Church Hypocrisy

Photo by Diana Vargas

“The disgust. The fear. The dislike of anyone who doesn’t conform to your simpleminded expectations of the world and how it should work”

                                                                                                               Deborah Harkness

                                                                                                                The Book of Life

A Federal Appeals Court ruled recently that a Catholic High School in Indianapolis was free to fire a Guidance Counselor because she was gay and performed at least some “religious duties”. Because we all know that people are incapable of simultaneously being gay and having faith. What I find sad is that there are probably scores of employees at Catholic schools around the country that have no faith at all. And I am sure that they are still performing “religious duties”. I would bet that there are priests that have little or no faith that are actually performing duties that they no longer believe in or support. So why was this woman fired? Simply because she was gay.

Shelly Fitzgerald was fired after 14 years of faithful service. The termination occurred after it was confirmed she was gay. The administration learned that she was married to another woman. Both sides are in open agreement that she was fired because of this. There is no use of terminology to gloss over the facts. Being gay is openly used as the reason. As much as we wish we were evolving, we are regressing.

Shelly Fitzgerald was not granted anti-discrimination protection because of something called “Ministerial exception”. This allows religious organizations to fire certain workers if they disagree with their beliefs. So, basically, Shelly Fitzgerald was fired for being human. It was not that she necessarily disagreed with the Church, it was because the Church, in its ignorance, disagreed with her,

Whenever we see these discriminatory practices rear their ugly head, we have to wonder what future ramifications are in store for us. Can this affect nurses and doctors at religious hospitals? As everyone should be considered God’s Children, how is this happening at all? And with the current mix of Justices on the Supreme Court, will we ever find justice in the near future? Rachel Lazer, part of Fitzgerald’s legal team and President of Americans United for Separation of Church and State sums up the situation when she says, “Another line of attack on basic Civil Rights.”