13 February 2014, The Tablet

Unwed pregnant teacher fired from job at US Catholic school


A teacher at a Catholic middle school in Butte, Montana was fired after she became pregnant out of wedlock.

Shaela Evenson’s employment was terminated, according to school superintendent Patrick Haggerty because she “made a wilful decision to violate the terms of her contract.”

Most Catholic school contracts require teachers to live in accordance with church teachings.

“The Catholic moral teaching is that the sacrament of marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman,” Haggarty told the Associated Press. “And we certainly believe and we teach our children who attend our schools about the sacrament of marriage. That’s as old as our Church. Not only do we teach that to the children from kindergarten through to twelfth grade, but we're held to that standard as well.”

Writing at the blog Millenial, theologian Meghan Clark of St John’s University in New York said the dismissal harmed the Church’s pro-life witness.


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