My father, rest his soul, used to say about being Catholic: “Greg, if you want to be in the club, you have to follow the rules.”

That more or less sums up what has just transpired in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, where a divorced teacher, Tom Girsch, has lost his job because he remarried without having his first marriage annulled:

Girsch, who is Roman Catholic, has been a Columbus teacher for the past 32 years and was the school’s football coach for 28 years. But the 59-year-old divorcee became embroiled in a dispute with the school system after remarrying a year ago without first obtaining an annulment, as required by church law.

When school officials told Girsch this was grounds for immediate dismissal, he hired (Attorney Mark) Zaiger and an amended contract was negotiated. That contract required Girsch to initiate the annulment process and to submit his resignation if it was denied. The CVCS board would decide whether to accept his resignation, according to the contract.

As the board prepared to reconsider that decision Monday, they heard from Archbishop Jerome Hanus through a letter read by Jeff Henderson, the archdiocese superintendent of schools.

Hanus declared the “sacredness and indissolubility of Christian marriage” in the letter. “Teachers play a key role in the teaching of the faith,” Henderson read, both through their instruction and how they live. The board is required by its constitution to be in agreement with Catholic doctrine, the letter said.

If you read the whole article, it’s striking to see how accomodating the Church was willing to be — giving the teacher extra time to get an annulment — and how much respect was paid to the law of the Church in this matter.

Photo: Tom Girsch, from the WCF Courier