Catholic Teacher Who Was Fired for Unmarried Pregnancy Files Lawsuit against Church
Church analysts and California employment lawyers are watching an interesting new lawsuit closely. The lawsuit has been filed by an unmarried Catholic schoolteacher, who says that she was terminated from her job because she became pregnant.
The lawsuit has been filed against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati by Kathleen Quinlan, a first grade teacher at the Ascension Catholic School. She claims in the lawsuit that she informed the school principal that she was expecting a baby. She claims that the principal told her that she should either resign, or expect a termination. She was given 3 days to clear out her things from the classroom.
Her termination letter clearly stated that she was being terminated because she violated a section of her employment contract. Under the terms of the contract, she was required to comply with the philosophy and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Quinlan later gave birth to twin girls.
Her lawyers insist that because she is a non-ministerial employee of the Church, she is not subject to any morality clauses. In her lawsuit, Quinlan also insists that male teachers, who are in the same capacity at the school, are not fired for engaging in premarital sexual relations. Her lawsuit seeks back pay as well as damages.
This is not the first time that the Cincinnati archdiocese has been faced with a lawsuit like this. Earlier, another single Catholic teacher who became pregnant through artificial insemination had filed a lawsuit against the Cincinnati Archdiocese. The Archdiocese said that the single woman acted against the Roman Catholic Church philosophy by getting pregnant using artificial insemination. Responding to that lawsuit, the Church claimed that artificial insemination was immoral, and completely against Roman Catholic Church doctrine. That lawsuit is still pending.
