TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The longtime music director at a northern Michigan church mentioned he was fired only a few months earlier than retirement after officers discovered that he was in a same-sex marriage, a dismissal that has angered members and led to sidewalk protests by the choir.
“He’s extraordinarily gifted, he’s excellent on the piano, he has excellent pitch and due to him, I stay up for going to church each week,” mentioned Bob Holden, a chorister at St. Francis Church in Traverse City.
“I’m divorced. Do I get thrown out subsequent?” Holden advised the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Fred Szczepanski mentioned he was fired on Oct. 18 by the Rev. Michael Lingaur for marrying his longtime accomplice in a same-sex ceremony in Nevada in 2020. The church confronted him after receiving a letter from an unnamed individual.
Szczepanski had been music director for 34 years and deliberate to retire in January. His recorded voice greets individuals who name the parish workplace.
The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a lifelong union between a person and a lady. It opposes homosexual marriage, although Pope Francis says monks can supply blessings to same-sex {couples}.
“We take worker privateness very significantly and should not capable of disclose particulars about particular person personnel issues,” the Diocese of Gaylord, which oversees St. Francis, mentioned in a written assertion.
On Sunday, protesters carried indicators exterior the church: “Love Not Hate,” “God Includes, Not Excludes,” and “Fired Not Retired.”
Choir members on Oct. 20 wore black, left their seats empty and refused to sing, the Record-Eagle reported.
“People are damage, individuals are unhappy. In a time the place there may be a lot controversy on the earth, the church must be a spot of peace, and as a substitute it’s turmoil after turmoil,” church member Toni Stanfield mentioned.