{"id":3238,"date":"2008-02-14T07:42:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-14T07:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/02\/unmarried-pregnantand-fired-updated.html"},"modified":"2008-02-14T07:42:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-14T07:42:00","slug":"unmarried-pregnantand-fired-updated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/02\/unmarried-pregnantand-fired-updated.html","title":{"rendered":"Unmarried, pregnant…and fired — UPDATED"},"content":{"rendered":"

What happens when an unmarried teacher in a Catholic school finds herself pregnant? A paper in Minnesota<\/a> explains: <\/p>\n

Emily Prigge was in her first year of teaching fifth grade at St. Felix School in Wabasha when she found out she’s expecting a baby. Prigge, now 15 weeks into her pregnancy, said she told the school principal about it last month.<\/p>\n

“She said that I made the right decision in not having an abortion because that is what the Catholic church wants,” Prigge said.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 6, Prigge said, the principal and priest called a meeting with her where they asked for her resignation effective immediately.<\/p>\n

A school official Tuesday said no comment would be issued on the case. A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Winona also said she could not comment due to data privacy rules.<\/p>\n

At the start of her employment, Prigge signed a Catholic Christian Witness Statement, agreeing to be a good example as a Christian in both her personal and academic life. Prigge, who is Catholic, said she was told she didn’t follow the terms of the statement because she had premarital sex.<\/p>\n

Prigge said she believes it was wrong for the administration to seek her resignation and is looking into whether she can take any legal action.<\/p>\n

Prigge, of Lake City, said her family remains supportive, as do other clergy she’s talked with and many of the teachers she worked with at St. Felix.<\/p>\n

Minnesota is an employment “at will” employment state, meaning an employer can fire any employee as long as that reason is not illegal. In Prigge’s case, it’s not possible to speculate whether she was wrongfully terminated, in part because “the case law is all over the place,” said Elaine Hanson, enforcement supervisor at the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’d like to know what part of the Catholic Christian Witness Statement the schoolteacher didn’t understand.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/b> One of the commenters posted this reply, and I thought it worth reading here: <\/p>\n

Just a little background…<\/p>\n

There was absolutely NO other reason they asked her to resign. She was a fabulous teacher – and a faithful Christian. She found herself in a situation where her beliefs became compromised. She’s repented – and I believe Jesus has forgiven her. Interestingly, there is a male teacher in this same diocese that got his girlfriend pregnant – and he remained employed. How can that be justified????<\/p>\n

I’m afraid that this kind of response is exactly why young women have abortions. Wouldn’t if be MUCH better to share the pro-life message with the teacher’s students? Imagine the message that the students have now. Especially those that come from single-parent families (which is a large number).<\/p>\n

I’m stuggling to maintain my faith in the Catholic religion – when the leaders have turned their back on one of their own.<\/p>\n

The Bishop is raising money in his appeal for unwed mothers – but kicks a dedicated, faith-filled teacher to the curb that’s in the same situation. I just don’t get it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What happens when an unmarried teacher in a Catholic school finds herself pregnant? A paper in Minnesota explains: Emily Prigge was in her first year of teaching fifth grade at St. Felix School in Wabasha when she found out she’s expecting a baby. 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}