A Catholic high school in Illinois has lost its top donor after hiring a lacrosse coach in a same-sex marriage, thereby causing concern that it has abandoned “its adherence to the doctrines of the Catholic faith.”
A same-sex wedding cake topper. / edwardolive/ShutterstockJoliet, Ill., Jan 6, 2022 / 18:00 pm (CNA).After a Chicago-area Catholic high school bowed to protests and hired a lacrosse coach in a same-sex marriage, the Benedictine monks who sponsor it have said they will transition out of leadership at the school."After much deliberation, the monks as a community have discerned that they no longer have the resources needed for the governance and oversight of the academy," Benet Academy chancellor Abbot Austin G. Murphy, O.S.B. and the academy board s chairman Dennis M. Flynn said Jan. 4.Benet Academy, a co-ed preparatory school of about 1,300 students, is located in Lisle, Ill., a western Chicago suburb in the Diocese of Joliet. The Benedictines of St. Procopius Abbey, who currently have about 20 monks, founded the school in 1887. Murphy is its tenth abbot and has served in that role since 2010.Murphy and Flynn said that alternatives for how the academy is governed are being con
“Events in recent months have been an occasion for the Benedictine monks of St. Procopius Abbey to examine their future relationship with Benet Academy,” the school’s chancellor and board chairman wrote in a letter.
A Chicago-area religious order of monks said this week they are ending their affiliation with a DuPage County Catholic high school, which in recent months hired a woman in a same-sex marriage to coach the girls lacrosse team.