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Warren Hall, who is a North Jersey priest, has been suspended by his archbishop after expressing support for a basketball coach who lost her job for being gay. This is not the first time Hall has been in trouble for his views.
Hall, 53, who was working at a Hoboken church, told Religious News Service (RNS) he was being suspended for taking stands in favor of gay support groups and, specifically, for expressing support for a former dean of guidance and basketball coach suing Paramus Catholic High School.
Kate Drumgoole, 33, of Bogota, was fired in January after Facebook photos appeared of her 2014 wedding to Jaclyn Vanore.
The school claims Drumgoole was not fired because she is gay, but because she is in a same-sex marriage. Drumgoole is suing the school.
As a result of his support for Drumgoole, Hall says he will no longer be able to celebrate Mass in public, present himself as a priest or work in the New Jersey parishes where he has been ministering.
“The problem is that we have an archbishop who doesn’t believe you can be gay and Catholic,” Hall wrote in an email to RNS.
Last year, Hall was fired from his post as director of Seton Hall campus ministry because of a pro-LGBT Facebook post he made.
After the Seton Hall firing, Hall came out as gay.
“I have to be myself. I can’t worry what other people think,” Hall told the LGBT magazine, OutSports.com.
The Newark archdiocese gave conflicting statements on why Hall was fired, saying at first that the priest was scheduled to be reassigned, then stating Catholic priests are required to live in “chaste celibacy,” according to a New York Times report.
In 2011, Hall resigned from his position as president of Hudson Catholic Regional High School after he was charged with DWI for having a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, according to media reports.
“Father has acknowledged publicly the need for him to better care for himself,” a school official said in a statement announcing the resignation.
Source:
- nj.com
- Image: emalumniblog
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