Former Seton Hall chaplain given new post in Newark parish

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (AP) -- A former Seton Hall University chaplain who says he was fired because he supported an anti-gay-bullying organization has been appointed to a new position in the Archdiocese of Newark, church officials said.

The Rev. Warren Hall will become the parochial vicar at Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Hoboken on Aug. 15, a parish spokesman told The Record newspaper Monday.

Hall posted on social media that he was fired this year because of a photo he posted on his Facebook page supporting the NOH8 Campaign, an organization that promotes "marriage, gender and human quality," according to its website. After losing his job, he publicly announced that he's gay and has kept his vow of celibacy.

Hall wrote a letter to Pope Francis last month telling him that he has been without income since his termination. He also said Newark Archbishop John J. Myers told him he was removed as a chaplain because his social media posts "raised serious questions" about where he stands on important Catholic teachings, according to the letter. The priest said he was being "unduly punished."

However, James Goodness, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said Hall has been on six weeks of paid vacation and was removed from Seton Hall because his assignment was ending. Goodness said they had no problem with him standing against discrimination but acknowledged that the social media post was an "area of conflict" because of the group's advocacy for same-sex marriage.

The problem was resolved when Hall removed the post from his page, Goodness said.

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