Fired over same-sex marriage, N.J. teacher sues Catholic school

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HACKENSACK, N.J.—A woman is suing a Roman Catholic school in New Jersey, alleging the school violated the state’s discrimination law when she was fired because she’s married to a woman.
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But an attorney for Paramus Catholic High School on Friday will ask a judge to dismiss Kate Drumgoole’s suit. In court papers, the lawyer argues Drumgoogle was dismissed for failing to abide by the tenets of the faith when she entered into a same-sex marriage and not because of her sexual orientation.
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Drumgoole told a New Jersey newspaper she was fired as dean of guidance and head coach of the basketball team in January after administrators learned she was married to a woman.
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thestar.com/news/world/2016/08/19/fired-over-same-sex-marriage-nj-teacher-sues-catholic-school.html
 
What is often rarely if ever mentioned by the press is the fact that when you go to work for a Catholic school you are working for a particular diocese. As such you are generally asked to be a representative of Catholic teachings in action and live a life that exemplifies these standards.

I used to work for my diocese for several years. There is usually some written agreement to the above, with some diocesan agreements being stricter than others. Depending on the directives of the bishop, employees are expected to live according to certain standards and promise to do so as part of their work contract or job description.

The Catholic Church isn’t against having homosexuals work for their organization. Normally the Church does not get involved in the private lives of its employees. But if your employment with a diocese came with this understanding (and I don’t know of any that don’t), you are pretty much promising to set an example which in many ways is a bit higher and demanding than that of average Catholics.

Marriage is a public declaration of a union, not a private one. It is performed before witnesses. When a person makes a public statement by words or deeds that is contrary to Church teaching, they state by such public actions that they are not in full communion with the Church and its teachings. When your job requires that you live such a life that witnesses to full agreement with the Church, such a same-sex marriage disqualifies a person from employment.

The situation, however, differs for a Catholic who is not an employee of the Church or who might be exercising their conscience in a manner that is not as conspicuous or far more discreet than a public declaration in full eyes of the law. This does not mean that the personal choice is any more or less morally acceptable under such circumstances. But the Church has a current stand on marriage. One cannot publicly declare by their words or deeds as Catholic doctrine that which is not. One who is an employee of a diocese agrees to live a public life that represents authentic Church teaching. When your public witness is a statement of what the Church believes by employment contract, you risk such employment when your public life becomes anything but.

For sake of argument, a homosexual in a committed relationship that is not public knowledge might not face that same loss of employment as one who gets married. (This is not to say such circumstances are allowed or disallowed by any particular diocese. This is just in reference on what can be legally argued.) The Church has even recently stated that it is seeking ways to include gays and lesbians into the Church in ways that keeps them from being unjustly marginalized. Becuase a heterosexual would also be released from employment for failing to live up to the same standards, the issue is not sexual orientation.

Yes, the issue could go further. But this is the basis for such releases. Unless such an agreement of living a public life in agreement with Catholic teaching was somehow less than generally explicit (and this can be a legal argument of its own if it is not detailed in writing), anyone who gets fired for failing to live up to certain public standards as a representative of the Church cannot win a claim that they unfairly lost their position. A contract has been broken.
 
Perhaps Catholic schools need to go back to having priests and nuns teaching and hiring ONLY Faithful, orthodox Catholics as coaches, etc.
 
jediliz said:
Perhaps Catholic schools need to go back to having priests and nuns teaching and hiring ONLY Faithful, orthodox Catholics as coaches, etc.
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This will eventually be what they will have to do, and this will have to be done sooner in more liberal states such as California where the state governments will be much less sympathetic to religious institutions. Unfortunately there are probably too few nuns and priests nowadays so they will probably have to restrict their hiring to Catholic lay employees.
 
Well this puts a tawdry spin on the situation:
The school found out about Drumgoole’s marriage when Vanore’s sister shared pictures from her wedding in private messages to the school’s Facebook page, the school’s alumni association page and Vail’s personal account on the social-networking site. Drumgoole said her sister-in-law sent the messages after arguing with Vanore.
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northjersey.com/news/typically-private-same-sex-couple-at-center-of-public-fight-with-paramus-catholic-1.1647816

Aside from that, this case should test how well the diocese has adjusted its employment policies in response to previous court cases, in particular the US Supreme Court case about ministerial exemption to discrimination laws.
Drumgoole “was not terminated because of her sexual orientation,” the motion says. “Instead, she was terminated for violating the Ministerial Policies and the Code of Ethics – in failing to abide by the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith, i.e. by entering into a same sex marriage.”
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In a certification filed with the court, Drumgoole said that her job never included religious instruction and that she believes her dismissal may be retaliatory because she notified school administrators that three 17-year-old students had been sexually abused by two Paramus Catholic employees who were chaperoning a trip to Europe in 2011.
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Drumgoole also says that several Paramus Catholic faculty members are divorced, at least one has a child out of wedlock, various employees cohabitate with members of the opposite sex, at least one other teacher is gay, and nude photographs of another teacher have been circulated online.
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northjersey.com/news/battle-lines-of-church-and-state-fired-over-same-sex-marriage-educator-sues-paramus-catholic-1.1647427

On the other hand, the school district needs to follow its own policies in all cases.
 
jediliz said:
Perhaps Catholic schools need to go back to having priests and nuns teaching and hiring ONLY Faithful, orthodox Catholics as coaches, etc.
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I agree but they would probably still be sued for discrimination!
 
Hatikvah said:
Wow. “Discrimination.” Yay, let’s play that card again! :rolleyes:
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Why in the world get a job in a Catholic school and sign to the fact you agree with to live the tenets of the Faith. She SHOUL be fired for she violated her contract. Good grief, find a public school to work in.
 
MaryT777 said:
Why in the world get a job in a Catholic school and sign to the fact you agree with to live the tenets of the Faith. She SHOUL be fired for she violated her contract. Good grief, find a public school to work in.
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She is a graduate of that school. My sense (I may be wrong) is that many lay teachers at Catholic schools have previously attended as students at the same place.
 
CeelosDeznos said:
For sake of argument, a homosexual in a committed relationship that is not public knowledge might not face that same loss of employment as one who gets married. (This is not to say such circumstances are allowed or disallowed by any particular diocese. This is just in reference on what can be legally argued.) The Church has even recently stated that it is seeking ways to include gays and lesbians into the Church in ways that keeps them from being unjustly marginalized. Becuase a heterosexual would also be released from employment for failing to live up to the same standards, the issue is not sexual orientation.
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It seems Ms. Drumgoogle is challenging the idea that a “heterosexual would also be released from employment” per both the report quoted below, and other news reports I have come across.
Ojo_Feliz said:
northjersey.com/news/battle-lines-of-church-and-state-fired-over-same-sex-marriage-educator-sues-paramus-catholic-1.1647427

On the other hand, the school district needs to follow its own policies in all cases.
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Since for some reason the original quotes in Ojo Feliz’s post did not make it through, here is what I think will be the main argument for the plaintiff, that the school DID treated her unfairly compared to others in similar situations and therefore DID discriminate unfairly. She is also claiming she was fired for retaliatory reasons:
Drumgoole “was not terminated because of her sexual orientation,” the motion says. “Instead, she was terminated for violating the Ministerial Policies and the Code of Ethics – in failing to abide by the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith, i.e. by entering into a same sex marriage.”
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In a certification filed with the court, Drumgoole said that her job never included religious instruction and that she believes her dismissal may be retaliatory because she notified school administrators that three 17-year-old students had been sexually abused by two Paramus Catholic employees who were chaperoning a trip to Europe in 2011.
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Drumgoole also says that several Paramus Catholic faculty members are divorced, at least one has a child out of wedlock, various employees cohabitate with members of the opposite sex, at least one other teacher is gay, and nude photographs of another teacher have been circulated online.
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Now, I do realize that civil divorce is NOT actually against Catholic teaching, neither is having a child out of wedlock. However, some of the other examples do seem to be those of ongoing public kind. She may have a case there.
 
The school’s decision to fire her is justified. She did not represent Church teachings. The school wants their employees to represent Church teachings. Would the left want to force a Muslim school to keep a lesbian employee?
 
_Abyssinia said:
LETTER: Catholic school justified in firing

mycentraljersey.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/09/01/catholic-school-justified-firing/89731240/

From Archbishop John Myers
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Thanks for the link, FYI for other posters it is behind a semi-paywall (you can access a certain number of articles free before they ask you to pay).

Anyway, I think the interesting part of the Archbishop’s letter is here:
In recent days, there has been much media reporting regarding a guidance counselor at Paramus Catholic who was terminated when it was learned that she was involved in a same-sex union. In our Catholic faith, marriage is between a man and a woman. A same-sex union violates the tenets of the Catholic faith.
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Every religious organization has the right to promote and define its own identity, mission and message. Every religious organization has the right to ensure that people in that religious organization support and promote its beliefs and teachings. When someone involved in Catholic education ministry offers a public counter-witness to Catholic teaching, he or she does not teach the Truth or further the mission of the Church. Such actions can create confusion and uncertainty in the moral formation of the young people he or she encounters. When that happens, the Church must be free to take corrective steps to maintain the identity and the integrity of her mission. This right is protected by the United States Constitution as well as federal and state law
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If Ms. Drumgoogle is indeed a “guidance counselor” herself and not just an administrator who supervises counselors, then, at least based on the role guidance counselors played when I was in school, certainly I can see the risk that her same-sex union “can create confusion and uncertainty in the moral formation of the young people he or she encounters”.

Here’s another quote:
Every person deserves to be treated with dignity, to be given respect, and to be shown the qualities of mercy. For decades I have taught and written that the Church welcomes everyone and invites everyone to participate in the life of the Church to the degree that they honestly can, while sincerely respecting the teachings of the Church. The invitation to join in the life of the Church does not include an invitation to alter or redefine what the Church believes and teaches, nor is it an invitation to allow others to define the identity, mission and message of the Church.
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It seems there was a real concern that Ms. Drumgoogle would, or already was, teaching students that same-sex marriage was a good thing. As opposed to, say, a math teacher who was struggling with sexual sin but would never dream of telling his students that, say, using porn or having sex with your fiancée was okay.
 
I am not Catholic but I understand the schools choice and agree, But can someone educate me as to why local churches do not deny communion to people who openly support gay marriage and abortion? Especially to politicians who publicly do this week in and out and still receive communion every week. I just dont get it, Shouldn’t they be denied until they come back to the faith and its teachings? I know here in my small town there is only one Catholic Church and it is so openly liberal you would think they where in the city of Sodom. I just dont understand how the Church allows this to happen without taking action.
 
MaryT777 said:
Why in the world get a job in a Catholic school and sign to the fact you agree with to live the tenets of the Faith. She SHOUL be fired for she violated her contract. Good grief, find a public school to work in.
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I know. My thought too. There are plenty of public schools that gladly ridicule, condemn, bash, and trash the Catholic faith, or any religion for that matter. I wish they would leave their extremist agenda out of the Catholic faith and just leave us alone.
 
Either this teacher isn’t too bright and forgot that she was teaching at a Catholic institution or she thinks that it doesn’t matter.

Chalk this one up as a false “here is proof of how the LGBT are discriminated in America.” You dug your own grave, Ms. Teacher.
 
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