“Catholic Teacher Can Pursue Suing Diocese”
A major victory in court Wednesday for a former Xavier High School teacher in her legal battle against the Green Bay Catholic Diocese.
Three years ago, Kelly Romenesko was fired after she used in vitro fertilization to get pregnant. She says she was told that violated her employee contract to uphold Catholic values.
Her complaint is not with church policy. Romenesko alleges male employees with the diocese used in vitro fertilization to have children and were not fired.
Her lawyer says their dispute is not with the Church’s teachings or even the policy that teachers must not publicly violate them, but that it must be applied equally to both men and women. I’d have to agree on that. Just because the effects of the action are more visible for the woman doesn’t make her actions worse than the man’s.
I recall a disturbing trend some years ago among a group of very devout young adults who shunned a young woman among them who’d gotten pregnant out of wedlock, while the young man suffered virtually no consequences. Why? Because he didn’t have to carry around a visible sign of his sin?
For all that we claim to be pro-life and that we love the sinner and hate the sin, sometimes we need to do a better job of being consistent about how we live that message.
I should point out that the diocese says that the claim that it singles out women and not men is not true:
Bishop David Zubik denied the claim that the former teacher was singled out.
“Any kind of a situation of this nature, whether it be a woman or a man, would be treated the same. It’s a matter of taking a look at not only the in vitro fertilization but supporting the teachings of the Catholic church, because anybody who is an employee of the Catholic church is representing what the church teaches.”
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