That teacher who was fired because she got pregnant.
Obama's infamous statement about being punished with a baby came to mind after I read this story at Deacon Kandra's blog. The deacon suggests a better way the situation might have been handled here. Deacon Kandra is a good man.
The Montana diocese defended the decision to terminate the teacher, details here.
But it doesn't say much about being pro-life.
Update: What The normal Catholic response... should be.
I like the Catholic response link Terry. Totally agree. Also think that and this doesn't sound nice, but showing what the reality of being young, single and a mother is, instead of the romantic notions of what young people might think it is from TV (that horrible MTV show, 16 and pregnant I think???) could make a young person think twice much more then "esoteric," things like sin, morality and Catholic teaching can do....(all that doesn't stand a chance with young hormones...but hopefully thinking about getting "fat," and not getting to have carefree fun and the responsibility might...maybe, sorta...)
ReplyDeleteOn the face of it, this is an appalling story. I hope she sues her former employers and gets mega-bucks.
ReplyDeleteShe had the choice whether to continue with the pregnancy or not. She chose Life.
The employer had the choice whether to enforce the clause or not, and decide even if there had been a breach of the clause, what sanction if any to impose.
Do they really wish to influence an employee`s decision towards contraception and/or abortion ? By imposing this sanction do they think that they are going to stop unmarried women teachers having sex ?
Or perhaps they do not realise that in the next case,of an unmarried teacher who becomes pregnant will chose a quiet abortion rather than lose her job and suffer the public ignominy of being sacked and the loss of her career as a teacher ?
BTW I like the new format. It is really neat.
ReplyDeleteWTF are these people thinking by firing her???
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I jsut emailed the bishop of the diocese to tell him how awful this makes the Church look, and urged him to step in and reverse the decision. The irony is that this diocese has just announced bankruptcy protection for sexual abuse claims. Would that they had fired the predator-priests instead! I urge you all to write the bishop ( of Helena, Montana.)
ReplyDeleteThere must be more to this story. The article quoted from the Montana Standard says that she made a "willful decision to get pregnant." Then the article mentions that, “The Catholic moral teaching is that the sacrament of marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman,” I wonder why they would quote that if this is just a woman who is unmarried and pregnant?
ReplyDelete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteThere is an error in reasoning to say that when the Church points out that there are consequences for sin, it is the Church's fault when people continue to sin in even graver ways in order to hide what they're doing. Saying that someone else "made you do it" is something we all should have stopped doing by the time we were old enough for our first Confessions. Otherwise we would have all begun, "Bless me, Father, for all these horrible people made me sin . . ."
The discussion here might be appropriate if the unwed mother were employed as a secretary in the diocesan office, or perhaps in a number of other positions that don't involve students, but it is important to keep in mind the mission of a Catholic school. That mission is not merely to impart language arts, mathematics and science. An authentic Catholic school is about the complete formation of a child - a child who, it is hoped, grows in understanding of what it means to be a child of God, and who responds daily to a radical call to live a saintly life. Catholic values should permeate the atmosphere of the school and its curriculum. In this regard, it is crucial that teachers witness, in their personal and professional lives, what a faith-filled Catholic life means. One cannot teach what one does not know. To send a message in contradiction to Catholic teaching that sex outside of marriage is "OK" and something we, with cheap and easy Christian charity overlook, undermines the raison d'etre of the school, sends a destructive message to the students, and should cause parents to question why they are spending good money on a school that is no more counter-cultural than the local public school. Indeed, at one time public school teachers in this situation would have been fired for failing to serve as models of virtue. A Catholic school that refuses to insist that its teachers model Catholic values, should be closed.
ReplyDelete“The thought comes to me of the temptation, which perhaps we might have and that so many have, of connecting the proclamation of the Gospel with inquisitorial blows of condemnation. No, the Gospel is proclaimed with gentleness, with fraternity, with love.”
ReplyDelete- Pope Francis in a homily on Jan. 3 at the Church of the Gesu in Rome