Music Director At Suburban Catholic Church Fired After Same-Sex Engagement
(CBS) -- Some parishioners at a north suburban Roman Catholic church are upset with the archdiocese - for the firing of the parish music director after he got engaged to his male partner.
Colin Collette has been fired, and that firing coincides with his engagement to his male partner, who proposed outside St. Peter's Basilica while the couple was vacationing in Rome last week.
"Phenomenal" is how parishioner Janet Zajler describes Collette's work as music director at Holy Family Parish in Inverness.
"I am saddened to hear that someone who has such incredible liturgical, spiritual and musical talents will be lost to our faith community," she said.
Zajler said Collette is "a very passionate individual when it comes to expressing his spiritual beliefs."
"And those talents will be greatly missed by our parish," she added.
The Chicago Archdiocese released a statement which says "worship ministers are expected to conform their lives publicly with the teachings of the church."
Zajler says the archdiocese is wrong.
"I am aware of our current pope's outspoken truths regarding the acceptance of every individual, and I am outraged that our local church diocese is going against what I believe our pope is preaching about."
Now Zajler says, with Collette's firing, she's uncertain about her family's future in the parish.
"I will be in thoughtful, prayerful repose," she said. "I'm unsure of where my husband and myself and my children will go after this."