John J. Myers, the Archbishop of
Newark, has suspended an out priest for expressing support for a
lesbian who was fired for being in a marriage with another woman.
The Rev. Warren Hall told the Religious
News Service (RNS) that he was suspended for expressing support
for a former employee at Paramus Catholic High School who is suing
the school.
Kate Drumgoole, the school's former
dean of guidance and basketball coach, married Jaclyn Vanore in 2014.
The school fired her in January after photos of her wedding appeared
on Facebook. The school insists Drumgoole was let go not because
she's gay, but because she's in a marriage with another woman.
Myers defended the firing in a
statement released last week.
“A same-sex union violates the tenets
of the Catholic faith,” he wrote. “When that happens, the Church
must be free to take corrective steps to maintain the identity and
the integrity of her mission. … Such actions can create confusion
and uncertainty in the moral formation of the young people he or she
encounter.”
Hall, who was working at a church in
Hoboken, said that the suspension means that he cannot hold Mass in
public or present himself as a priest and is barred from working in
the New Jersey churches where he was serving.
“The problem is that we have an
archbishop who doesn't believe you can be gay and Catholic,” Hall
told RNS.