Michigan music director is fired over same-sex marriage
NewsFred Szczepanski was preparing to retire as music director of St. Francis Catholic Church in Traverse City, Michigan, when a new priest discovered he had entered a same-sex marriage with his partner four years ago.
The Roman Catholic Church does not approve of gay marriage.
Fred, who had led services for 35 years, was sacked.
The couple have put up a GoFundMe page to assist with financial need.
The linked Detroit News article says that the church administration acted “after receiving a letter from an unnamed person.” In the vernacular, I believe this is called a snitch. An informer. And perhaps someone with an axe to grind, doing this to a church music director just months from retirement.
The diocese is reported to have said that it can’t discuss this “personnel matter” because “We take employee privacy very seriously.” But obviously not so seriously as to leave the man’s own marriage private and not so seriously as to avoid embarrassing him in front of the congregation for . . . doing nothing that harmed anyone else.
All true but can one blame the church for enforcing their rules?
Why not?
Are their rules not open to criticism?
One is, perhaps, not *surpised* that they enforce their rules, but that doesn’t mean that one has to say that it was fine and dandy nfor them to do so.
Yes.
Had he only been a pedophile priest, he could have been shipped off to an all-paid retirement. But the Church does have standards, after all.
The position of the Roman Catholic Church on same-sex marriage goes far beyond “does not approve.” It is a matter of doctrine.
I assume Mr. Szczepanski is a Catholic, though it is not a given — his position would not require it. If so, he knows exactly what he has done, and the consequences.
If he is not Catholic, it is a vexed question. But to work for an institution of the sort of a Church, it would seem likely that it was made clear that activity inconsistent with the Church’s beliefs would not be permissible. People are dismissed from institutions over their social media postings.
People are entitled to their own views on these matters. But to flout such a major position of your employer is to court trouble. There is not a court in the land that would take Mr. Szczepanski ‘s side if this matter were disputed; I suspect it is not because he has sought crowd-funding.
I equally suspect that if Mr. Szczepanski and his other half were to have continued to live together quietly, a blind eye would have been turned. But to enter marriage, which is a sacrament within the Church, is a pretty hostile act. It says to the employer, sod you and all you stand for. Not a very comfortable position for co-workers.
I hear there is music work available at Winchester…
I was at a Benedictine monastery school at which “activity inconsistent with the Church’s beliefs” was institutionalized.
Mercifully, I was not pretty enough to suffer sexual abuse. I was ‘lucky’ simply to be flogged mercilessly for the flimsiest of reasons.
Lind writes: “There is not a court in the land that would take Mr. Szczepanski ‘s side if this matter were disputed”
Err. That is not completely clear. Mr. Szczepanski could, for instance, argue that his personal life did not affect his ability to perform his job. The church would have to argue his personal life was relevant to his job. Unless it has been tested in court, it really isn’t clear who would win; and it might depend on the exact circumstances of the case.
How so very Christian from them. Too bad that he is gay and not a pedophile, in that case he would have gotten his pension.
“It says to the employer, sod you and all you stand for.”
Does it really say that? Does it really say sod *all* the church stands for? What if, for instance, they are eager supporters of RC aid schemes for the poor–are they saying sod *that*?
As I said above, people have their own views on gay marriage.(Mine is that it’s legal). But before everyone goes ape on the Catholic Church, it’s not their leader, or even leader in England, who had to resign today.
Is your reasoning this, that because the head of the CofE has behaved badly, no-one is entitled to criticise the RC church? Do you mean that there can ionly be one bad thing in the world at any given time?
Oh, and that same-sex marriage is legal is not a “view”. It is a plain fact about the legal situation in many countries.
As I said. Doesn’t stop a lot of people opposing it, even where it is legal, and it is not legal in an awful lot of places. Including, as far as I know, in some of the states of the USA.
I never denied that a lot of people oppose it. I never denied that it is not legal in a lot of places. That doesn’t mean that we can’t criticise the RC Church *as well as* the Anglican. You seemed to suggest otherwise. And it’s still not a “view” that same-sex marriage is legal in many places.
You are mistaken. On June 26th, 2015 the US Supreme Court struck down all state bans on gay marriage. Gay marriage is legal in all 50 states and states are required to honor marriages performed in other states.
“Religions are not just useless; they are harmful.”
message issued in december 2023:
Pope Francis has agreed to priests blessing same-sex relationships. In a statement from the Vatican explaining this change of course, he says that people who want their relationship to be confirmed by God’s blessing should not be subjected to an “exhaustive” moral examination.
The statement emphasizes that this blessing is different from a church wedding, in which the partners must be husband and wife. The introduction of the blessing for same-sex partners does not mean that the church approves of such relationships. Nor is the ceremony in which a priest blesses a couple supposed to resemble a marriage ceremony.
In the Catholic Church, divorce is not possible, and neither is remarriage. Catholics who are legally divorced and then remarry can have the union with their new life partner confirmed with the same blessing.
“A blessing offers people a way to strengthen their trust in God,” the pope says in the letter announcing the decision. “A request to receive a blessing shows that one is opening oneself to the transcendence, grace and closeness of God, and that is no small thing in the world in which we live. It is the seed of the Holy Spirit, which must be nourished and not thwarted.”
and
The issue is ‘Fiducia supplicans’, a statement of principles published by the Vatican on Monday. It states that Catholic clergy may now “bless couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples”. According to the statement, people seeking God’s love and grace should not be subjected to “an exhaustive moral analysis in order to receive it”.
The Catholic Church is a human-created, human-operated, narcissistic, imperious, bullying institution that hijacked Jesus and St. Peter to give themselves credibility. Brainwashing the gullible is their primary means of survival. How dare they appoint themselves as guardians of human sexuality!