The Archdiocese of Seattle has defended
a Catholic high school's decision to fire a gay vice principal who
married.
Mark “Mr. Z” Zmuda lost his job as
vice principal at Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish,
Washington on December 18 after school officials learned that Zmuda
married his longtime partner over the summer.
Students rallied to Zmuda's side,
launching a campaign calling for school administrators to reconsider
their decision.
On Wednesday, supporters delivered a
petition signed by more than 20,000 Christians.
“Please listen to the students at
Eastside Catholic and reinstate their vice principal,” the petition
reads. “If Pope Francis says he won't judge gays and lesbians, you
shouldn't be firing them.”
Greg Magnoni, director of
communications for the Archdiocese of Seattle, met with the crowd of
supporters who had gathered to deliver the petition addressed to
Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who has previously expressed his
opposition to marriage equality.
(Related: Bishop
Peter Sartain claims gay marriage would harm society “beyond
repair.”)
“Catholic schools have a right to
expect that school leaders will not only pass on Catholic teaching,
but model it for students,” Magnoni told the crowd. “Mr. Zmuda's
decision presented the school with a difficult challenge; one that
required a lot of reflection and prayer.”
In a written statement, Sartain
defended the school's decision to terminate Zmuda.
“Catholic teaching in all its breadth
is the hallmark of Catholic schools and we have a right and
responsibility to help them uphold their principles and traditions,”
Sartain
said.
“Leaders of Catholic schools are
charged with the responsibility of both imparting and modeling our
teaching. The recent personnel decision by the board and
administrators at Eastside Catholic regarding Mr. Zmuda was made
after a great deal of prayer and consultation. In no way was their
goal to be discriminatory to anyone but to be faithful to their
mission as a Catholic school. The Archdiocese supports their
decision. The decision has been misunderstood and mischaracterized
by some, and we now have an opportunity to help our students learn
even more about Catholic teaching.”