori Nagy.

“We are extremely concerned with the allegations,” she says. “We do teach religion to students through a Catholic lens, but we’ve heard these allegations and we are investigating to see if that did happen. And that’s a huge concern for us if it did.”

Felicitas, a teacher for 32 years, says school authorities have asked him to stay away from school for his “own personal safety.”

“This thing that blew up here is a total shock to me,” he says. “I’ve taught the course many times … I have received glowing evaluations from students.”

The matter came to a head in a May 17 class. Four students in class that day tell a similar story about Felicitas’ harsh words about gay marriage.

“He said homosexuals can’t love and they shouldn’t love and they don’t deserve love,” says student Mario Bacic. “It got me fairly angry. In these times, we should be able to accept that homosexuals do exist and they should be able to marry and do the same thing that straight couples do. It was very alarming.”

Adds student Evan Pinkney: “He said homosexuals don’t deserve love and can’t love just because they are the same sex and that they can’t reproduce. That didn’t sit well with me at all. It’s completely wrong.”

But Felicitas says students misinterpreted him as he discussed a portion of the course’s textbook on the position of Canadian Catholic bishops against gay marriage. “I’m simply reiterating what’s on the pages. And because they have their own personal reality, their own personal opinion, personal struggles of their gender issues, they forget the angle that I’m just the messenger and they take me as homophobic.”

He would never say homosexuals don’t deserve love, he says.  “Everyone is made for love and to be loved and everyone is capable of love, no matter what gender choice you have.” 

Asked if a person can have this love within a gay marriage, Felicitas says on this question he must be consistent with the teaching of the church. “You’re asking me for a personal opinion. I cannot give that.”