New Haven Independent

When Stephen Kobasa lost his position at Bridgeport’s Kolbe Cathedral High School, the story went national. He took a stand on principle. For decades as a teacher at Catholic schools, including the last five at Kolbe, he has removed American flags from his classroom. His objection is not to the U.S. flag, but to any flag representing a single country. He feels national flags contradict parochial schools’ Christian mission as represented by the crucifix. “The image of the crucified Christ is the complete negation of what the American flag represents,” says Kobasa, a gentle-spoken longtime peace activist. “The flag is about boundaries. The cross is about compassion without limits.”

Kobasa’s stand was OK with school authorities until a new policy went into effect at Kolbe this fall requiring permanent display of the American flag. Kobasa offered to take it out in the morning so that students who wished to could say the Pledge of Allegiance; then he’d put it away. That didn’t wash. The Diocese of Bridgeport posted a statement about the Kobasa case on its website. The statement said the Diocese “has long believed that the American flag is an important fixture in its Catholic school classrooms.”

Flags do proudly flap in the wind from Kobasa’s house on Hobart Street, where he lives with his family in New Haven’s Edgewood neighborhood. From a second-story window hangs an “Pace” banner that became popular in Italy during the first Gulf War. A string of Tibetan prayer flags decorate Kobasa’s front porch. Unlike the aggressive posting of American flags around the country following 9-11, these modest cloth squares containing blessings lend serenity to the street. Their colors correspond to the elements: blue for water, red for fire, green for wind, yellow for earth and white for space.

The Tibetan flags “remind me that prayer needs to be constant,” Kobasa reflects. “These are flags of blessings. National flags are flags of exclusion, assertions of difference. In Buddhist tradition, all of creation is encompassed.”

Religion can be misused to exclude rather than bring people together, Kobasa acknowledges — as he learned when he got fired this week. “The inability of the authorities in this case to think of any value except conformity is clearly divisive. It cuts people out of the traditions of grace and compassion that the Christian gospels are defined by.”