{"id":120588,"date":"2024-10-31T22:01:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T15:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=120588"},"modified":"2024-10-31T22:01:48","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T15:01:48","slug":"longtime-music-director-at-michigan-church-fired-for-same-sex-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=120588","title":{"rendered":"Longtime music director at Michigan church fired for same-sex marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"\">TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. \u2014 The longtime music director at a northern Michigan church said he was fired just a few months before retirement after officials learned that he was in a same-sex marriage, a dismissal that has angered members and led to sidewalk protests by the choir.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cHe\u2019s extremely talented, he\u2019s perfect on the piano, he has perfect pitch and because of him, I look forward to going to church every week,\u201d said Bob Holden, a chorister at St. Francis Church in Traverse City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI\u2019m divorced. Do I get thrown out next?\u201d Holden\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.record-eagle.com\/news\/local_news\/st-francis-fires-longtime-music-director-choir-others-picket-in-protest\/article_8448c05a-9235-11ef-80d9-1f4006f26306.html?utm_source=record-eagle.com&amp;utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Flists%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1730287857&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=headline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Fred Szczepanski said he was fired on Oct. 18 by the Rev. Michael Lingaur for marrying his longtime partner in a same-sex ceremony in Nevada in 2020. The church confronted him after receiving a letter from an unnamed person.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Szczepanski had been music director for 34 years and planned to retire in January. His recorded voice greets people who call the parish office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. It opposes gay marriage, though Pope Francis says priests can offer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/vatican-lgbtq-explainer-30ec00ab8de5be0de7500b4d7ec47605\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blessings to same-sex couples.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe take employee privacy very seriously and are not able to disclose details about individual personnel matters,\u201d the Diocese of Gaylord, which oversees St. Francis, said in a written statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">On Sunday, protesters carried signs outside the church: \u201cLove Not Hate,\u201d \u201cGod Includes, Not Excludes,\u201d and \u201cFired Not Retired.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Choir members on Oct. 20 wore black, left their seats empty and refused to sing, the Record-Eagle reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"endmark\">\u201cPeople are hurt, people are sad. In a time where there is so much controversy in the world, the church needs to be a place of peace, and instead it\u2019s turmoil after turmoil,\u201d church member Toni Stanfield said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/nbc-out\/out-news\/longtime-music-director-michigan-church-fired-sex-marriage-rcna178193\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. \u2014 The longtime music director at a northern Michigan church said he was fired just a few months before retirement after officials learned that he was in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=120588\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}