Catholics Pressure Pope Francis to Replace San Francisco Archbishop for 'Coercing Educators'

More than 100 Catholics in San Francisco, California, are calling for the ouster of San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, accusing him of fostering "an atmosphere of division and intolerance."

The group recently ran a full-page ad in The San Francisco Chronicle in which they appealed to Pope Francis to replace him and "provide us with a leader true to our values and your namesake."

In the ad, the group accused Salvatore of coercing "educators and staff in our Catholic high schools to accept a morality code which violates consciences as well as California labor laws."

"The absolute mean-spiritedness of his required language for the Archdiocesan high school faculty handbook sets a pastoral tone that is close to persecution than evangelization," the group said.

In its response, the Archdiocese said the changes in the faculty handbook "emphasize that teachers, staff must not publicly contradict Catholic teaching."

The purpose is to clarify that the Catholic schools "exist to affirm and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as held and taught by his Catholic Church," the Archdiocese said.

Catholic teachings on sexual morality and religious practice were added in the handbook of four Catholic schools, namely Archbishop Riordan, Marin Catholic and Junipero Serra high schools and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, according to the Catholic San Francisco website.

The additions will take effect in the coming school year 2015-2016 and are not part of the contract, it said.

In a February letter to teachers, Cordileone said, "At the outset, I wish to state clearly and emphatically that the intention underlying this document is not to target for dismissal from our schools any teachers, singly or collectively, nor does it introduce anything essentially new into the contract or the faculty handbook."

The ad also said, "Archbishop Cordileone repeatedly labels the behavior of our fellow brothers and sisters (and their children) as 'gravely ill.'"

They said he installed "a pastor for the Star of the Sea parish who marginalizes women's participation in the church by banning girls from altar service and who has inexplicably distributed to elementary school children an age-inappropriate and potentially abusive, sexually-oriented pamphlet."

In its reply to the ad sent to the newspaper, the Archdiocese said it is "a misrepresentation of Catholic teaching, a misrepresentation of the nature of the teacher contract, and a misrepresentation of the spirit of the archbishop. The greatest misrepresentation of all is that the signers presume to speak for 'the Catholic Community of San Francisco.' They do not."

Archdiocese officials, the SF Gate reported, have "met with a broad range of stakeholders. Together, we have engaged in a constructive dialogue on all of the issues raised in this ad. We welcome the chance to continue that discussion.''