INDIANAPOLIS — A private high school in Indianapolis is firing an educator to avoid having its ties cut with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis Star reports Cathedral High School announced Sunday it’s terminating a gay teacher to avoid a split with the archdiocese, which last week stripped Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School of its Catholic identity over its decision to employ a teacher in a same-sex marriage.
Cathedral’s decision was explained in a letter on the school’s website.
The letter says the archdiocese made it clear that keeping the teacher “would result in forfeiting our Catholic identity due to our employment of an individual living in contradiction to Catholic teaching on marriage.”
“Cathedral has been a Catholic school for the past 100 years and our Catholic faith is at the core of who we are and what we teach at Cathedral,” the statement says.
“We are committed to educating our students in the tenets of the Catholic faith with an emphasis on the Holy Cross tradition. For every Catholic, the celebration of the Sacraments is central to the life of faith. Similarly, as a Catholic community, the celebration of the Sacraments is essential for Cathedral. Therefore, in order to remain a Catholic Holy Cross School, Cathedral must follow the direct guidance given to us by Archbishop Thompson and separate from the teacher.”
Cathedral is affiliated with The Brothers of the Holy Cross, but relies more heavily than Brebeuf on the archdiocese.
“Brebeuf is sponsored by the Jesuits while Cathedral is merely affiliated with The Brothers of Holy Cross. Because Brebeuf is a specific ministry of the Jesuits, their canonical and nonprofit status is different than ours. Therefore, the two schools cannot function the same way if Cathedral were to receive a similar decree as Brebeuf,” the letter explains.
The high school notes in “today’s climate” being Catholic can be challenging, “and we hope that this action does not dishearten you, and, most especially, dishearten Cathedral’s young people.”
“We know that some individuals do not agree with every teaching of the Catholic Church and so their conscience struggles between the teaching and what they believe is right. We want you to know that we respect an individual’s conflict between teaching and their conscience. We will continue to educate and root our students in the fullness of the Catholic faith with an emphasis on the Holy Cross tradition,” the statement says.
Crux staff contributed to this report.
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