I don’t think giving her time to get hitched is a solution, as the problem isn’t being pregnant and not married, the problem is having engaged in consensual marital activity while not being married. Marrying after the fact doesn’t change the status of the activity—and often is only a way to further mess up one’s life.
regarding the right to fire the teacher, legally it depends on what was in the contract. Was moral behavior defined more precisely?
I am also guessing there may be more info that we are not privy to. I would hope that a young woman who made a mistake ( we all do) and decided to give birth and change her life would receive compassion and understanding. However if said young woman is “shacking up” and has no desire or intent on changing her behavior than she really has no place teaching in the catholic schools.
Life is full of people whose parents got married after the fact. Neither the child nor the parent should be punished for this. Nothing reverses time, and all one can do is correct the error. I read that a huge percentage - in fact, the majority - of girls in 17th century New England were pregnant when they got married, so the shotgun wedding was with us even before the shotgun itself.
Once upon a time, even children were punished for being illegitimate: there were certain professions they couldn’t go into, or at least not without a lot of paperwork and special treatment. This was clearly wrong and excessive, and it did nothing about e central fact. But there’s nothing that can change that, so the best thing is for the parents to repent, get married if possible, or otherwise try to work out their situation as best they can (if one of them is already married, for example). Fear of having their lives ruined and their children rejected was what used to determine women to have abortions once upon a time, and we don’t need to go back to that.
However, the young children this woman teaches don’t need to know that or worry about it. I agree that she should have been out of the classroom that day before the kids started to notice or ask questions, but there should have been more kindness shown her in offering to help her resolve her situation.
It mentions that she already has twins. Whose are they, I wonder. She may be somebody whose life is a mess, and perhaps kind treatment would give her a chance to get it together, since there are now four lives involved.