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Students drape a statue of Bd. Marie-Rose DuRocher with LGBT paraphernalia (AP/Don Ryan)

PORTLAND, August 28, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - In protest of a Catholic school's rejection of a gay teacher, students draped LGBT paraphernalia on the statue of a beatified nun outside the building.

Saint Mary's Academy in Portland, Oregon came under fire this week because of its decision to rescind a job offer made to Lauren Brown after Brown revealed she'd be civilly marrying her female partner. The school issued a statement explaining the decision was owing "to a conflict with current Catholic teachings regarding same-sex marriage." Archbishop Alexander Sample of the Portland archdiocese publicly backed the school.

Outcry from students, parents and alumni was swift, however, and members of the school's LGBT club staged a public protest, creating signs, trinkets and a jersey with pro-gay colors and slogans. These were draped over a statue of Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, which established St. Mary's Academy in 1859.

According to one student, there are openly gay students who attend St. Mary's, and the school has evidently never had a problem with that.

After the public outcry, the school board convened Wednesday night and voted unanimously to revise its hiring policy to include sexual orientation among forbidden classes of discrimination.

And today, the President posted a letter on the school website expressing regret over its actions with regard to Brown.

We now recognize that our decision to rescind the job offer to Ms. Brown after we learned of her intent to enter into a same-sex marriage did not reflect St. Mary's mission and beliefs. ...



Today we met with Bishop Peter Smith at the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. A joint statement from St. Mary's Academy and the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon follows:



"The Archdiocese and St. Mary's Academy are in discussion regarding the recent policy change by the Board of Directors and committed to continued conversation."



This has been a difficult period for our community and we are committed to healing and to moving forward with transparency.



We are proud of our work preparing the next generation of women leaders for service and leadership. We remain deeply committed to our Catholic identity.

Technically, however, Brown was not fired over her sexual orientation but rather over her public actions: her intention to wed her lesbian partner and live openly in a same-sex "marriage" while working at a Catholic school, which would conflict with Catholic teaching.

Brown responded in a public statement:

This success shows that together we really can move mountains. I hope other places in the U.S. and around the world will take notice and feel encouraged by what happened here in Portland. We are all agents of change when we put forth the effort. ... I am glad to know that what I experienced will never happen again at St. Mary's, and I am overjoyed that the current LGBT staff members can now feel secure knowing they can be out at work.

She called the students who protested on her behalf "inspirational."

By Thursday the homosexual propaganda had been replaced by roses

and other flowers left on and around the base of the statue; students managed to

insert rainbow-colored carnations beneath the veil.

Blessed Marie-Rose was born Eulalie DuRocher in Montreal in 1811, the 10th of 11 children. After spending more than a decade working at her brother priest's parish, she — with the encouragement of the local bishop — founded the order of the Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie de Marseilles — the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary of Marseilles. She was 32 years old, and would live only six more years — most of them spent in hardship, toil, sickness and continual difficulties with a priest who publicly slandered the order.

DuRocher proved to be an intelligent leader with a strong will harnessed toward growth in sanctity and the well-being of her order. She was known to be severe towards herself and strict with her congregation, while exhibiting a great love for the crucified Savior.

As she lay dying on her bed, she frequently uttered the words "Jesus, Mary, Joseph! Sweet Jesus, I love you. Jesus, be to me Jesus!" Her last words were directed toward her sisters: "Your prayers are keeping me here — let me go." She died on October 6, 1849, at the age of 38, having left a community that already had 30 teachers, 14 novices and postulants, nearly 450 students and four convents.

She was beatified in 1982.

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