School Stripped of Catholic Title After Refusing to Fire LGBTQ Teacher

Too many religious schools make headlines for firing LGBTQ teachers, or forcing them to quit, or even just making them feel unwelcome and unable to be casually open about their family lives with their students in the way heterosexual teachers are able to take for granted.

But a Jesuit high school in Indiana just flipped the script.

Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, an Indianapolis high school that was previously associated with the Catholic church, just had their ability to call themselves Catholic revoked after refusing to fire an LGBTQ teacher.

“Brebeuf Jesuit has respectfully declined the Archdiocese’s insistence and directive that we dismiss a highly capable and qualified teacher due to the teacher being a spouse within a civilly-recognized same-sex marriage,” said a statement issued by the school.

An important message for the Brebeuf Jesuit community. #BeBrave https://t.co/5sCCr1ZST3 — Brebeuf Jesuit (@BrebeufJesuit) June 20, 2019

The archdiocese appears to have insisted that all teachers employed by the school must fully abide by the teachings of the Catholic Church both in the school setting and at home, which includes the idea that “homosexual acts” are against God.

As the school disagreed, it was decreed that they “no longer retain Catholic identity.”

“Regrettably, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School has freely chosen not to enter into such agreements that protect the important ministry of communicating the fullness of Catholic teaching to students,” the archdiocese said in a statement on Thursday, specifying that Brebeuf Jesuit is now no longer recognized as a Catholic institution.

But the school is not backing down, insisting that they are, and always will be, a Catholic school, regardless of official recognition.

And though they intend to appeal the archdiocese’s decision, they currently have no intention of changing their stance on employing LGBTQ faculty.