NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > Entertainment blogs > Manhattan Diary > Catholic Church fires Mass woman for marrying

Manhattan Diary by Cahir O'Doherty

Catholic Church fires Mass woman for marrying

Posted on Sunday, September 05, 2010 at 02:09 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

55 Comments

RSS

Archives

It's happening again.

Cathedral High School in Springfield, Massachusetts has forced out the school's athletic director, Christine M. Judd, after she married her female partner in August.

Judd, who is described on the school's website as 'one of the key members of the faculty and a positive role models for the students,' said was pressured to leave after marrying her female partner last month.

The local diocese has listed her departure as a resignation, but Judd said she is currently exploring her legal options. It's believed that matters came to a head when an unidentified person made a photograph of Judd's wedding available to the diocese. Judd also clarified that the Cathedral High School had nothing to do with her departure, it was strictly a diocesan decision she said.

Mark E. Dupont, a spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, told the press that Judd did resign, but he declined to respond to Judd's parting comments, or on the issue of her marriage in August.

'Without being specific to this matter, it should be clear that all employees of our Catholic schools are made aware of our policies and regulations,' Dupont told the press. 'This includes language that clearly states that whenever by public example, an employee engages in or espouses conduct which contravenes the doctrine and teaching of the Catholic Church, that employee may be subject to disciplinary action. To do otherwise would be in contradiction to the values we believe in and are teaching in these same schools. So while we certainly want to be compassionate and understanding, we must be true to who we are.'

We must be true to who we are. So any teacher in contravention of Catholic dogma at Cathedral must be sweating right about now - I mean all the divorcees, the married people who use birth control, the men who have had vasectomies, and anyone who's privately pro-choice on abortion.

Call me a cynic, but somehow I imagine they'll all be spared. The Church is highly selective over which sins it puts up with, after all. Call it cafeteria contrition - or just call it what it is, text book religious discrimination.

It's being gay that seems to really incite Catholic purges. The question is why? What's so inherently more sinful about being gay that any trace of it must be eradicated? Do Church authorities think that just the mere fact of being gay put's you in total contravention to every Catholic teaching? Judd, 35, never discussed her sexuality during her 12-year employment at Cathedral High School.

So could it be that her firing was predicated on one the most frequent charges we hear about marriage equality - if it's passed at the federal level eventually gay people will start suing to have their marriages performed in church?

The fact that this has never happened anywhere in the world, ever, hasn't deterred conservatives from making this argument. It could happen, they say. The Cleveland Spiders could win the World Series, too - hey, you never know.

But hypotheticals are unreal things, what's happening to Christine M. Judd is a terrific reality.

Critics who say that it's a private school run by the Catholic Church, and that she knew the rules and got what was coming to her, need to examine their own reasoning for cognitive dissonance - marriage equality wasn't legal in the state twelve years ago. And it may be worth mentioning that many gay people work these jobs because they're an economic necessity.

However you look at it, it's a sad story. In recent months children as young as five have been thrown out of Catholic schools in the United States for simply having gay parents. It's a new and disturbing tactic.

When Massachusetts' Saint Paul Roman Catholic Elementary kicked out an eight-year-old boy with two mommies, Boston's archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley stepped in to condemn the move. Let's hope he won't sit silently this time.

E-mail

55 comments

Next Previous Page 2 of 4 pages

James12 | Sep 07, 2010, 01:09 PM EDT

lemonhead, you confuse judgement with admonishment - there is a difference. Admonishment is permitted in Scripture and Church teaching. Also, God does judge - ultimatley at the Last Judgement.

Report abuse

James12 | Sep 07, 2010, 01:07 PM EDT

akellyny, your comments would be considered premature at best by people (including atheists) who have had near death experiecnes.

Report abuse

who12345counts | Sep 07, 2010, 11:59 AM EDT

How much more slanted can this article be? We are Catholic. We are Roman Catholic. If you do not want to conform to this religion then choose something else. Make up your own. We have the obligation before God to uphold His laws. It is not about the gay teacher it is about the gay "marriage" which is truly an abomination before God. We all sin. We don't publish those sins. We are ashamed of the sins. We teach as Catholics that the natural family is a man and a woman. The child who was spared the embarrassment that would have been raised when he went home and asked about his parents and were they obeying God would lead to more pain for him.

Report abuse

LeticiaVelasque | Sep 07, 2010, 10:30 AM EDT

I agree that all Catholics who are fornicating, aborting, and contracepting are equally guilty and should resign. Tell me, how do you prove that they are? When Judd took the job, she knew the Church's teaching and that the school enforced it. Period. She's trying to make a martyr of herself for 'the cause'. Spare me. She can make twice the money she's making in a public school where she will probably get preference for her so called marriage.

Report abuse

elainep | Sep 07, 2010, 09:31 AM EDT

The world will soon be awakened from it's spiritual slumber and those who do not believe will be in for a very big shock. Teachers who work in Catholic schools know they must be practicing Catholics and must lead by example. When they choose to push there own agenda and go against the teaching's of the church they can expect to be repremanded.

Report abuse

akellyny | Sep 07, 2010, 09:09 AM EDT

"God" is the Santa Claus for adults. When will people stop believing this rubbish, written and changed by man millions of times. Such gullible fools are these "hypochristians."

Report abuse

mayoman | Sep 07, 2010, 08:01 AM EDT

This is yet another example of what distresses me about my Church. How terribly tentative and slow the bishops are to deal with the crime of pedophilia, and yet how determined and prompt they are to summarily fire a woman, (that the Church itself has applauded), that committed no crime, but has only exercised her legal rights.

Report abuse

WatchingMedia | Sep 07, 2010, 06:32 AM EDT

Where did this author get her education in a barn? It is not a sin to get a Divorce. It is sinful to get remarried. Nobody knows who uses birth control since this is done in the privacy of ones own home. Yes any man who publically shows off his vasectomy would be fired. MARRIAGE IS A PUBLIC ACT. Do you understand that?

Report abuse

WatchingMedia | Sep 07, 2010, 05:17 AM EDT

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is very clear on homosexual behavior - which will NEVER be approved (#2357 -2359). So are PROTESTANT and Catholic Bibles: Rom 1:24-24; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10; Gen 19:1-29. All sexual acts outside of marriage (defined as being between one man and one woman) is a Mortal Sin.

Report abuse

WatchingMedia | Sep 07, 2010, 05:09 AM EDT

Anyone who wants to be employed by a Privately owned Catholic organization must respect, and "publically" adhere to Church teachings. Marriage is a PUBLIC act. If anyone wants to know the teachings of the Church, read the "CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition".

Report abuse

lemonhead | Sep 06, 2010, 09:10 PM EDT

I feel if she is doing her job in which it seems she has, they shouldn't discriminate. Her private life is hers, as long as she doesn't bring into the classroom. No one has the right to discriminate, remember God is forgiving, and non-judgemental, it's us humans who are judgemental.

Report abuse

macstwo | Sep 06, 2010, 05:05 PM EDT

She knew the rules and also the church's feelings on same sex marriage. She's trying to make a statement, but if you want to do the crime, you have to be willing to do the time. No questions the school administration was correct.

Report abuse

wasqazz | Sep 06, 2010, 12:03 AM EDT

makes me ashamed of being catholic.. why take it out on an 8 year old. it's okay to have sex with little BOYS and GIRLS and you don't get fired, but two adults get married and you loose your job?? sick

Report abuse

Colliegirl | Sep 05, 2010, 10:55 PM EDT

The regulations clearly state "whenever by public example, an employee engages in or espouses conduct which contravenes the doctrine and teaching of the Catholic Church, that employee may be subject to disciplinary action." Private sins are a matter between the employed person and God, but 'marrying' one's gay partner is definitely making a public statement that one is living in a sinful manner and proud of it. She is a popular teacher who is giving scandal. She has rejected the moral teachings of her faith. And she knew that this would happen. I'm not unsympathetic to the woman but this is giving a poor example to her students. They would see that a nice person can live the gay lifestyle; therefore there's nothing wrong with acting out your sinful sexual impulses. As a Catholic parent, this isn't the message I want my kids to learn in Catholic school. I want them to learn to follow God's will even against their inclinations.

Report abuse

2BorNot2B | Sep 05, 2010, 09:19 PM EDT

Mavaureen, cry not for the Church and its priests, there will be plenty left to carry on the work. She will survive like she has for 2000 years, with saints and sinners in her midst, because Christ guaranteed her survival.-- So far, the Church should, has, and will continue to kick out those priests who entered the ministry to have easier access to other men. Those are the ones that have brought shame upon her. However, I personally know homosexual priests who live a holy and courageous life, keeping their vow of celibacy intact. They are not, and should not be condemned; they are in fact a great asset to other Christians and they do, will, and should remain.-- People like you and the writer of the article are so angry and eager to slam the Church, you forget her ultimate purpose is to facilitate the forgiveness and redemption of sinners and a path to a happier life after this one.

Report abuse

Next Previous Page 2 of 4 pages