Should gay teachers conduct their lives according to all the teachings of the Church and face the sack if they don’t? That’s the question convulsing American Catholic schools, writes Michael Sean Winters

THE most prominent battle line in the culture wars is increasingly clear: how do the rights of those in same-sex marriages conflict with religious liberty rights? The forced resignation of two gay teachers, Michelle Beattie and Paul Danforth, from Kennedy Catholic High School in suburban Seattle, once it became known they planned to enter into same-sex marriages, is just the latest instance of a struggle with no end in sight.

Last month, hundreds of students walked out of their classrooms to protest against the departure of the two popular teachers. Some carried signs that read “Pray the hate away”, a spoof on the discredited theory popular in some conservative evangelical churches that one can “pray away the gay”.

Archbishop Paul Etienne, who was installed last April, has expressed mixed feelings about the decision. Calling the situation “delicate and difficult”, he quoted Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia: “The Church makes her own the attitude of the Lord Jesus, who offers his boundless love to each person without exception … This applies to all individuals, whether they are Catholic or of another faith, or even of no faith. It is true for persons of all walks of life, of every race – in short, all of humankind. Within the family of God, all are welcome, and all are loved.”