Pregnant Teach Fighting Sin 'Ax' : New York Post

A pregnant and unmarried former pre-kindergarten teacher [Michelle McCusker] yesterday accused the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Queens elementary school [St. Rose of Lima (Rockaway Beach)] where she worked of wrongfully firing her for having sex out of wedlock and choosing to keep her baby.

There's a question of the prudence of the school doing this which I will get to but first: What was she thinking? She agreed in writing to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church which she must have known to have included the teaching favoring marriage and condeming fornication.

The response of the diocesen spokesman sounds a little flat:

The school and its parish church referred press inquiries to the diocese. Diocese spokesman Frank DeRosa said in a statement, "This is a difficult situation for every person involved, but the school had no choice but to follow the principles contained in the teachers personnel handbook."

Now to the question of the prudence of the school to fire her:

"I didn't think they could fire me," said McCusker, who informed the principal she was not planning to marry the father of her baby. "I held the Catholic religion to a higher standard."

Actually, to hold teachers to a higher standard, the school is probably doing the right thing. She was pregnant at the time she was hired and did not disclose that to the school. To me, that shows bad faith on her part -- she knew that she would not be able to complete the school year and in the later stages of her pregnancy be physically impaired from being a pre-kindergarten teacher.

The Post put "Catholic morality" in scare quotes.

But it seems that McCusker presented the school with two bad alternatives: The school should have allowed McCusker to teach the remainder of her contract and then not renew the contract -- simply because firing her for her pregnancy exposed them to this legal liability. They have made themselves too easy a target.