No doubt a lawsuit is on the way.
Oregon Live: St. Mary’s Academy in downtown Portland rescinded a job offer to an academic counselor after learning the 27-year-old woman is gay.
Lauren Brown
Lauren Brown said the private Roman Catholic school in late July pulled its offer for a college counseling position after she told an administrator about her sexual orientation. Willamette Week reported late Tuesday that Brown was offered a year’s salary to withdraw from consideration and to keep quiet about it.
Christina Friedhoff, president of the all-girls school, acknowledged the situation in a letter sent home to parents Tuesday. “St. Mary’s is grounded in the Catholic religion,” Friedhoff wrote. “We ask that the faculty and staff support and nurture the Catholic identity, practice, culture and mission on which we were founded.”
“We understand that others may hold different values, and we respect the right of individuals in society to do so. At the same time, as a Catholic high school, we are obligated to follow our current Catholic teachings regarding same-sex marriage in our employment practices.”
She notes that the school’s board of directors and the schools founders, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, support the decision. The Catholic Sentinel, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland, reported that Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample also supports the school’s actions.
“We expect that given certain reassurances by the federal government in the wake of the recent Supreme Court ruling making ‘same-sex unions’ the law of the land, our religious liberty would be protected in this case as well as any future cases of this sort,” the archbishop said in a statement.
Friedhoff asked parents to pray for the school, which she said will experience a “difficult time” given the public attention the decision has generated. The school, which traces its roots back to 1859, has about 700 students. Classes for the upcoming academic year are scheduled to begin next week.
The school’s usually lively Facebook page and Twitter feed have both been suspended. The school’s website continues to link to the pages, though they show all content is unavailable.
Meanwhile, St. Mary’s students and alumni upset by school administrators’ actions have taken to social media to express their outrage. On Twitter, they are using the #FightForSMA hashtag.
DCG