I don’t often get mad when I read news articles about gay marriage any more. I’ve seen quite a lot of disappointing messages over the past 6 years. Instead of getting angry, I use the hateful messages people say as a way to educate voters, friends and co-workers.

Today is the exception though. I’m mad. Rev. Mike Tegeder, a Catholic Priest in Minnesota, does not agree with the church’s stance on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment. In fact, he’s quoted as saying:

That’s not the way to support marriage… If we want to support marriage, there are wonderful things we can do as Catholic churches and ministers. We should not be focused on beating up a small number of people who have this desire to have committed relationships.

But sharing that message does not work for the Catholic Church. Instead, Tegeder was told by Archbiship Nienstedt that unless he stops opposing the amendment, he would be stripped of his “faculties to exercise ministry” and he would be removed from his “ministerial assignments.”

Now I’m not one to Catholic bash. I was raised Catholic and my father still attends mass every week. But this is just wrong. I hope for Tegeder’s sake that he can come to terms with what he believes and what he is being forced by his employer to say (or in this case, not say).

The Catholic Church continues to wade deeper and deeper into Minnesota political waters. Perhaps they need a refresher on what separation of church and state actually means…