I wish to express my strong support for Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s courageous, commonsense, and fatherly efforts to strengthen the Catholic identity of the Catholic schools in the San Francisco archdiocese.

I pray that parents of students and Catholic teachers and administrators in the schools will use this controversy as an opportunity to deepen their personal commitment, as exemplified by how they live their personal lives, to Catholic teaching and to providing an authentically Catholic education to their children and students.

I pray and request that, in the spirit of collegiality, as a bishop of the Catholic Church in the state of California, you will publish on your diocesan website a statement in support of Archbishop Cordileone’s actions to protect the souls of students and teachers in Catholic schools within the archdiocese of San Francisco.

I also offer my heartfelt prayers for you and your flock in these difficult times.