Angelus News | May 17, 2019 | Vol. 4 No. 18
A priest waits while sitting in a confessional box in the Cathedral of Barcelona. A new bill making its way through the California legislature would seek to force priests to break divine law in order to follow civil law. But would requiring priests to break the seal of confession in cases of alleged child sexual abuse really prevent abuse? On page 10, editor Pablo Kay weighs both sides of the debate surrounding SB 360 and looks at how similar legislation has fared in other places. On page 13, contributing editor Mike Aquilina recounts the history of confessional secrecy as a key part of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation in the Catholic faith. And on page 3, Archbishop José H. Gomez writes why the bill is a “mortal threat to the religious freedom of every Catholic.”
A priest waits while sitting in a confessional box in the Cathedral of Barcelona. A new bill making its way through the California legislature would seek to force priests to break divine law in order to follow civil law. But would requiring priests to break the seal of confession in cases of alleged child sexual abuse really prevent abuse? On page 10, editor Pablo Kay weighs both sides of the debate surrounding SB 360 and looks at how similar legislation has fared in other places. On page 13, contributing editor Mike Aquilina recounts the history of confessional secrecy as a key part of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation in the Catholic faith. And on page 3, Archbishop José H. Gomez writes why the bill is a “mortal threat to the religious freedom of every Catholic.”
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New school mentality<br />
A renovated campus and curriculum will welcome freshmen starting<br />
high school at St. John Paul II STEM Academy in Burbank this fall<br />
BY JULIE SCHNIEDERS / ANGELUS<br />
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY GLORIA RIVERA/ST. JOHN PAUL II STEM ACADEMY<br />
St. John Paul II STEM Academy at Bellarmine-Jefferson High School will keep its original historic<br />
replica of Independence Hall.<br />
From the outside, the replica<br />
of Independence Hall in Burbank<br />
will not be changed.<br />
Yet inside the walls of<br />
Bellarmine-Jefferson High School’s<br />
campus, an extensive overhaul is<br />
currently underway, leading up to its<br />
reopening as St. John Paul II STEM<br />
Academy on Aug. 14 with the arrival<br />
of its inaugural freshmen class.<br />
The transformation includes new<br />
engineering and digital media arts<br />
labs, a learning commons area, and<br />
an updated library using a mix of<br />
old and new materials. The STEM<br />
Academy — STEM — for science,<br />
technology, engineering, and math,<br />
is the first Catholic STEM-immersion<br />
high school in the Los Angeles<br />
Archdiocese.<br />
“We are excited for ourselves and our<br />
son to have the opportunity to be present<br />
at the launch of this great school<br />
and their new educational STEM<br />
model,” said Vivian Sarkisian, parent<br />
of an incoming, or “rising” freshman.<br />
“We believe the educational model is<br />
at the leading edge of education and<br />
will provide relevance in the context<br />
of our world today.”<br />
Dr. Jeff Hilger, the founding director<br />
of the STEM Academy, jumped<br />
full-steam ahead in July 20<strong>18</strong> after the<br />
archdiocese closed Bellarmine-Jefferson<br />
High School due to low enrollment.<br />
Hilger, who has a record of successfully<br />
opening charter schools<br />
and graduating students to the top<br />
quarter of colleges nationwide, began<br />
researching how to make the STEM<br />
Academy a reality by mapping out<br />
what it means to “be STEM.”<br />
Hilger and staff members visited<br />
more than 25 schools across the<br />
United States to observe, learn, and<br />
14 • ANGELUS • <strong>May</strong> <strong>17</strong>, <strong>2019</strong>
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