DO THE RIGHT THING

Ass’t Principal At Catholic School Chooses Marriage Equality Over Job

mike moroskiAn assistant principal at a Catholic school in Cincinnati says he doesn’t regret supporting same-sex marriage on his blog, even though it will likely cost him his job.

Mike Moroski of Purcell Marian High School says the Archdiocese of Cincinnati placed him on administrative leave on February 4 and plans to terminate his position.

“I believe in Catholicism,” says Moroski. “But my conscience will not permit me to recant my statement. I put it up there because I really truly honestly believe it. I’m absolutely willing to lose my job over this. The only difficult thing for me now is the students.”

On January 27, Moroski published on his personal blog a post titled “Choose your battles”:

“I unabashedly believe that gay people should be allowed to marry. Ethically, morally and legally I believe this.

I spend a lot of my life trying to live as a Christian example of love for others, and my formation at Catholic grade school, high school, three Catholic universities and employment at two Catholic high schools has informed my conscience to believe that gay marriage is not something of which to be afraid.”

Moroski, 34, is heterosexual and acknowledges that his pro-marriage-equality statement technically violates the Archdiocese’s policy on social media, which requires employees to “comply with and act consistently in accordance with the stated philosophy and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.”

But even parents at the school think a teacher has a right to an opinion. “I think it’s unfair that a person cannot speak his mind on his own personal blog,” said one parent at Purcell Marian. “I think that’s closed-minded.”

This isn’t the first public battle the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has been in with staffers who veered from official church policy: In 2009, a nun was suspended for publicly supporting the ordination of women. And in 2010, a female staffer sued the Archdiocese for being fired after she became pregnant by artificial insemination out of wedlock.

Moroski, who is currently finishing his MBA at the University of Notre Dame, plans to run for Cincinnati City Council in the future.

He has our vote. Yeah, okay, we can’t vote in local Ohio elections, but you know what we mean.

 

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