UPDATE::Catholic teacher backs gay son, quits to protest contract

The "first" casualty of the Catholic teachers-as-ministers clause:

Veteran Catholic teacher Molly Shumate stared at the Cincinnati Archdiocese contract for next school year and thought of her son.

She remembered when a nervous Zachery Shumate, a teenager at the time, approached her and revealed his homosexuality.

His revelation prompted the first-grade teacher to give him a hug, telling her boy she would always love and support him.

So when the new teachers' contract – strictly forbidding public support of homosexuality – was handed to her earlier this year, she was torn.

The employment contract – exclusively obtained and reported by The Enquirer in March – continues to divide huge sections of the region's Catholics. The "morality" clauses – though not unique among Catholic schools nationwide – were a first for the 19-county Archdiocese school system.

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She is the first Archdiocese teacher to make a public stand but those opposing the contract predict more will step forward once the school year ends later this month.

"For me to sign this (contract), I feel like I would be telling my son I've changed my mind, that I don't support him as I did. And I won't do that," she said.

Archdiocese officials remain steadfast in their support of the new contract.

Moreover, they contend some of the protests, which have attracted ancillary campaigns for private teacher employment rights, school unions and critics of the church's policies are based on misunderstandings. Officials say much of the opposition is based on over reactions to the newly detailed personal morality provisions and how, in some circumstances, they may lead to teacher firings.

Catholic teacher backs gay son, quits to protest contract

Contracts that define teachers as ministers raise labor questions | National Catholic Reporter

Just what does a teacher do at school? And just what can a teacher do at home?

Catholic educators in dioceses across the country are facing those fundamental questions as they decide this spring whether to sign contracts pledging to work for the 2014-15 academic year.

Seeking to define the role of Catholic education as more identifiably Catholic, several dioceses this year are specifying in their teachers' contracts more clearly -- sometimes with lists of dos and don'ts -- how their teachers are to act in their personal lives.

Some are even redefining teachers not as educators but as ministers.

Legal experts and union organizers say it's a mix that could have sharp implications on teachers' ability to bring civil suits when they believe their employers treat them inappropriately -- and could even prevent them from forming unions to bargain for better wages or conditions.

One scholar who specializes in the intersection of law and religion says the changes are effectively an end-run around legislation protecting employees from discrimination in the workplace.

"It's about churches trying to do everything they can to avoid the anti-discrimination laws, because they don't want to be held to gender equality, sexual orientation equality, racial equality or equal pay," said Leslie Griffin, the William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

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The shift in language follows a January 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established a "ministerial exception" for religious employers from federal anti-discrimination and workplace labor laws. The court ruled those laws do not necessarily apply to people whom religious groups deem ministers.

Contracts that define teachers as ministers raise labor questions | National Catholic Reporter