Law And More

Prestigious NYC Prep-School Niche Disrupted - Push-back on Idelology, Tuition, Behavior by Leadership

"Head of elite NYC school Dalton [Jim Best] resigns after parents complain about 'obsessive' and 'wildly inappropriate' antiracism agenda that included reenactments of 'racist cops' in SCIENCE classes." - Jennifer Smith, Daily Mail, April 17, 2021.

Dalton in not alone among the prestigous private schools in New York City in which parents perceive liberalism has gone too far. There has also been push-back at Grace Church and Brearley. At Grace a math teacher went public in objecting to the ideology. At Brearley a father yanked his child out of the prep school because of that same thing.

But the issue of ideology may only be the tip of the iceberg. Parents are also enraged that the sticker price for tuition - over $50,000 - hasn't been reduced even though there haven't been in-person classes since March 2020. At universities there have been class-action lawsuits filed by students requesting discounts. They allege that remote instruction has been subpar.

In addition, in the prep-school niche there has also been turmoil because of alleged sexual misconduct. The head of Regis high school Rev. Daniel Lahart has stepped down. This had inflicted another blow on the branding of Roman Catholicism. Since the Boston Globe broke the story of clergy sexual abuse of boys in 2002, the Church has struggled with reputation restoration.

Why this disruption in the prep-school niche matters is because those prep schools are feeder pools for the next generation of leadership in capitalism. The graduates will stop off at elite universities for undergraduate degrees, then elite professional schools and eventually assume the power positions in American institutions. 

Now, there could be the beginning of a reconfiguration of where the current ruling class seeks socialization and an edge for their offspring. Other launching pads could replace the prep schools. 

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Liberty University Sues Its Former President Jerry Falwell Jr.

More shade is thrown both on the branding of conservative Liberty University and its former president Jerry Falwell Jr. 

That's because media outlets such as The Hill are running with the University's filing of a lawsuit in Virginia state court yesterday against Falwell. That University had been founded by Falwell's father in 1971. It stood as a symbol of the best of American conservative thought and behavior.

The litigation contends that Falwell withheld pertinent information from the board of trustees when negotiating his contract in 2019. The lawsuit has three counts: breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and statutory conspiracy.

The alleged concealment involved two matters. One was the extortion plot by the pool caretaker Giancarlo Granda who threatened to disclose details about an affair with Falwell's wife Becki. The other was about Falwell's alleged impairment by alcohol. It is contended that Falwell anticipated a scandal would break and he wanted to ensure a hefty severance package. 

The suit seeks $10 million in compensatory damages. In VA that can be tripled. There is also a request for punitive damages. 

Before the suit had been filed Falwell had resigned from his job. More recently so did his son Trey, who had served as vice president. The University is making no comment about the latter resignation.

What a branding mess.

The University looks foolish for getting into this high-profile pickle. 

Falwell probably is finished as a conservative leader. Among his errors of judgment had been appearing on a boat with his arm around a female not his wife and his trousers unzipped, with the underwear visible. 

Along the way in this saga, Falwell has sued the University of defamation but dropped the lawsuit, without explanation.

At one time he had extreme influence in the conservative movement. It has been said that he was able to motivate evangelicals to support the political aspirations of Donald Trump.

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Roman Catholic Church in Trouble, Again - Regis High School President Rev. Daniel Lahart Ousted

Yet again the Roman Catholic Church is in the news for sexual misconduct. 

This time it involves the prestigious order of the Society of Jesus - Jesuits. 

The New York Post reports that, after a third-party investigation, the President of Regis private high school in Manhattan Rev. Daniel Lahart has been ousted. He had held that job since 2016. Here is Regis' press release about that appointment. 

What had been documented had been inappropriate communications and actions of a sexual nature. They occurred with adults of the Regis community, including subordinates. And that behavior was unwelcome.

This story of sexual misconduct has been onging since the Boston Globe outed that crime by Roman Catholic clergy in 2002. The victims were young boys. 

One of the priests caught up in that first round of outings in the Boston metro area - Rev. John Geoghan - had been arrested and sentenced to prison. There he was murdered. 

But nuns didn't get off the hook. For example, the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth settled with Trish Cahill. The latter, reported on Law and More, contended that she sought guidance from Sister Eileen Shaw. Allegedly that nun plied her with alcohol and demonstrated how she could orchestrate sex with a female. 

The mysticism and mystery of the Roman Catholic Church had been both its strength over the centuries and what helped create the culture in which its priests and nuns could abuse the trusting, troubled and lacking in power.

Once a premier global brand, the Roman Catholic Church has been losing its influence and market share. 

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The Jesuits' Model for Reparations

A dark year in the history of the Jesuit religious order was 1838. That was when the religious community sold 272 people they had enslaved to pay off the debts of Georgetown University. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries the Jesuits had dealt in slavery - and justified it.

Now, reports CNN, they are making amends for that practice. Their approach to reparations is to structure a $1 billion goal to pay to decendants of the slaves. The first payment made through the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the U.S. is $100 million. The macro organization for that is Descendants for Truth & Reconciliation Foundation. That had been founded by the slaves' descendants. 

Those considering reparations to the desecendants of Black slaves in America might study that model. 

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End Polarization: Bring Back Religion

In The Atlantic April 2021 edition, Shadi Hamid presents an interesting correlation.

Since the late 1990s, he points out, participation in a formal religion has declined to less than 50%. From 1937 until then it held steady at about 70%. Amid that shift away from religion has arisen what Hamid refers to as "ideological intensity."

Yeah, sound and fury signifying not much.

It doesn't seem too much of a stretch to posit that a return to religion can cool off the current political fragmented fervor. Yes, there can be an exit ramp out of polarization.

Back in the old days, at least some Baby Boomers and members of Gen X vividly recall, religion was very in-the-box.

We Roman Catholics, for example, essentially stayed in our belief system, at least in the United States. 

Overseas, of course, Catholic missionaries labored tirelessly to convert pagans. On Fridays in parish schools we pitched in dimes to facilitate the baptism of pagan babies and voted on what their new Christian name would be. But, that was another country.

In the U.S., though, the rules of civility were rigid and observed. We didn't impose our beliefs on others. Actually, it was verboten to discuss religion in a public setting. Incidentally, the same applied to politics. Conflict wasn't all that common. The model was to live in harmony like the Anderson family on "Father Knows Best." 

That was then and it was good. 

Circling back to that kind of mindset and set of behaviors could end the ideological looping dominating today. As had been standard, we would stay in our own boxes and leave alone other folks' boxes. The conviction could return that, yes, a John F. Kennedy or a Joe Biden could be a world leader and a Roman Catholic. And the two parts would be mutally exclusive. You got it: separate boxes. 

No, religion doesn't have to be the old-line ones. There are plenty of outliers which could appeal to somewhat rebellious Americans seeking peace of mind and the ability to just relax. Those range from schools of Buddhism to the Unitarian Universaltist Church. My current participation with both for mediation and discussion has dampened my impulse to convince others I represent right thinking (the behavior is another matter).

As a step back to unity, the new Administration might establish the Find Your Box Day. Then it can unleash policies and perks which refinforce staying in that box. 

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Success - Should Human Beings Still Be Chasing It (in such a driven way)

Embracing the traditional and rigid model of getting, holding and scaling success lifted our Baby Boomer generation into the middle class - and, yes, beyond. 

The first step - college - was universally available. Unlike now, tuition was peanuts. Part-time jobs were plentiful.

The post-War economy caught fire.  

And, The Pill allowed for limiting the size of families (previously a distraction from chasing success with everything we got). 

But as lawyers, medical doctors, head nurses, public relations experts, information specialists, career military and university professors look back in our 60s and 70s, we are analyzing what the hell that was all about.

For many of us, our careers had peaked. Although more of us are still working, it's more focused on income per se versus Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Last night, on a open Zoom discussion (https://zoom.us/j/99892265318) hosted by Tina Squire, minster at the Sky Island Unitarian Universalist Church, Sierra Vista, Arizona (6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. mountain time) both Baby Boomers and members of Generation X analyzed success. Among the issues were how perspectives on success might shift with aging and how Millennials as well as their parents currently rate its importance.

According to the book "Excellent Sheep," by Yale professor William Deresiewicz, the chase is still going on. And at a feverish pace, at least in the Ivy League. For success, those students are willing to conform as much as Baby Boomers did during the Eisenhower era. 

But, come on, there is that old cliche: On deathbeds no one regrets not working harder. But that might not be true. Some of the conversations during the Unitarian Zoom meeting indicated disappointment at not having been more successful. Obviously, that whole enchilada - how far our careers had taken us - remains for too many of us unfinished business. In my career coaching of those over-50, a dominant meme is the assumption that they could have been a lot more successful, if only ...

Of course, what factored in our revisiting our professional past were issues such as the role of failure and our own "human frailty." With aging comes a reaching in, noted Rev. Squire. And, you bet, both Baby Boomers and Xers are doing that. Inner life can no longer go uninspected.

Yes, yes, yes, there is a school of thought, especially among tech entrepreneurs, that professional life is nothing but an experiment. Most of those experiments don't pan out.

However, the tough nut to crack, at all stages of a career, is to accept that reality. Lawyers try strategies and tactics for both litigation and transactional work. The world, from the leadership in law firms to the media, watch. Failure isn't a private matter. Failure usually entails contracting with a top public relations agency for reputation restoration.

Likely the questioning by Baby Boomers and Generation X might have no influence on the value the next generations in America put on success. When some of us finally broke free we created the Generation Gap. That model continues to dominate. The different generations operate in silos.

Actually, unlike Baby Boomers, Millennials are a highly fragmented bunch. Some, reports INC., are impatient for traditional kinds of success. Among them are the majority of law-firm associates who are convinced they will be promoted to partner.

On the other hand, observes The Guardian, there are the Millennials who demand meaning from professional life. That is more important to them than the size of the paycheck. For that reason, in mission statements employers are hammering purpose. The buzzword "vocation" is back. In his LinkedIn posts digital marketing expert Paul Chaney explores how work can be sacred. His musings are influential. 

All generations are welcome to join the Unitarian discussions, usually based on a particular book (but, no, you don't have to read it), on Wednesday evenings.

At 10:00 a.m. (mountain time) there are a Zoom meditation sessions and discussions https://zoom.us/j/97417456265

My takeaway from circling back to my experiences as a careerist is that more failure came from following supposed expert advice on success than was necessary. Had I trusted my intuition I likely would have had more success and on my own terms. Success can be a beautiful journey. The financial security which sets in with aging can give us the courage to experiment in very different ways. And not default into regret.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Legacy of Catholic Education in Immigrant America - Currently, Increasingly Unaffordable

"Enrollment in Roman Catholic schools in the United States dropped 6.4% from the previous academic year amid the pandemic and economic stresses — the largest single-year decline in at least five decades, Catholic education officials reported Monday." - David Crary, ABC News, February 8, 2021.

A major reason for that enrollment decline is the tuition. For K-8, annually that could be $5,000. For high school, that could jump to $10,000 per year. What middle-class family can afford that? 

Those of us who are alumni of Catholic education probably wouldn't have that educational option open to us right now. Back then, for Ok, Boomer, tuition was relative peanuts. And the costs beyond tuition, such as for books, were also peanuts in those days. In addition, we brought in quarters to adopt and name pagan babies. 

Overall, those funds proved a wise investment for immigrant members of the local parish. Roman Catholicism was essentially a decentralized operation, with the focus on the Parish Church.

The nuns in Catholic schools essentially socialized the first-generation Americans to look, speak, eat and seek out college like the WASPS (white anglo saxon protestants) who had arrived in the U.S. decades or even centuries earlier. 

In turn, we brought that socializations home. That was the game. We pressured mom to cook American-type meals versus ethnic cuisine. In addition we struggled to have them speak English, all the time. No lapsing into their native language. And, horrors, we mandated that our mothers not smoke in public.

Sure. there is a rich legacy of jokes about Catholic education, as it was delivered by the nuns. The classic is not to wear patent leather shoes because they reflected our underwear. 

Some of the realities were, though, not funny. In psychotherapy when I was 25 at the University of Michigan Psychology Center with graduate student David W. Harder I ranted about the Catholic ideology on sex. That had been difficult to shake off. 

But, back then the mechanism of Catholic education was probably necessary to protect us ethnics born into immigrant families from the dominant WASP culture. Later, when I matriculated in a doctoral program at the University of Michigan in Linguistics and Literature, I experienced my first WASP stings. Those took decades to heal. 

 Being in a WASP-controlled field unhinged me. After all, we had been told by the priests that Roman Catholics were special. We believed that, at least until we were forced into the world of Protestant power.

Reflection: On my First Communication I felt so important in my white dress, white veil, white pocketbook, white socks, white shoes and white candle. Brilliantly, the Catholic Church leveraged ritual to shape values and behavior. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Argentina, Pope Francis' Birthplace, Legalizing Abortion

Historically dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, Latin America could be the setting for a pro-abortion movement.

A sign of that is, as AXIOS reports, that the Senate in Argentina has approved (38 to 29) legalizing abortion during the first 14 weeks. Exceptions will be made for rape and the woman's health. President Alberto Fernandez is expected to take the next step in making the procedure legal.

As the vote shows, not everyone is aboard on this. For instance, Argentina is where Pope Francis had been born. He went on record as opposing this development. And not only in Argentina but throughout Latin America there could be anti-abortion demonstrations.

Meanwhile in the U.S. the right to a legal abortion remains under attack by the right as well as the Roman Catholic Church and fundamentalist religions.

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Jones Day Represents Roman Catholic Church In Lawsuit Against Washington D.C.

"The Archdiocese of Washington hired a team of Jones Day attorneys, including former White House counsel Don McGahn, to sue Washington, D.C., over its new pandemic restrictions for religious institutions." - Jaqueline Thomsen, Law.com, December 14, 2020.

The complaint contends that the government regulation of the 50 max on attendance at religious gatherings is unconstitutional. The argument is that the max is not imposed on commercial establishments such as restaurants. The focus is on the traditional celebration of the Christmas mass. 

This is not the first time the Roman Catholic Church has relied on Jones Day for legal representation. In 2018, for example, it was the defense firm for Cardinal Donald Wuerl.

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Even in Hard Times, Argentina Focuses on Women's Rights

"Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández has made the rights of women and of gay and transgender people central to his government, even through a recession and a pandemic ... lawmakers took a major step on Friday toward legalizing abortion ..." - Daniel Politti, The New York Times, December 11, 2020

The bill has passed the lower house of Congress. It still needs to pass the Senate. If it does, Argentina will be the fourth nation in Latin America to legalize abortion. In addition, it will symbolize the reduced control Roman Catholicism has in that section of the world. 

Meanwhile, abortion remains controversial in the United States. The appointment of Amy Barrett to SCOTUS increases the odds that the right will be modified in the near future. That is at a time when the responsibility and cost of caring for children have proved to be challenging during COVID-19 lockdowns and financial insecurity. 

It's the far right which has a firm hold on the mindset and values of much of America, not the Catholic Church.

 

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