INDIANAPOLIS — It's a controversial issue that has been difficult for even some adults to understand — firing a teacher in a same-sex marriage.
That was the lesson school leaders at Cathedral High School had to give to a crowd of students with questions on their minds.
Cathedral school staff asked that RTV6 stay off the property while students who went to the school heard directly from administrators on why they had to fire a teacher both current and former students call family.
Students spent two hours asking questions and listening to explanations from school leaders. Neither the media, nor parents, were allowed inside of Tuesday's meeting.
Outside, one parent said she wanted to go to the meeting to express her outrage for the now fired teacher's treatment.
As the meeting wrapped up, RTV6 talked off-camera with students who said they now have a better understanding of why the school says it was forced to fire one of its own. One student said it seemed as if the school was backed into a corner by the Archdiocese, which threatened to revoke the schools official Catholic status and it's financial support.
At the heart of the different decisions made by Brebeuf Prep and Cathedral high is who run and funds the school. Brebeuf is sponsored by the Midwest Jesuits, which provides money and resources to the school. Cathedral follows the curriculum of the Holy Cross Brothers, but is independently run and depends on the Catholic church to get its funding.
Archbishop Charles Thompson leads the office of schools and Indianapolis Archdiocese — he is also the man who reports directly to the pope and holds the power to revoke a school's official Catholic status.
The identities of both the Brebeuf and Cathedral teachers have not yet been revealed. However, according to attorney Kathleen Delaney, who is representing the former Cathedral teacher, conversations between Cathedral and the Archdiocese were on-going for two years before the teacher was fired.
Delaney told the New York Times the y=teachers employment contract had been renewed at least twice in those two years.
RTV6 has reached out to the Vatican for its position on this story.
The Cathedral Alumni Association Board of Directors is calling on the community to gather with current students around the Archdiocese in a prayer circle Downtown Indianapolis at 4 p.m. on Thursday.
