An American parish music director has been fired from his role in a parish in the Diocese of Arlington because he entered into a civil same-sex marriage.
Mike McMahon was a former director of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.
This is the national body for liturgical music leaders in the Catholic Church in the United States.
More and more Catholic institutions in the US are dismissing gay and lesbian staff members.
This is not because of their sexual orientation, but because they are contracting same-sex marriages.
Marriages in these cases are public acts, liable to give scandal and confuse the laity, Church sources say.