The Denver Archdiocese has defended a Catholic school after it fired a teacher for being in a same-sex relationship.
Maggie Barton was a technology and media teacher at All Souls Catholic School in Englewood, Colorado for six years before being terminated on 25 January after the Archdiocese of Denver conducted an “investigation” and found a picture of her kissing another woman, Colorado Public Radio reported.
Ms Barton was then asked by an Archdiocese official whether she was in a same-sex relationship, which she confirmed. She was fired the next day.
“He was asking me a lot of questions about my understanding of the Catholic faith and if I was aware of the church’s position on same-sex attraction and all that kind of stuff,” Ms Barton told CPR. “It was a very uncomfortable conversation. That was the only correspondence that I had with the Archdiocese directly.”
In a statement issued on Friday, the Archdiocese defended the decision to fire Ms Barton because “she intend[ed] to persist in violating [of] the standards she previously agreed to uphold”.
“That a Catholic school employee experiences same-sex attraction in itself is not a cause for termination. However, all Catholic school employees in the Archdiocese of Denver are expected to abide by the terms of the agreement they signed and commitments they make, including the duties that are quoted above,” the statement continued.
“It is a promise to our parents that their children will receive an authentic and fully Catholic education. It would be unjust for a school to present itself as a Catholic school and not offer a Catholic education.”
Ms Barton said that her termination had an impact on the way she professed her faith. She told CPR that while she used to attend weekly Mass and play the guitar with the kids’ choir, lately it has been difficult to navigate her feelings.
“I think it’s important to kind of get this narrative out there because I know that choosing to work in a Catholic school as a lesbian, as someone within the queer community, might not make sense to everybody,” she said. “The reason why I did that is because of my faith. To feel my own faith being weaponized against me in this way, to be terminated and to lose this position is, it’s heartbreaking.”
Parents of the school have since created a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for Ms Barton.
At the time of writing, the page set up by parent Kathy Weisbrod had raised over $25,000.
“[She] brightened the lives of hundreds of students over her 6 years teaching,” the description reads. “...[Parents] want to help Maggie in some small way so that finances are not causing stress at this time in her life. We’re hoping to help bridge the gap till Ms. Barton finds the next step in her career.”
