Catholic teacher's remarriage violated 'morality' clause, official testifies

[Dale_M]

This has been a long running controversy in NE Iowa. Tom Girsch was the very popular football coach of Waterloo’s Catholic High School. He was terminated, reluctantly, by the school board (they first voted no) because of pressure from the archbishop.

Tom Girsch, a teacher at Columbus for 32 years and the school’s former longtime football coach, was fired in 2007 for remarrying before having his first marriage annulled and holding the wedding outside of the Catholic Church.

Jeff Henderson, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Dubuque, said CVCS (Cedar Valley Catholic Schools) officials initially drafted a termination notice. However, Henderson told jurors that CVCS and diocese officials were concerned about the effect Girsch’s firing would have on an upcoming CVCS fundraising campaign. Some members of the CVCS board also indicated they would resign if Girsch was terminated.

Those of other faiths could divorce and get married the same way the Girsches did but might not have faced termination, Henderson said. Since Girsch is Catholic, his contract required him to follow the rules set by the Catholic Church. Under those guidelines, Girsch’s new marriage was considered cohabitation under the morality clause of his contract, Henderson said.

wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_3eb0e63e-4895-11df-986c-001cc4c002e0.html

 

[Lutheranteach]

I’ll go ahead and say it because I know some of you are thinking it. A priest can molest a child and only be moved from school to school for decades. A teacher can give 32 years of service, get married without an anullment, and be fired. — loved the reason they hesitated…it might hurt fundraising.

 

[csuliman]

The Church will one day hopefully deal with the complexities of human relationships. I don’t think they did anything illegal here but it seem highly punitive.

 

[HyeDetroit]

I’ll go ahead and say it because I know some of you are thinking it. A priest can molest a child and only be moved from school to school for decades. A teacher can give 32 years of service, get married without an anullment, and be fired. — loved the reason they hesitated…it might hurt fundraising.

When you get married, you take a sacred vow before God to love and stay with a person until death. The coach was in that school for 32 years, and I could imagine has a lot of influence on people. As a Catholic, how does it look that he divorces his wife, illicitly, and “remarries” without going through to proper process?
I applaud the officials for having a backbone. If you say you are CATHOLIC, practice what you preach!
The coach signed a morality clause. He knew what he was doing. He didn’t have to remarry, but instead he decided to disobey his superiors.

Your argument is basically: well because errors and sins were committed in the past, we should let this one slide
enough is enough already

 

[Tietjen]

This has been a long running controversy in NE Iowa. Tom Girsch was the very popular football coach of Waterloo’s Catholic High School. He was terminated, reluctantly, by the school board (they first voted no) because of pressure from the archbishop.

Well, I’ll be the harsh one I suppose… The situation is sad for everyone involved but as I see it, Mr. Girsch, though a popular coach, violated Church law. Had Mr. Girsch instead began a homosexual relationship I believe that there would be less outrage over his termination. Likewise, had it been discovered that Mr. Girsch was secretly married to two women at the same time his termination would not have made the news. BUT… as Catholics we recognize that Mr. Girsch WAS in fact still married to his first wife and while being so, lived as a married couple with another woman! Somehow, many of today’s Catholics appear to value civil law above canon law. If a person is civilly divorced many within the Church accept that he/she is unmarried. Not so. As a Catholic Mr. Girsch SHOULD have known this and if he did and simply refused to obey canon law, he has no business teaching inside a Catholic school. Life is full of decisions and Mr. Girsch made his. Hopefully, he’ll come to his senses and get back on track, but for the moment anyway, he must live with the consequences.

 

[Lutheranteach]

When you get married, you take a sacred vow before God to love and stay with a person until death. The coach was in that school for 32 years, and I could imagine has a lot of influence on people. As a Catholic, how does it look that he divorces his wife, illicitly, and “remarries” without going through to proper process?
I applaud the officials for having a backbone. If you say you are CATHOLIC, practice what you preach!
The coach signed a morality clause. He knew what he was doing. He didn’t have to remarry, but instead he decided to disobey his superiors.

Your argument is basically: well because errors and sins were committed in the past, we should let this one slide
enough is enough already

No, no, no. I never said let it slide. I am saying this is overly punitive. How does it look that he divorces his wife? It looks like a lot of other people in this world, and I doubt anyone would have given it a second thought. I meet very, very few Catholics that can say they follow the rules of the Catholic Church.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

I probably should have read the whole article, but I am willing to bet that 90% of this had to do with his reaction to the whole thing. Was he being openly defiant, or was he merely impatient? How did he handle the situation when he was in trouble?

I am willing to bed that this had more to do with his termination than the “crime.”

Education is a touchy subject though. Teachers are held to almost unfair standards in their personal as well as professional lives. I say this as a pre-service teacher (that is, I am actively teaching in practicums, but am not state certified). Not to let the cat out of the bag, but you can RUIN a teacher’s career by merely suggesting that they did something inappropriate with a student, even if there is no evidence. Once the community sees that person as a scandal, their career is over unless they are willing to move further away than the rumor mill can reach and the principal of the school is willing to affirm that the teacher had their highest confidences. Unlikely though.

The thing is, this guy knew the standards, and he violated them. Firing him may have been an extreme measure, but the scandal he caused in doing this shouldn’t shock him that he was dealt with harshly. That’s the name of the game with teaching, whether you are in public or private education. This was the very first thing out of anyone’s mouth the very first time we ever met in the certification course. Before we were even allowed to sign up for classes we had to know that if we make one little slip, we jeapordize our career. Forever.

 

[Rence]

Well, thankfully, I’ve never experienced any of the intrusiveness by the Church as described in the article. And I’ve never heard of it before in the places I’ve worked. He should have read his contract more carefully. I’d never work in a place that was that into my private life and dictated how I live.

But you know, it is a Catholic school, and I always say they need to enforce their rules from within, not around the globe in an effort to make Catholic law everyon’e law - regardless of a person’s creed or lack thereof. So, at least the non-Catholics wouldn’t have been disciplined by Catholic standards (as suggested in the quote from the article).

I’m sure he’ll find another job soon, preferably in a non-Catholic school.

 

[Lutheranteach]

I probably should have read the whole article, but I am willing to bet that 90% of this had to do with his reaction to the whole thing. Was he being openly defiant, or was he merely impatient? How did he handle the situation when he was in trouble?

I am willing to bed that this had more to do with his termination than the “crime.”

Education is a touchy subject though. Teachers are held to almost unfair standards in their personal as well as professional lives. I say this as a pre-service teacher (that is, I am actively teaching in practicums, but am not state certified). Not to let the cat out of the bag, but you can RUIN a teacher’s career by merely suggesting that they did something inappropriate with a student, even if there is no evidence. Once the community sees that person as a scandal, their career is over unless they are willing to move further away than the rumor mill can reach and the principal of the school is willing to affirm that the teacher had their highest confidences. Unlikely though.

The thing is, this guy knew the standards, and he violated them. Firing him may have been an extreme measure, but the scandal he caused in doing this shouldn’t shock him that he was dealt with harshly. That’s the name of the game with teaching, whether you are in public or private education. This was the very first thing out of anyone’s mouth the very first time we ever met in the certification course. Before we were even allowed to sign up for classes we had to know that if we make one little slip, we jeapordize our career. Forever.

Reading the article it looks like both sides were playing a lot of games with one another.

 

[shannonfbc]

This has been a long running controversy in NE Iowa. Tom Girsch was the very popular football coach of Waterloo’s Catholic High School. He was terminated, reluctantly, by the school board (they first voted no) because of pressure from the archbishop.

wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_3eb0e63e-4895-11df-986c-001cc4c002e0.html

Well I agree with the decision… it was there duty to the students and parents to remove him for his immoral behavior. When you choose to send your child to a catholic school for a catholic education you expect the staff to behave themselves in a moral way…

Now if only catholic schools would enforce dress codes etc the same way maybe we would see less young ladies going to school with skirts the length of wide belts.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

Reading the article it looks like both sides were playing a lot of games with one another.

Well, that should be another big sign. One can’t expect to play mind games dealing with morality with their employer and keep their job. Especially with teaching jobs they way they are now. There are probably hundreds lined up at the door to take his spot. Now isn’t the time for principled stands to make a point, sadly.

 

[Dale_M]

Update: the coach has won the lawsuit.

Former Columbus Catholic High School teacher Tom Girsch has won his lawsuit but lost his faith in the Catholic Church, his attorney said Thursday.

Jurors awarded Girsch, who had taught social studies and coached football at Columbus, a total of $606,380 after about a day of deliberation in his breach of contract suit against Cedar Valley Catholic Schools and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque, following a week and a half of testimony.

The award was higher than the $500,000 Girsch’s attorney, Mark Zaiger of Cedar Rapids, had sought

wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_878d7d90-4e53-11df-866b-001cc4c002e0.html

The school district and archdiocese have 30 days to decide whether to appeal.

 

[Elizabeth502]

I agree with the school’s decision. That’s because it’s important to be consistent about such internal decisions. Just as I supported the Colorado school decision about the “two Mommies,” I support this decision as well. (And again, I myself as a potential Catholic school parent was under scrutiny before I complied with an important technicality, and I supported my school’s position on that one, as well.)

Those who believe that their personal morality should be separate from their involvement in Catholic teaching or in parenting a Catholic school student, should probably not become part of that system. This is not a “sinfulness” question but a witness question, a representation of lifestyle.

Too bad about the lawsuit result. I hope the Church fights it. As to the coach “losing his faith,” it couldn’t have been very meaningful if that “faith” excluded his responsibility to his own personal morality.

 

[catharina]

***Update: the coach has won the lawsuit.

Quote:
Former Columbus Catholic High School teacher Tom Girsch has won his lawsuit
but lost his faith in the Catholic Church, his attorney said Thursday.***

**Terrible zinger …
Isn’t it clear that Girsch “lost his faith in the Catholic Church” when
he rejected Church teachings and re-married without an annulment?

Now blaming the Church for being the Church … pathetic …

“What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world
but suffer the loss of his own soul …”**

 

[Phemie]

Catholic school boards & schools have always had morality clauses in them. I know two of my friends who taught in Catholic schools and were called on the carpet because the board had become aware that

1. one’s car was repeatedly seen overnight at his girlfriend’s place
2. the other was rumoured to be having an affair with a married woman.

The first subsequently made sure he took a cab to her house if he was going to spend the night. The other denied everything and, even though he WAS having an affair with her, they couldn’t prove the allegation since they had been relatively discrete due to her position in the community.