Thursday, May 11, 2006

Going gynecological

Catholic schools just can't help themselves: After a New York-area school fired one unmarried teacher for getting pregnant while on the job, and a New Jersey school another for fathering a child out of wedlock, the Appleton Catholic school district has now fired a woman for getting fertility treatments. Kelly Romenesko, who taught middle-school French at two Catholic schools, evidently told a principal that she would be absent to complete an in vitro procedure. After she became pregnant with twins, the district fired her, presumably for using a procedure condemned by the church. One wonders why they didn't warn her beforehand.

Note to self: Don't tell employer--Catholic or otherwise--anything about personal medical procedures.

Still, how far is this going to go? What if a school somehow finds out a married teacher is using birth control pills? That the phys-ed teacher had a vasectomy? That the religion teacher is gay?

Even employees of Catholic institutions have some right to and presumption of privacy. Maybe Ms. Romenesko's mistake was telling the principal what exact procedure she was having, but in her defense, she may have felt obligated to give a complete explanation of her absence. Still, I imagine if every secret of this nature came to light, Catholic institutions would have to fire all their employees, right up to the bishop!

1 Comments:

At 1:26 PM, Blogger Mary Anne said...

Maybe some of the reasons for the schools acting in this manner has to do with Catholic parents, who are paying for their children to get a good CATHOLIC education, and are sick and tired of having others' OPINIONS and DISAGREEMENTS about the Church shoved down their throats.

As far as the "elitist" rich people go, who use Catholic schools for prestige, let them find another school to fit their expensive tastes. Fulfilling elitist needs is not the mission of the Church, and shouldn't be the mission of Catholic schools.

As far as these people themselves go, God love them, and He does love them infinitely. I certainly wish them no harm, and have seen plenty of it all in my own background. But the MISSION of the Church, and Catholic schools, is different than the goings-on in the world. The mission of the Church is to deepen one's understanding and convictions about right and wrong, as taught by Jesus Christ through the Church, and that cannot be done when the teachers themselves don't know or care.

On another note, I would agree with you about school officials being too harsh with someone's girlfriend turning up pregnant, when abortion and birth control users are most likely getting away with what they are doing. It does seem a bit hypocritical.

Using invitro fertilization, though, would most likely require the belief in it. It's not really about weakness. I do not think it should be tolerated at all.

 

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