Discrimination or faithful standards?
A Catholic high school teacher sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis last week after his school fired him in June for being in a same-sex marriage. Joshua Payne-Elliott, who had taught social studies at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis for 13 years, filed a suit in Marion County court on July 10 alleging the archdiocese illegally interfered with his contractual relationship with the school. He also filed discrimination charges against the archdiocese with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Administrators at Cathedral told Payne-Elliott on June 23 they were firing him on the orders of the archdiocese, a month after the school renewed his annual teaching contract for the 2019-2020 school year. The suit claims Cathedral President Robert Bridges told Payne-Elliott the school made the decision “with a gun to our head.”
Payne-Elliott married Layton Payne-Elliott, a math teacher at nearby Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, in 2017. Church administrators also ordered Brebeuf to fire Layton Payne-Elliott earlier this year, but the school refused. The archdiocese in response said it no longer recognized the school as a Catholic institution. Because the Midwest Province of Jesuits oversees Brebeuf, the split has less of an effect on the school, while Cathedral depends heavily on support from the Catholic Church.
The archdiocese released a statement defending its decision and contending the U.S. Constitution allows religious organizations to define acceptable conduct for employees: “In the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ Catholic schools, all teachers, school leaders, and guidance counselors are ministers and witnesses of the faith, who are expected to uphold the teachings of the Church in their daily lives, both in and out of school.”
Joshua Payne-Elliott reached a separate and confidential settlement with Cathedral last week. —K.C.
Comments
JerryM
Posted: Fri, 07/19/2019 08:44 pmAn important article on the APAs continued efforts to normailsie sexual immorality. I am wondering why the second article does not use quotations around the word "married"? I would argue, without using quotations, World is contributing to the normalisation of same-sex "marriage" and is ceding to those who wish to redefine the concept of marriage.
Andy Knudsen
Posted: Fri, 07/19/2019 09:53 pmI think World stopped using the quotations a few years ago: https://world.wng.org/2013/04/in_all_the_noise_sounds_of_silence.
JerryM
Posted: Sat, 07/20/2019 09:36 amThanks for directing me to this article. I do not agree with the argument made by Mindy. As I read it, World's motivations are being "wearied" of using quotations and ceding to the now newly understood "cultural construct". She also makes what I would argue to be a false equlvalence comparing the use of "casual sex" (or casual "sex") without quotations to same-sex "marriage". Though immoral in the eyes of God, sex can be casual. Marriage, on the other hand, cannot possibly be anything but the union of a man and a woman. I would suggest World needs to not grow weary of doing good and continue to stand for the universal truth of marriage, not cede to the wider culture.
Ann Marshall
Posted: Sun, 07/21/2019 12:40 pmThank you, Andy Knudsen, for the link to that past column from Mindy Belz. I think her point is well taken that to forever add quotation marks to ssm begins to take on a snarky quality. Perhaps if we imagine Jesus using air quotes thusly: "scribes and Pharisees", we can get a feel for how much restraint is needed to our wish to talk down to those who oppose us.
SG
Posted: Sat, 07/20/2019 01:00 pmI agree with you, JerryM. It may be tiring to use quotes, but it keeps the issue clear.
Laneygirl
Posted: Sat, 07/20/2019 02:19 pmThanks, JerryM.!! I NEVER felt comfortable with World's decision to drop the quotation marks because it made somebody weary. Wow. The Scripture reminder from GA6.9 is on target!
The definition of marriage was dealt a man-made tectonic shift in the last presidency. With God out of the picture, it makes total sense to the unredeemed mind that any concoction of "marriage" is On. The. Table.
NEWS2ME
Posted: Sat, 07/20/2019 04:42 pmRe Polyamory: They will hold the gov't responsible for sexually transmitted diseases and for finding cures for whatever they share among "friends."
There are SO MANY SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES for women to get. Why isn't the gov't mandating education of diseases they can get during sex? Women have a lesser chance of getting pregnant than contracting something. And liberals have already come up with a "cure" for pregnancy.
NEWS2ME
Posted: Sat, 07/20/2019 04:40 pmPolyamory: reminds me of the mormon guy who had several wives, each of whom received welfare checks from the gov't. The guy didn't work.
NEWS2ME
Posted: Sat, 07/20/2019 04:53 pmDo people read these articles to discuss grammatical errors to throw people off about what is being said?
I put quotes around "cure" in my posting because maybe they were supposed to be there. I guess I thought it was understood that "cure" is sarcasm.
I'm not real savy about English grammar. I mostly just skip right over quotation marks and just read the message. Should I be focussing more on the grammar than the message?
As I understand it, commas are not used as often as they used to be. Is it because people read too fast and just glean the meaning of what people are saying. Or do I need to watch my commas as well as quotation marks? Quotes inside the end or outside the end?
I'm sorry what was the article about?
Judy Farrington
Posted: Sun, 07/21/2019 09:46 amPlease. All this stress on punctuation DIVERTS ATTENTION FROM THE VERY WELL STATED MESSAGE. Thanks, World, for an extremely well done article. Our knees best be hitting the floor.
JerryM
Posted: Sun, 07/21/2019 06:42 pmI wholeheartedly agree with your point about the importance of prayer. Can I please say that we need to engage with this issue both in the spirit and with the truth (with the use of quotations falling under the latter). If you want a book to reference on why quotations are so important to conveying truth, there are many, but here is one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8600.Eats_Shoots_Leaves.
burningheart
Posted: Sun, 07/21/2019 10:46 pmJesus said that blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness and that they shall be filled. He did not say that we should hunger and thirst for morality. The one who is filled with His righteousness will live out a moral life regardless of what the SOGI (Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity) people do, promote, or attempt to legalize.
-- ron