TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The longtime music director of a Northern Michigan church says he was fired just months before his retirement after authorities discovered he was in a same-sex marriage. the choir’s sidewalk protests.

St. in Traverse City. “He is extremely talented, excellent on the piano, has perfect pitch, and I look forward to going to church every week because of him,” said Bob Holden, choir director at St. Francis Church.

“I’m a widow. Will I be kicked out too from now on?” holden he told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

Fred Szczepanski said he was fired by the Rev. Michael Lingaur on Oct. 18 for marrying his longtime partner in a same-sex ceremony in Nevada in 2020. The church confronted him after receiving a letter from an unnamed person.

Szczepanski had been music director for 34 years and was planning to retire in January. His recorded voice greets people calling the church office.

The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. Pope Francis opposes gay marriage even though he says priests can propose Blessings for gay couples.

St. “We take employee privacy very seriously and cannot disclose details regarding individual personnel matters,” the Diocese of Gaylord, which oversees Francis, said in a written statement.

On Sunday, protesters held banners in front of the church saying “Love, Not Hate,” “God Includes, Doesn’t Exclude” and “Fired, Not Retired.”

Choir members wore black, left their seats empty and refused to sing on Oct. 20, the Record-Eagle reported.

“People are suffering, people are upset. The church is supposed to be a place of peace at a time when there is so much controversy in the world, instead there is turmoil upon turmoil,” said church member Toni Stanfield.

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