SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) – The Archdiocese of San Francisco is proposing three new clauses to contracts for teachers in archdiocesan Catholic high schools to further clarify that Catholic schools – as the first clause states – “exist to affirm and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as held and taught by His Catholic Church.”

The archdiocese is also adding detailed statements of Catholic teaching on sexual morality and religious practice – taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church – into the faculty and staff handbooks of the four archdiocesan high schools. The handbook additions are not part of the contract.

The handbook and contract changes reiterate more strongly the responsibility of teachers and staff not to contradict Catholic teaching in school and in their public lives, said Maureen Huntington, archdiocesan Catholic Schools superintendent.

The handbook additions clearly state that the institution believes in the listed items, and does not require each individual staff member or teacher to assent to each stated item of Catholic doctrine. The aim of the handbook additions is to specify for all what the Church teaches and require that high school staff and teachers not contradict Catholic teachings in a school environment or in public actions.