US Catholic school fires teacher after husband's obituary reveals his marriage to a man
In an email to community members at the archdiocese-run school from which he was dismissed, Mark Richards explained that he had been fired because a parent notified officials about an obituary for his husband, who died of a heart attack in September 2023.
Richards' email alluded to how his employment contract at St Francis Xavier school in Metairie, Louisiana, contained a morality clause prohibiting educators from 'contracting a marriage in violation of the rules of the Catholic church' and 'actively engaging in homosexual activity', along with other conduct that the document maintains is inconsistent with the teachings of the religion that does not recognize same-sex matrimony.
He wrote that he signed the annually renewable contract and morality clause – which is required of all the archdiocese's teachers but historically has been far from universally enforced – with 'a wink and a nudge since it was no big secret that I am gay'. The St Francis Xavier community was comfortable enough with his marriage to his husband, John Messinger, that 'everyone at the school was very sympathetic and supportive' after his death.
But that changed when the parent who alerted local church officials to Messinger's obituary – which listed Richards as his husband – complained. He said he was fired on 25 June as music teacher and band director at St Francis after 21 years at the school, 'and the reason for this termination is that I am a gay man'.
'I have not been in violation of the morality clause for the last two years, and no one can find any incident of my acting inappropriately with anyone – let alone a student,' added Richards, who met Messinger two years before he started working at St Francis and then married him in 2014. Nonetheless, Richards said, all that his superiors would tell him was 'you're fired' after a parent – whose identity was shielded and whom the teacher presumed to be 'disgruntled' – reported discovering his being mentioned in Messinger's obituary.
As the New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU reported on Friday, Richards' email garnered him sympathy from many parents at the school which ousted him. A parent-organized petition supporting Richards, calling his firing 'unjust' and exalting him as 'a beacon of kindness and understanding in [students'] lives', had collected about 1,500 signatures, the station and the Louisiana news outlet nola.com each noted.
One mother, Katheryn Lee, told WDSU: 'I would like to see the morality clause change.'
'I would like the line regarding homosexuality in the morality clause that educators sign to be removed,' Lee said. 'Your identity is not your morality. I hope we have a voice in this.'
A father named Rick English told the station he believed the morality clause at the center of Richards' dismissal is 'a violation of human rights' that needed to be reviewed. 'To me, it's a social injustice at this point,' he remarked.
Both nola.com and WDSU reported that school administrators sent an email to the St Francis community confirming it had not renewed Richards' employment contract while claiming, too, that he had not provided 'a fully accurate description of the employment situation'. But administrators said they could not elaborate, making a reference to unspecified legal considerations.
'This decision is final and will not be revisited,' school officials' email also said, in part. 'We strive to always make decisions that uphold the teachings of the Catholic faith that are in the best interest of our school.'
Richards, meanwhile, had written to St Francis parents: 'Teaching your children has been one of the joys of my life, and I treasure the memories.'
Still, as he put it to WDSU, Richards felt betrayed by those who opted to fire him.
'It's just a stab in the back,' Richards reportedly said. 'It's just time for this to stop. The rest of the free world does not think homosexuality is a big deal.'
St Francis is one of numerous archdiocese of New Orleans affiliates that are being counted on to contribute to what is expected to be a nine-figure settlement resolving a bankruptcy protection case filed by archdiocesan leaders in 2020. Those officials made that chapter 11 bankruptcy filing mainly in an attempt to dispense with hundreds of clergy molestation claims dating back decades as affordably as possible.
As of Sunday, the most recent settlement offer was for the archdiocese, its affiliates and its insurers to pay between $180m and $230m to about 600 abuse survivors. But attorneys representing hundreds of those survivors oppose that deal, saying it is far less than the $323m settlement approved in late 2024 in a similar case pitting about 600 clergy abuse claimants against the archdiocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York.
Any proposed settlement would need support from two-thirds of survivors who vote on it for it to gain approval.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
18 minutes ago
- The Sun
My kind son was murdered by his best friend over ‘gay song'…shocking secret about his past made my blood run cold
WHEN teenager Sachin Hawkins secured a place at Hull University to study education, his proud mum was thrilled her kind-hearted son was a step closer to fulfilling his dream of becoming a special needs teacher. But that bright future was snatched away one evening in his student kitchen, when he was brutally murdered in a savage attack by the person he'd classed as a close friend. 11 11 Following a petty quarrel over a song, Sachin's housemate Syed Hussain-Kazi, 26, belittled him for having 'gay' music taste before suddenly plunging a six-inch kitchen knife into his chest. Paramedics fought to save Sachin, 19, but he tragically succumbed to the fatal wound. Speaking to The Sun, his heartbroken mum Shira Javaid, 52, says she'll never forgive Hussain-Kazi for cruelly and ruthlessly taking her beloved son's life for 'a reason so silly as music'. Shira, a former eating disorder nurse specialist, says: 'Sachin should've been safe in his uni house. 'Every day my heart aches for my son. He was my world. Now he will never achieve his dream of being a teacher and I'l never see him graduate or get married.' Shira was a single mum to two children - Sachin, and her daughter, Aimee, now 18, three years younger than her brother. The family were originally from Catford, south east London, but in 2012, when Sachin was eight and Aimee was five, Shira and her kids emigrated to New York. She says: 'Being a single mum in London was hard and I needed more support. My mum lived in New York so we moved to be with her. 'Sachin was excited to be with his grandma. He was always the apple of her eye. 'But he always wished to return home one day. He was a very British boy, through and through. Heartbreaking Old Firm march Grieving parents call for knife crime action in Scotland ' Liverpool football club was his life. He lived in their merch. 'He also loved playing pranks on the family. He would terrorise his grandma. He was the joker and truly the light of our life.' As Sachin got older he volunteered teaching young children. Many had special needs, which inspired him to dream of becoming a special needs teacher. Sinister warning In 2022, aged 18, Sachin was accepted onto a four-year degree course studying special education teaching at Hull University, back in the UK. After moving into halls of residence in his first year, he made friends with a student down the corridor, Hussain-Kazi. Shira says: 'His dad, my sister and family were there in the UK too, so I knew he wouldn't be alone. 'Sachin and Syed grew close. He was very happy. We video-called every day. 'I planned to move back one day which gave me some comfort. 'One day Sachin told me his friend, Syed, had been in trouble with the law when he was very young. 'I said, 'Son, please be careful.' But Sachin told me I shouldn't judge and how everyone deserves a second chance in life. 'Sighing, I'd clearly brought my son up amazingly. He had such a kind, big heart. And I only heard lovely things about Syed, which put me at ease.' 'Special friend' 11 In 2023, during their second year, Sachin and Hussain-Kazi moved in together along with some other university pals. He would FaceTime his mum and sister every day. Shira says: 'Sometimes I'd spot Syed in the background. He was usually in Sachin's room, playing games and hanging out, and he'd occasionally wave hello. 'I remembered how Sachin had police checks before getting accepted into uni, so thought Syed must've had one too. 'Whatever trouble he'd been in must've not been anything serious. I was happy my son had made a special friend. 'Soon after, Sachin bought his plane ticket to come home for Christmas. He was planning to stay for two weeks.' But in November 2023, one month before he was due to come home, Sachin wasn't feeling well and had been texting his mum all week as usual. Sometimes I'd spot Syed in the background. He was usually in Sachin's room, playing games and hanging out, and he'd occasionally wave hello Shira Javaid Shira texted her son to say he could order dinner from her Uber Eats account for him and his flatmates. The next day, as she was getting ready for work, she realised Sachin hadn't opened the message or replied. 'I thought it was odd,' she recalls. 'Then suddenly I got a call from my sister. She was breathing heavily, and said that Sachin had been stabbed by his flatmate Syed. And he didn't survive. 'As I heard those two words, my world ended. Sobbing, I rushed to my daughter and told her Sachin had been killed. 'She dropped to the floor crying too. My mum heard the commotion. We all howled together, in disbelief and agony. 'Over the coming days police in Hull kept us in the loop. They told me Sachin did nothing wrong and he wasn't in any pain. But I needed more answers.' Desperate fight 11 After that, Shira spent every day on the phone with the US embassy in the UK, the mayor and schools, fighting to get Sachin's body back. Her family set up a GoFundMe page and strangers, as well as friends whose hearts Sachin had touched, raised over £24,000. A month later Sachin's body was flown over for the funeral. In April 2024, Shira flew back to the UK with her daughter and faced Sachin's killer at Hull Crown Court. She says: 'We finally pieced together what happened. Just 15 minutes before I'd texted Sachin about dinner, he'd been cleaning the kitchen that afternoon with Syed whilst playing music. 'Syed called Sachin's music taste 'gay' and that he was a 'f*ggot'. 'They began arguing and suddenly, Syed lunged at Sachin, pushed him against the kitchen door and stabbed him in the chest with a six-inch bladed kitchen knife, yelling, 'Who's the b**** now?' 'The other housemates rushed in and saw Syed stood over Sachin clutching a large kitchen knife. 'Syed was arrested outside on the street, whilst their flatmates tried desperately to save Sachin's life. Thinking of my son's last moments, and how he did absolutely nothing to deserve it, broke me Shira Javaid 'But as ambulances arrived, Sachin was pronounced dead. 'Thinking of my son's last moments, and how he did absolutely nothing to deserve it, broke me. 'On top of that, Syed showed no remorse on the stand, and kept saying he couldn't remember, or that he didn't mean to do it. 'It tore me apart that he couldn't just admit what he did. I wanted him to heal for himself and accept treatment and help." It was during Syed's trial that shocking evidence emerged about his obsession with knives. He had previously terrified another first-year student flatmate when he "started swinging a 30cm knife" in front of her face. She fled to her room and locked herself in before moving in with a friend. He also had previous convictions for two offences, including a knifepoint street robbery in 2019, with a kitchen knife. Shira said: 'Aimee and I heard of his history of knives and how there had been another incident before at halls with him waving knives near students. 'I realised it must've been what Sachin had briefly told me about.' Justice In April last year Syed Hussain-Kazi, 26, of Hardy Street, Hull was found guilty of murdering Sachin and sentenced to life, with a minimum of 18 years. Sentencing him, Judge John Thackray referred to Hussain-Kazi's fascination with kitchen knives and said he had 'needlessly and mercilessly' taken Sachin's life. He added: "Physically he was no match for you. He was seven stones and you are 12 stones when you pushed him to the door and stabbed him." Shira says she felt a wave of relief as Hussain-Kazi was led down to the cells. 'I was relieved he couldn't hurt another person," she said. "But my son should've been safe in his home at university. 'He robbed my son of his life over something so ridiculous like a song. 'As I left Hull after the sentencing, it was heartbreaking as I felt like I was leaving Sachin. I miss how he was unapologetically in love with me, too, never afraid to give his mum a kiss or hug in front of his friends. Shira Javaid 'Now I'm back home in New York, and every day my heart aches for him. 'Sachin will never achieve his dream of being a special education teacher. His sister has no brother and my mum has no grandson. 'I miss his jokes, his pranks and his laughter. 'Most importantly, I miss how he was unapologetically in love with me, too, never afraid to give his mum a kiss or hug in front of his friends. 'I feel so lucky to have had a son like him. I want to keep his memory alive, and stop knife violence that is destroying families.' 11
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Jimmy Swaggart obituary
The American televangelist hellfire preacher Jimmy Swaggart, who has died aged 90, fell by the wayside not once but twice with sex workers, spectacularly ending his previously successful TV ministry that screened in 140 countries and was reputed to bring in $150m a year in merchandising sales. On the first occasion, when he was filmed with a woman at a motel near his church in the suburbs of New Orleans in 1988, he prayed for forgiveness in a tearful TV address. On the second occasion three years later in California when he was caught with a woman in his car, he just told his congregation: 'The Lord told me it's flat out none of your business.' His plight had not been helped by his previous denunciations of rival Pentecostal preachers, which suddenly smacked of hypocrisy. When Jim Bakker had admitted to an affair with a church secretary, Swaggart described him as a cancer on the body of Christ, one of those 'pompadoured pretty boys with their hair done and their nails done who call themselves preachers'. He had also hounded a rival televangelist called Marvin Gorman out of ministry with accusations of adultery. It was Gorman who then proved his nemesis, tracking him to the motel. Swaggart's style as a preacher was bellowing alternating with whispering, speaking in tongues, bursts of song and bouts of tears. There were anecdotes of miraculous saves – his car's engine came unclogged on one occasion apparently by the application of anointing oil – and there were dreadful warnings too. These were well within the American Pentecostal traditions of what was called the sawdust trail, pioneered in rural circus tents by earlier evangelists such as Billy Sunday. Indeed Swaggart started his ministry preaching on street corners and from a flatbed truck, and living in church basements when he could not afford anywhere more upmarket to stay. His denunciations were scattergun and not exactly Christian, though he was of course a Biblical literalist. He denounced Catholics and Jews, Mormons and Muslims with equal venom as cultists and heretics, as well as Darwinists, communists, liberals and judges. He suggested that the Jews had brought the Holocaust on themselves by denying Christ – and of course the End Times were nigh. 'Armageddon is coming,' he would proclaim. 'My Lord, I am happy. I don't care who it bothers. It thrills my soul.' He came from the tiny rural Louisiana town of Ferriday, part of a tightly knit clan 'entwined like a big tight ball of rubber bands'. His father, Willie Leon 'Sun' Swaggart, was a sharecropper, grocery store manager, moonshiner, fiddle player and occasional preacher, and his mother, Minnie Bell (nee Herron), was from the same rural background. One cousin was the future rock'n'roll star Jerry Lee Lewis and another the country and western musician Mickey Gilley. Swaggart himself had a fine baritone singing voice and might have followed Lewis. He was offered terms by the pioneering Sun Records producer Sam Phillips but turned him down because of his religious calling, which, unlike his cousins, forbade alcohol, dancing, tobacco and secular music. It was said the cousins preached from the opposite shores of the river they called salvation. However it did not stop him later issuing bestselling gospel albums, including This Is Just What Heaven Means to Me, though he claimed characteristically that he had negotiated the contracts through God's help: 'Could you take 90% and let me have 10%?' The albums sold in their millions. Swaggart was ordained by the Pentecostal Assemblies of God sect in 1961 after several years of preaching around the south, began broadcasting to Christian religious radio stations a year later and in 1969 founded his Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, from where he launched the weekly Camp Meeting Hour radio programme. He promoted himself as an 'old-fashioned, Holy Ghost-filled, shouting, weeping, soul-winning, Gospel preachin' preacher'. It was certainly entertaining. The centre itself grew to hold a congregation of 7,000 and the purchase of a bankrupt television studio in 1975 expanded Swaggart's ministry across the country. Within a few years 200 local television companies were taking his daily programmes. Eventually it was beamed internationally and Swaggart briefly became the biggest star in the televangelical firmament. There were also merchandising opportunities: the sale of knick-knacks including belt buckles, T-shirts, mugs, plates and even replicas of Jesus's crown of thorns. Swaggart himself contributed more than 50 books and bible study guides. The worship centre became the largest mail-order business in Louisiana and the church grounds expanded to 200 acres, at one stage including a bible college. Swaggart was less politically active nationally than his contemporaries Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, though he supported Robertson's presidential bid in 1988 and later voted for Donald Trump. But he did become entangled with the brutal anti-communist, pro-South African Mozambican resistance group Renamo during the country's civil war of the 1980s, with his ministries accused of funding them and certainly supplying the guerrillas with 'improving' literature. At the age of 17 Swaggart had married his childhood sweetheart, 15-year-old Frances Anderson. He would later declare: 'It is impossible for me to stray. My wife is with me all the time. I'm never alone.' This assertion was severely tested by the sex scandals, which came to light after Swaggart fell out with Gorman, both competing for similar television audiences in Louisiana. Swaggart got Gorman defrocked from the Assemblies of God after making allegations of adultery, which led Gorman to employ a private detective who recorded Swaggart visiting a sex worker at a Travel Inn on the outskirts of New Orleans. Gorman offered a deal: he would not release the footage if Swaggart publicly apologised and withdrew his allegations, but when Swaggart did not answer the story rapidly went public. This prompted Swaggart's highly public mea culpa to his television followers. Damp with sweat and ostentatiously crying he called on the Almighty's help: 'I have sinned against you my Lord and I would ask that your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgiveness, not to be remembered against me any more.' The authorities were notably more forgiving than they had been to Gorman, suspending him from preaching for two years, which Swaggart ignored on the grounds that he could not afford the loss of earnings. Defrocked, he then became an independent preacher. Scepticism about Swaggart's sincerity hardened even among his most devoted followers when three years later he was stopped by police while driving his white Jaguar erratically in Indio, California. His passenger told reporters: 'He asked me for sex. I mean that's why he stopped me. That's what I do. I'm a prostitute.' She claimed the car had been swerving because he was trying to hide pornographic magazines under the driver's seat. With that his national ministry effectively collapsed. He eventually reached a million-dollar settlement with Gorman, but the bible college, private jet and his and hers limousines had to go. He continued preaching but his ministry essentially passed to his son Donnie. Frances and Donnie survive him, as do several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Jimmy Lee Swaggart, television evangelist, born 15 March 1935; died 1 July 2025
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Selfless bravery of teacher honoured, 29 years on from Dunblane horror that shocked the world
She sacrificed her life to save the lives of her young pupils during the worst mass shooting on British soil. Now Gwen Mayor has been honoured for her selfless actions during the Dunblane massacre almost 30 years ago. The 45-year-old teacher was killed along with 16 children in 1996 when a gunman burst into Dunblane Primary School in what is Britain's deadliest shooting. The mother-of-two died while trying to protect her class of five and six-year-olds from Thomas Hamilton. Her husband Rodney Mayor, now 81, said he was 'extremely proud' of the woman he married in 1972. Mr Mayor said: 'She went to work as a teacher, you would expect her to come home, but she didn't. Neither did 16 of the children. 'You would have had to have known Gwen to know that this is what she would have done - she'd have done anything to protect these children in her care. 'The fact that she was shot six times meant she obviously, as far as we're concerned, she must have put some resistance up to try and prevent him doing what he did. 'We will never know, really, what happened in the gym. The fact she was shot so many times, you just can't comprehend.' She is among eight public servants in Scotland to be honoured. Firefighter Ewan Williamson, who died while responding to a pub fire in Edinburgh in July 2009, is also recognised, as is Rod Moore, a retired paramedic from Falkirk who returned to work with the Scottish Ambulance Service during Covid and then contracted the virus, dying in November 2020. William Oliver, a worker with the Glasgow Salvage Corps who died in the Cheapside Street disaster in 1960, is also included in what is only the second list of Elizabeth Emblem recipients. He was killed as a blaze ripped through a warehouse that contained more than one million gallons of whisky and 30,000 gallons of rum - with the temperature causing casks to rupture, leading to a huge boiling liquid vapour explosion which claimed his life and that of 18 others. Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said Britain owes an 'enduring debt to the public servants who gave their lives to protect others' and the Elizabeth Emblem was a 'lasting symbol of our national gratitude for their incredible sacrifice'. Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, said: 'Every one of these brave public servants gave their life to protect others. 'They are people who stepped forward when most of us would step back, and they paid the ultimate price. 'I am particularly pleased that Dunblane teacher Gwen Mayor has been recognised. 'No-one will ever forget the horror of the shooting at Dunblane Primary School in 1996, when Mrs Mayor was killed trying to protect her pupils.' The Elizabeth Emblem was established last year as a national form of recognition, with the award given to the next of kin of public servants who have lost their lives as a result of their duty. The honour is the civilian equivalent of the Elizabeth Cross, which recognises members of the UK Armed Forces who died in action or as a result of a terrorist attack. Also being recognised is firefighter Roderick Nicolson, who died in December 1995 after becoming trapped in five tonnes of sodium carbonate ash while attempting to rescue two workmen from a silo of chemical dust at Perth Harbour. Two Scottish police officers - Pc Paul North and Pc Joseph Stewart Drake - killed in the line of duty are also being recognised As is Alastair Soutar, who worked for HM Customs and Excise and was crushed while taking part in an operation to catch drug smugglers off the Caithness coast in July 1996. The aftermath of the Dunblane massacre sparked a debate on gun control, leading to the Cullen Report in 1996. It led to a public campaign, known as the Snowdrop Petition, which helped bring about legislation which prohibited the private ownership of most handguns. Now, only muzzle-loading and historic handguns are legal, as well as certain sporting handguns. The gymnasium at the school was demolished in April 1996 and replaced by a memorial garden.
