The John-Henry Westen Show - Here She Is： Catholic Teacher FIRED for Opposing Abortion

00:00:00.000 One girl asked me, what about in the case of rape? And I said, well, I don't think it's right

00:00:04.760 to punish a child for something bad that the parent did. That's all I ever said about abortion

00:00:10.000 or Catholicism. Hello, my friends. Welcome to the John Henry Weston show. It's a great thing 0.94

00:00:17.480 to be able to talk to heroes who stand up for the faith, despite the consequences. You might

00:00:24.080 have heard in the news just last week, this case of a US born, but teacher teaching in Scotland.

00:00:35.300 She was peppered with questions about America because she's from America. One of those revolved

00:00:42.520 around abortion. She answered very honestly, very truthfully that she's a faithful Catholic

00:00:47.900 leg, and therefore she's against abortion. Later that same day, she was fired. Why? Well, because

00:00:56.020 she talked about her faith in abortion. Stay tuned for this episode with Sarah Morse. Sarah, thank

00:01:02.120 you so much for joining us. Well, thank you for having me. It's an honor. Let's begin as we always

00:01:05.680 do, with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

00:01:11.540 Amen. Sarah, tell us a little bit about yourself, because you're a teacher. You've been a teacher

00:01:16.180 more than 20 years. Tell us about your teaching background. How did you end up from America in

00:01:23.180 Scotland anyway? I was living in Oregon with my first civil husband. And when my daughter died

00:01:32.980 of an accidental drowning. And when that happened, my whole life just exploded. And I found myself

00:01:41.020 a single mom. And having never really fended for myself because I'd been a stay-at-home wife and

00:01:47.840 mother all my adult life, I went back to school and got a degree in fashion design because I

00:01:54.300 already knew how to sew very well. And I had planned to work either at The Gap or Nike or

00:02:03.460 Columbia. All those big names are in the area where I trained. However, I wound up meeting

00:02:10.340 a wonderful and beautiful man who was English, and we fell in love. And so instead of staying

00:02:18.000 in the Portland area, I uprooted myself and my son, and we moved to England to be with him.

00:02:24.440 When I began to look for jobs, there wasn't much in the fashion or textile industry in the area

00:02:31.560 where we were living. So I wound up teaching secondary school. And I used my degree because

00:02:39.360 one of the things that you do, it's not considered home ec, it's considered art and design

00:02:45.560 in England, and you teach the kids how to sew, and how to design, and how to market

00:02:51.240 products, essentially, and I taught that for, what, about seven years in a couple of different

00:02:58.620 schools, and then we moved to Canada, and I taught in Canada, and then we moved back

00:03:06.260 to Scotland for family reasons and found myself because, you know, I kind of started teaching in

00:03:13.400 midlife. I was a little bit older and I didn't know anyone. So I started just doing substitute

00:03:19.420 teaching in the area where I live in Scotland. So that's how I wound up here. It's a really

00:03:25.800 fascinating thing. You obviously came, when did you come to your faith? Because I mean,

00:03:32.140 not many people are willing to stand up to their faith, even if asked socially and whatever.

00:03:36.260 but you did that. And what brought you to that faith?

00:03:40.860 Well, it's kind of an interesting story. I was living in Wales not long after high school.

00:03:46.280 I was in, well, I was in my early 20s. I think I was 20. And I was walking down the street in

00:03:52.180 this little town up in North Wales, and it was cold and wet. And I saw that there was a,

00:03:58.580 there was a building with lights on and I wanted to get out of the rain until it let up. And when

00:04:04.460 I went in. It turns out it was a Catholic church at a convent of some kind. And it was so beautiful

00:04:12.940 inside. They were in the middle of a mass. I'd never attended mass, never attended really any

00:04:19.680 Christian service. And there were candles and there were people and it was warm and dark. And

00:04:26.480 it was just, I was just kind of overwhelmed. I was spellbound by the beauty. And I sat down and I

00:04:34.260 actually watch what was happening and pay attention. And I knew, I knew by the middle

00:04:38.920 of that mass that I needed to be Catholic. It was just so strong. It's like, it's as if

00:04:46.320 my guardian angel was going here, pay attention, pay attention. And, you know, after mass,

00:04:52.400 the priest always greets everybody. There's a line for greeting. And I went up to him and I was

00:04:59.120 really nervous because i just thought well this is just crazy what's happening and and i've never

00:05:04.640 even talked to a priest before my goodness and i just blurted out i said i want to be catholic

00:05:10.260 you know and and he chuckled he says well we have a process for that come back you know tomorrow

00:05:17.240 to to the to the church and i'll i'll tell you all about it you know he thought that was really

00:05:22.620 funny and then and then you know i went through uh rica i hadn't even been baptized yet so

00:05:29.360 i but they call this grand slam you know and uh i've you know been very happy and faithful

00:05:39.460 you know since you know i there have been times where i've wandered a little bit but i've always

00:05:45.480 come back. And, and my faith is, is very, very strong. And I love the church and I love God and

00:05:54.280 I'm, I'm here to stay. So not many people get how this happened in the first place. So explain to us

00:06:03.480 what happened. Why did they even start talking about these issues? What happened? How's that

00:06:08.280 in the classroom? Yes, indeed. All these students are asking you about abortion and why? Because I

00:06:14.500 have an american accent every time i walk into a classroom particularly if i hadn't taught any of

00:06:20.320 these kids before and i hadn't one of the first things i'll do is i'll ask how old are you just

00:06:25.780 because i'm curious because the the system is slightly different in in america and canada than

00:06:31.640 it is here so they said oh you know a few of them answered oh we're 15 you know and then then they

00:06:38.180 started asking they said oh are you american it's like yes i said where are you from and i said oh

00:06:43.240 I'm from Georgia. That's the little accent, the soft accent you can still hear. And then kids

00:06:47.700 always will, you know, they'll ask me about, well, what's your favorite fast food place? Or

00:06:52.560 are Yellow Busters real? Or do you eat brisket? Yeah, I don't know what the thing is about brisket. 1.00

00:06:59.120 You know, and, you know, stuff like that, you know, and it happens almost every time. So I've

00:07:06.420 kind of had pat answers for much of it. School shootings is another thing everybody wants to

00:07:12.140 know about. So I was answering these questions, right? And in between, I was saying, let's

00:07:18.440 concentrate on our work now. This happened to be a higher class. They were talking about the 0.90

00:07:24.460 whether work was about the rise of Hitler. And they had a worksheet, they had a small text to

00:07:30.160 read and a worksheet to do. But they wouldn't settle down. They were just really fascinated

00:07:35.760 that I was from America. And at one point in between my, you know, let's get back to work now.

00:07:43.320 Somebody said, well, what do you think about abortion? And I thought for a second and I said,

00:07:50.540 well, as a faithful Catholic, I don't agree with it. I don't support it. And those were my exact

00:07:56.320 words. And I remember that because I very purposely use the word Catholic or not faithful 0.92

00:08:03.500 rather than practicing, because there is some dissent around parishioners.

00:08:10.500 And then one girl said, well, you know, they were kind of like, oh, and then one girl asked

00:08:16.060 me, what about in the case of rape?

00:08:17.680 And I said, well, I don't think it's right to punish a child for something bad that the

00:08:23.420 parent did.

00:08:24.680 And that was the end of it.

00:08:26.060 That's all I ever said about abortion or Catholicism.

00:08:31.300 I never used, you know, any inflammatory language that's often used around the issue.

00:08:37.140 I never tried to persuade anybody.

00:08:40.060 In fact, at one point, after I said, after another set of groans from the girls, I said,

00:08:45.980 well, I know a lot of people disagree and that's okay, right?

00:08:50.760 And mostly I was just trying to be very balanced and very fair, very neutral in it, you know?

00:08:58.200 And I was aware that they were not getting their work done, which is not unusual for a class with a sub.

00:09:06.740 So, you know, and then they started asking me about other social issues and this, that and the other.

00:09:12.040 But that was the end of that.

00:09:15.340 I didn't say anything more about abortion, right?

00:09:20.040 I didn't say it was wrong or unethical or sinful.

00:09:23.100 I didn't call it murder.

00:09:24.400 I never even used the word abortion.

00:09:26.640 Hey, my friends, it's going to be a really historic night.

00:09:30.260 On September the 24th, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will be beatified in St. Louis, Missouri.

00:09:36.420 That same evening, LifeSite News is hosting a special celebratory banquet

00:09:41.860 just steps away from the stadium where the beatification is taking place.

00:09:46.240 We will have Bishop Sheen's own favorite mitre with us for veneration.

00:09:50.820 Come and celebrate Blessed Fulton Sheen with lifelong Sheen promoters, Terry Barber and

00:09:57.700 Alan Smith.

00:09:58.500 Father James Altman, our beloved friend, will also be speaking to us there.

00:10:02.980 And there are only a few tickets left, so be sure to get them while they're available.

00:10:08.520 Hotel rooms are already very difficult to find.

00:10:12.240 Most are already booked, but LifeSite has secured a block of rooms exclusively for those

00:10:17.720 who join us for the dinner.

00:10:19.280 Reserve your seats today.

00:10:20.820 The link is below. I look forward to seeing you in St. Louis.

00:10:27.040 Okay, so here's the weird part. That very day, you go on to sub in other classes for other

00:10:35.700 periods or whatever. And before end of day, you get noticed that you need to come down and talk

00:10:43.560 to the office. And then you're like, oh, tell us that process. And how do you think you got there?

00:10:48.420 Well, earlier that day, I had been offered and accepted a longer assignment at the school, and I was very happy about it because this was probably the first school in Britain that I've ever attended where the kids were actually, you know, respectful and normal.

00:11:06.160 You know, they weren't fighting the teachers or each other, and I really enjoyed these kids.

00:11:13.340 You could actually have a real conversation with these kids.

00:11:16.180 And I had just agreed to another assignment.

00:11:20.600 And I got an email at the end of the day saying, please come down to have a chat.

00:11:28.480 So I thought I was going down to the office to get some paperwork because I'd not been given any paperwork.

00:11:34.720 I didn't have any phone numbers.

00:11:36.820 I didn't know what the fire system was.

00:11:40.400 I didn't know how they dealt with discipline or any about that.

00:11:43.700 And it is normal that when you enter a new school, even as a sub, you get a file full of all these papers and all this information.

00:11:52.580 And so I thought, OK, now I'm going to get all that information because I just agreed to that.

00:11:57.380 Anyway, and I went into the office and the finance manager at the school and the finance manager is the one who arranges for cover.

00:12:06.680 she says sit down and um so I sat down she says I'm gonna have to let you go Sarah

00:12:14.500 and I was just shocked you know and I said well why and she said because you talked about your

00:12:23.600 religion and abortion and I was just totally taken aback and I said but I was just answering

00:12:32.180 their questions, right? I didn't initiate anything. It was, they, they brought up the

00:12:38.380 subject. She goes, well, I'm sorry, the head, meaning the head teacher, the head is just not

00:12:44.160 having it. Who is the head of that organization? I can't remember because I wasn't introduced to

00:12:49.320 her. I'm sorry, but she, she's, she'd be the equivalent of the principal, right? She's the

00:12:54.640 head. And so I said something about, well, I think this is a free speech issue in this,

00:13:01.580 or this says something about the free speech in scotland and i got i quietly got up and left

00:13:08.340 and there was no one else in the office it was just me and her and she and i had been on very

00:13:14.980 good terms because we were both knitters and we talked about yarn and patterns and things

00:13:19.160 i had worked for that school for about three weeks i guess it was my third week of doing

00:13:25.240 cover for them. And I was really looking forward to being the covered teacher they called first,

00:13:33.100 you know, because they knew me and the kids were good. But it just wasn't to be, right? I was not

00:13:40.700 asked for my side of the story. I was not told who is accusing me of what. I was not given any

00:13:50.140 kind of process. There was no warning. There was no, oh, well, here at this school, we'd rather

00:13:57.400 not talk about such things, which would have been fine. And I would agree to that. And I didn't go

00:14:04.180 out of my way to talk about it in the first place. It was the students who started it. I got in touch

00:14:08.500 with another friend of mine who's got contacts with SPUC, which is the equivalent of LifeSite

00:14:14.340 life site news in the uk and they've been very supportive and they're absolutely just amazing i

00:14:21.300 mean they're they're a great organization so yeah society of protection of unborn children yeah very

00:14:27.300 the the major pro-life group in the uk just amazing let me ask you a question i mean you

00:14:31.620 were you were there you know you've been there for years now so you probably know the atmosphere of

00:14:36.980 the place had this been uh muslim and someone asked them the same question and they said well

00:14:48.920 as a muslim uh i i don't support it do you think that might have changed the story or do you think

00:14:55.740 it would uh have been the same outcome my personal opinion is that it probably would have been

00:15:02.660 totally ignored and whoever reported it and it must have been one of the students because there

00:15:08.680 was nobody else there i don't think they would have said anything or or anything you have to

00:15:15.520 understand that in the uk because because there's a state religion right the the church of england

00:15:20.540 in scotland is the church of scotland that uh everybody goes through you know religion classes

00:15:28.180 I mean, it's part of the national curriculum. So, so they, they, it's not like they're not exposed to religion. They are in terms of a state school, right? They have to have it all the way up to year nine, I think.

00:15:43.120 Yeah. Had you said you support a woman's right to choose, do you think there would have been an issue?

00:15:48.800 No, you know what? I think everybody, all the girls would have gone, yay, like this. 1.00

00:15:54.900 It was kind of interesting because at one point in between the question about what your opinion is and what about in rape,

00:16:03.280 that there was a bunch of boys who like made a lot of noise and were clapping, you know, in an exaggerated way.

00:16:10.840 But they were clearly happy with what I said.

00:16:16.720 What an interesting thing.

00:16:18.560 So tell us now, you've launched a suit against the school for wrongful dismissal, or what have you done?

00:16:24.980 Because of my position, because I'm a sub, and that legally puts me in a different category than a true employee, you know, as a lawful term.

00:16:34.300 I've gone to the employment tribunal, and I've started a suit for discrimination, because I really feel like they discriminated against me.

00:16:44.120 A, because of my religion, because I'm Catholic.

00:16:48.300 There's a long history of that in Scotland, of discrimination against Catholics in Scotland.

00:16:54.680 And because I didn't support abortion.

00:16:57.540 So that's the legal category is I was discriminated against because of my religion and beliefs. 0.95

00:17:06.340 And that's protected category.

00:17:08.700 So I'm hoping that something will come out of it and people will pay attention to what's going on in society in Scotland.

00:17:20.900 I mean, I knew Scotland was a little bit or quite a bit to the left in most issues, but I had no idea that you would get fired for not being way to the left.

00:17:38.340 So, you know, particularly in a little small, Arbroath is really just a little fishing town on the ocean, on the eastern coast of Scotland.

00:17:51.020 And I honestly never would have guessed that it was a very liberal, progressive, leftist type place.

00:18:00.280 So I learned my lesson.

00:18:02.560 hey my friends i just heard about a great catholic mobile phone company that gives

00:18:07.620 100 of its profits to traditional catholic religious orders monasteries and catholic

00:18:13.880 media and no i'm not joking they support traditional catholic priests and religious

00:18:19.940 do you even know that every time you make a call send a text or use mobile data your provider

00:18:27.040 earns revenue. Have you ever thought about where that money goes? Many companies support causes

00:18:33.200 that conflict with traditional Catholic values. But now there's a traditional Catholic alternative.

00:18:40.500 It's called iCatholic Mobile. With iCatholic Mobile, you'll get dependable nationwide 5G

00:18:47.260 talk, text, and data service on America's largest network. You'll get also personalized customer

00:18:53.820 support and you can keep your current phone number and right now you'll receive a hundred

00:18:58.460 dollars off any new phone purchase so make the switch today call 802-988-6588 or visit

00:19:06.680 icatholicmobile.com may god bless you i think you did a great service for uh those young people

00:19:14.500 anyway probably caused them to think and maybe that's what's so disturbing your answers however

00:19:20.160 simple uh probably got them to think in a way they never have before i want to say that answer

00:19:27.640 of yours with regard to rape was just beautiful it is so succinct i don't know if you've thought

00:19:33.120 about that for a long time or whatever or the holy spirit just gave that line to you but that's just

00:19:37.220 awesome it just came to me really but but i would have agreed had you asked me about it earlier

00:19:42.120 yeah yeah so but i think i mean and these are young people they're not quite there in terms

00:19:50.480 of their maturity uh and activities outside of school where that might be a problem

00:19:55.520 but it won't be long you know especially these days kids are sexualized so early

00:20:02.160 anymore and and i just thought you know it's good to hear different opinions not i mean if

00:20:10.460 If you're only told one thing by all those in your life in authority, then you're not being educated, you're being indoctrinated, right?

00:20:22.040 And I'm actually nobody to them.

00:20:25.400 I have no consequence to them at all as a supply teacher.

00:20:30.140 And so I thought, well, let them hear it.

00:20:35.120 They're old enough to bring up the subject.

00:20:37.540 They're old enough to hear a differing opinion.

00:20:40.460 And it's not, you know, not everybody agrees that abortion should be just fine.

00:20:46.480 I mean, even the law, there is no right to abortion in the UK, right?

00:20:52.140 You're allowed to have an abortion under certain pretty strict circumstances.

00:20:58.860 And whether those circumstances are stretched or not in the real world is another issue.

00:21:04.340 But there is no, you know, right to an abortion.

00:21:08.940 And frankly, it was only like yesterday that abortion was thought of to be okay.

00:21:16.840 And I just, you know, I just, I don't know, I was stunned.

00:21:19.700 The whole thing just absolutely stuns me.

00:21:21.840 You know what, Sarah, you just said a moment ago that, you know, you're really a nobody to them.

00:21:26.800 Somehow, I think, for the rest of their lives, these children will think back to you as a very important someone in their lives.

00:21:36.640 someone who probably gave them better advice

00:21:40.200 than they've ever heard before.

00:21:42.700 Sarah Morris, I want to thank you so much

00:21:44.300 for being with us, for your courage

00:21:45.680 in taking a stand.

00:21:47.540 And a lot of us will be praying

00:21:49.080 that your suit carries through for justice.

00:21:52.920 Thank you. I appreciate it.

00:21:54.900 Indeed. God bless you.

00:21:55.980 God bless you.

00:21:56.920 And God bless all of you.

00:21:58.280 And we'll see you next time.

00:22:03.420 Hi, I'm Liz Yore.

00:22:04.780 i'm really urging all the audience to continue to follow life site news for all information

00:22:12.220 news about life for a great perspective on all the breaking news in the world thank you

00:22:19.500 you for watching and continue to watch and follow LifeSite News.

The John-Henry Westen Show - July 24, 2026

Here She Is： Catholic Teacher FIRED for Opposing Abortion

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript