Eastside Catholic and Mr Z...and Ms M (updated)

Well, another purge in the Roman Catholic church of a married gay teacher--this time at Eastside Catholic, in Sammamish, WA , hasn't quite gone as planned.  The students have done a series of walk-outs and protests (gotta love these young Catholics!) .  They aren't letting this go.

And the fired teacher (vice principal, actually) has reported in an interview that the principal offered him his job back-- and a commitment ceremony -- if he got a divorce.

“Apparently the fact that I have a same-sex partner and (am) having a same-sex marriage . . . they are against that,...But I also thought another teaching they were against was divorce. I’m a little shocked that was even on the table to have me keep my job. They also offered for me to have a commitment ceremony if I were willing to get a divorce.”

As Andrew Sullivan writes,

What does it say about the twisted, absurd view of homosexual persons that the Catholic Church should demand that they divorce their spouses as a condition of working for a Catholic organization? It tells you so much. What the church is saying by this is that homosexuals should be punished for constructing stable, committed relationships of mutual care and support. If they stay single or have some kind of down-low commitment ceremony, all will be ignored.

And, lest you think this is going to die down.... another teacher at the same school has announced that she's going to marry her partner, another woman.

Today, she will wear her engagement ring to school. 

“Either I’ll be fired or the students will say, ‘right on,’” Merrow told local radio station KIRO-FM, according to KING 5 News. 

“It doesn’t matter if I get fired, I want (students) to know that I think what they did was incredible and if anything changes, it’s going to be because of this next generation,” Merrow added. 

She also spoke about the firing of Vice Principal Zmuda. 

“They’re not firing people who are straight that are doing things that aren’t Catholic,” she said, “They’re just firing Mark.”

Yes the smell of hypocrisy is rather strong. And they wonder why young Catholics leave.

More on previous purges here.

Update: The lesbian teacher is actually a part-time vocal coach. Her contract doesn't require her to abide by Catholic teaching. 

Merrow, who is not a teacher at Eastside Catholic and works only on the school musical, said she has not been impressed by the school's handling of Zmuda and wonders if she might be treated differently because she didn't sign the same teacher contract as he did. 

Her employment agreement was narrow in scope and didn't discuss following Catholic teachings on issues like gay marriage, she said.