Protest Over Catholic School Dean's Firing Goes Both Ways

"Enough with the mock outrage, already. It's the Catholic Church!" So wrote a reader upon hearing about Christine Judd, the long-serving and beloved Dean who was ousted from Springfield, Massachusetts' Cathedral High School for marrying her longtime lesbian lover last summer. She was given a decision: resign or be fired. She chose the former.

The aforementioned reader's reaction wasn't the only exhibition of anger of the infuriating news, nor does it come out of the blue: there has been a spate of gay-related discrimination at Catholic Schools in the recent past, and the church has led the way in damning same-sex love.

It's only natural that LGBT people would feel a bit bitter about the church and other prejudiced religious institutions. The fact of the matter is, however, that this knee-jerk reaction does a disservice to pious people who fight for gay rights with the same gusto as the most progressive atheist.

The Springfield diocese defended Judd's firing by pointing to her private life, which, of course, they claim doesn't mesh with the Catholic Church's biblical doctrine. "She undertook activities this past summer, regardless of what those activities are quite frankly, that were violation to an agreement she freely entered with the diocese," said spokesman Mark DuPont.

DuPont's is a familiar excuse, one we've heard around the nation, like in Colorado and Massachusetts, where students were booted from schools over their LGBT parents. Though it's tempting to lump the entire church, and by extension all Catholics, into this prohibitive camp, that's simply not the case.

Dozens of students and parents took to the streets outside Cathedral High Sunday to protest Judd's forced resignation. "When I found she was terminated and I found why she was terminated, I was outraged and disgusted with the decision that was made," said student Martin Boyle. "They have people working for them who are divorced... They have students who go to the school who are pregnant, and they don't make them leave, so why should they choose to act on those principles now?"

While some readers would suggest parents pull their kids from Cathedral, Mari Anne Winters, whose children go to Cathedral, insisted the Catholic Church can lead people down the right, progressive path. "I was raised Catholic and I am an activist out of that Catholic tradition," she said. "I learned through my Catholic faith that if you see someone is experiencing injustice or feeling oppressed, who's experiencing any kind of discrimination, that it's part of my faith its part of my religion to stand up for them."

The Catholic Church has done some terrible things in the past, to gays and other social groups. And, yes, the hierarchy at the Vatican and around the world continue to press discriminatory policies. That does not mean, however, that all Catholics are bad, nor that the Church itself should be demolished, because clearly there are indeed Catholic activists who stand by our side, and they're helping raise a new generation of Americans, like Boyle, that seem determined to change the Church's mind, once and for all.

Photo credit: Danny.Hammontree's Flickr