The Rev. Warren Hall, who was working at a Hoboken church, expressed support for a former coach suing Paramus Catholic High School.
PARAMUS - A North Jersey priest who is gay has been suspended by the Newark archbishop after expressing support for a woman who was fired for being in a same-sex marriage, the Religion News Service reported Thursday.
The Rev. Warren Hall, 53, who was working at a Hoboken church, told RNS he was being suspended for taking stands in favor of gay support groups and, specifically, for expressing support for a former dean of guidance and basketball coach suing Paramus Catholic High School.
Kate Drumgoole, 33, of Bogota, was fired in January after Facebook photos appeared of her 2014 wedding to Jaclyn Vanore. The school claims Drumgoole was not fired because she is gay, but because she is in a same-sex marriage. Drumgoole is suing the school.
Sadly, my differences with my bishop continue. Today he has suspended me from priestly ministry. @Pontifex's Reform are taking too long.
-- Warren Hall (@Warrmeister) August 31, 2016
As a result of his support for Drumgoole, Hall says he will no longer be able to celebrate Mass in public, present himself as a priest or work in the New Jersey parishes where he has been ministering.
"The problem is that we have an archbishop who doesn't believe you can be gay and Catholic," Hall wrote in an email to RNS.
Last year, Hall was fired from his post as director of Seton Hall campus ministry because of a pro-LGBT Facebook post he made.
After the Seton Hall firing, Hall came out as gay.
"I have to be myself. I can't worry what other people think," Hall told the LGBT magazine, OutSports.com.
The Newark archdiocese gave conflicting statements on why Hall was fired, saying at first that the priest was scheduled to be reassigned, then stating Catholic priests are required to live in "chaste celibacy," according to a New York Times report.
In 2011, Hall resigned from his position as president of Hudson Catholic Regional High School after he was charged with DWI for having a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, according to media reports.
"Father has acknowledged publicly the need for him to better care for himself," a school official said in a statement announcing the resignation.
Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.