Lori Higgins and Ann Zaniewski

The letter didn%27t specifically refer to the fired gay teacher%2C but it does refer to %22recent events.%22

The letter said when similar situations occur a team of consultants will work with the administration.

The IHMs will also meet with staff to %22further explore the meaning of Catholic identity.%22

The congregation of Catholic nuns that operates Marian High School have signaled they will re-examine policies that led to the controversial firing of a gay teacher who said she was let go because of her nontraditional pregnancy.

"Pope Francis has brought a sense of hope to our lives and encourages us to look at our Church with new eyes," Sister Mary Jane Herb, president of the Monroe-based Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, said in a letter to alums that was shared on a Facebook page created to support the fired teacher. "No, it is not likely that doctrine will change, however the Pope emphasizes that the values of mercy, inclusion and compassion need to be included in our response to complex situations."

The letter didn't specifically refer to Barbara Webb, who was a popular chemistry teacher at the all-girls Catholic school in Bloomfield Hills until she was fired in August.

Webb has told the Free Press that her termination letter did not give a reason for her dismissal, but previous conversations with administrators pointed to a morality clause allowing firing over public conduct of "lifestyle or actions directly contradictory to the Catholic faith."

Herb said in the letter that the IHM leadership council "will work with the Executive Committee of the Marian High School Board to re-examine policies and procedures in light of Catholic identity and IHM values."

"When situations such as the one that emerged recently occur, the IHM community will provide a team of consultants to work with the administration," Herb said.

On Tuesday, Webb, 33, said a member of the IHMs reached out to her last week and asked her to share the details about what happened.

When Webb read Herb's letter, she wasn't completely surprised.

"When I read it, I was happy," Webb said. "I was relieved that someone had responded. To me, it was a response for a positive outlook for change. … It just opens the door for a new conversation, and that's what I was hoping for from the beginning.

"It opens the door for change, and I think that's definitely the first step."

Webb, who lives in Madison Heights, now has a long-term substitute teaching position in metro Detroit.

The IHMs declined to issue a statement or make a comment Tuesday.

IHM sisters were the predominant teaching order in southeastern Michigan during the mid-century heyday of Catholic schools.

Webb's dismissal has clashed with the Monroe IHM sisters' track record of championing progressive Catholic causes.

They have been peace and justice advocates, purchased stock shares to challenge corporate directors at stockholders meeting and renovated the Monroe motherhouse for retired sisters as a model of environmental self-sufficiency.

The letter from Herb was a hot topic of discussion on the "I Stand With Barb Webb" Facebook page, with some applauding the response and others saying it didn't go far enough.

Webb's dismissal has sparked protests at the school, the creation of a website and a petition.

"It was nice to finally get some sort of response," said Hilary Levey Friedman, a 1998 Marian graduate and Webb supporter now living in Massachusetts. "The silence has been deafening from everyone associated with the dismissal, publicly from Marian High School and the IHM itself. The Archdiocese (of Detroit) did issue a short statement after the story broke, but they were basically washing their hands of the situation. … It's nice to feel like someone was listening."

"I think that it's opening the possibility of dialogue, and the possibility of future action," Friedman said.

That dialogue is important, said Amber Mazza Cunnings, a 2001 Marian graduate who lives in Farmington.

The letter, Cunnings said, "shows that they're willing to consider, to have a conversation and I think that's the most important thing ... They obviously deliberated on this for a while."

Cunnings is one of the people behind a crowdfunding campaign launched Tuesday on the website IndieGoGo to raise money for a diversity club and diversity and inclusivity training for Marian faculty and staff.

"We're looking for institutional change," Cunnings said.

Herb said in the letter that, in the future, the IHM leadership council, theologians and "others with expertise will provide various perspectives before a decision is made."

The council, she said, will "continue to support the ongoing efforts of the school administration to explore meeting the emerging needs of the students."

And finally, she said, "we will meet with the faculty and staff to further explore the meaning of Catholic identity and how this and the IHM values are lived out at the school.

"These are challenging times and times in which we feel that God's Spirit is working with us, encouraging us to respond to the signs of the times in new ways."

Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651, lhiggins@freepress.com or @LoriAHiggins. Patricia Montemurri contributed to this report.