Posted on 04/06/2006 10:11:21 AM PDT by Cheverus
When he confessed to impregnating his new girlfriend, the Catholic Church refused to marry a devoted parishioner, then last week fired him from his teaching position at Bishop Feehan High in Attleboro for choosing fatherhood over abortion or abandonment.
“Obviously in my heart, I wish he had not fathered a child out of wedlock, but I’m very, very proud of what he’s done: to choose life and love over his job,” glowing first-time grandmother Tammy McCoy of North Attleboro said yesterday of her son Robb McCoy and his 2-month-old daughter, Jaelyn Ruth.
“She’s terrific,” Tammy McCoy said. “She’s gorgeous. She’s a gift. This child is going to be loved. Is there anything more the church wants?”
McCoy, 27, claims he was forced to tender his resignation as both a social studies teacher and head coach of Bishop Feehan’s football team last Thursday because he violated the Diocese of Fall River’s celibacy policy for single employees.
When he found out last year his 21-year-old girlfriend was expecting his baby, McCoy met with his priest, the Rev. David Costa of Sacred Heart Parish in North Attleboro, to discuss the possibility of marriage.
“He wouldn’t allow it,” McCoy said. “He said it wasn’t a union of love, that we weren’t getting married for the right reasons.”
Costa yesterday declined to comment, but McCoy defended him.
“He was right,” McCoy said. “Marriage is still a possibility. Right now, the important thing is both of us being loving parents.”
Diocese spokesman John Kearns declined to provide a copy of the celibacy policy to the Herald or to comment on McCoy’s situation. “It’s a personnel matter,” Kearns said.
Sarah Wunsch, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said McCoy, unlike a woman with a baby bump, could have cloaked his love life in secrecy.
“In a sense,” Wunsch said, “they’re punishing honesty. They’re punishing someone for not having an abortion. It’s just another thing the Catholic Church is doing that makes you wonder.”
McCoy, whose family invested $200,000 in his Catholic education, is hoping to land another teaching job.
“I want to raise my daughter,” he said. “There’s no ‘mistake’ about her. She’s awesome. I still have to look at myself in the mirror every day. I still have to look at my baby’s face. And you know what? Everything’s OK.”
But gay child molesting priests are just moved to another place...?
Ah, but the church that is against abortion tells a man that he is going to lose his job and that they won't marry him all for deciding to honor life and make a go at a family.
Why not say that they're punishing him for not murdering his girlfriend? He was punished for breaking a contract between himself and his employer, period.
Really, that was an unecessary comment. You can throw stones at anyones Clergy.
Please be charitable.
The crux of the article is a particular "denomination" in this case being Catholic, standing up for it's beliefs.
I am a Catholic working for a Protestant organization that had to sign a morality clause that if I violate I'm out on my ear.
I agree, it's kind of like the Boston Police Patrolman's Association who complaining when one of them gets canned for moving out of the city, when living in the city was a condition of employment when they got the job.
Exactly. It ain't that deep, folks.
But did his priest violate any confidentiality in this? Not addressed but certainly questionable.
Church admits gays into the priesthood, looks the other way or does nothing when they have a pedophilia problem but fires a guy for "violating" a contract to remain celibate after he comes forward to not abort a child and start a family.
THEY NEVER FIRED THE PRIESTS FOR VIOLATING YOUNG CHILDREN BEFORE RECENTLY!!!!!
Well, if the local Minister were to start cheating on his wife with the head of the choir I would suspect he had violated the terms of his employment as well and would be dismissed from his "call"
Or say a security guard refusing to wear his uniform.
Conditions of employment are conditions of employment....which is why I never became a security guard or worked at Burger King.
I can actually understand reasons for not living in the city. Cops who enforce the law do see people on the street while out of uniform and with their families.
But, when one gets bagged sleeping on a detail, they go all out to defend him as well.
It's what they "choose" to enforce that rankles me.
Assuming that the mother too is Catholic, which the article doesn't state, I think it's a shame.
The priest is stuck on stupid! 1 Corinthians 7:36
Yes, but they made that concession for the big bucks so if they want to negotiate that they can give back the money.
Were they cohabitating? If so, the priest was doing the right thing in not marrying them. The guy even admits that he was right, they were only going to marry under pressure.
They have to live separately if they're to be given the sacrament, eventually.
Drives me nuts too, which is the reason for posting the article.
That's as far as I need to read.
Looks like the priest kept his mouth shut, it's the guy who was talking.
And he's even saying the priest was right.
Interesting the guy seems to agree with the Priest after the fact. I would think the Pastoral decision would be to give them the benefit of the doubt and marry them.
The article makes no reference to their cohabitating and I won't guess on that.
I personally think cohabitation without the benefit of marriage should be grounds for dismissal from any Catholic institution in and of itself.
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