DES MOINES &#8212 Tom Girsch worked for three decades as a teacher and coach at Columbus High School, a Catholic school in Waterloo. Now he’s lost his job and benefits – all because he broke church law by not getting an annulment.

Girsch has taken the matter to court, suing the Cedar Valley schools and the Dubuque Archdiocese for breach of contract.

“Fighting the church is difficult for us,” said Girsch, 59. “They never want to talk about the legal part of this. They wrote a contract stating if I fulfilled it I could teach. I fulfilled it.”

The trouble started for Girsch when he married a Catholic widow in August 2006, nine years after divorcing his first wife.

In the year after his second wedding, Girsch negotiated a revised contract, the school board took two votes on whether he could stay, and the archbishop weighed in on the controversy. In the end, the social studies teacher was forced to resign.

“We didn’t think the marriage was going to cause trouble,” Girsch said. “But a few days after the ceremony, I got called to the office. .They asked if I got an annulment. I said I hadn’t. Then they asked if I was aware that they could terminate me.”

However, the school and archdiocese negotiated a revised contract. The agreement, signed Sept. 7, specified that Girsch would immediately seek an annulment through the archdiocese. If the annulment wasn’t granted, he would submit his resignation,

Although many Catholics receive annulments, Girsch’s request was denied.

Girsch submitted his resignation July 12, but the Cedar Valley school board voted not to accept it. The vote was announced, the room burst into applause.

Soon after Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus sent a letter to the school board insisting that the board follow church law and archdiocesan policy.

A board meeting was called for Aug. 6 in which the board reversed itself, voting unanimously to accept Girsch’s resignation.

“Tom was the face of Columbus High School and after 32 years, they threw him away without pension or retirement,” said Kathy McCoy, a friend of the Girsch family. “That’s great thanks for all the students he’s helped. It’s difficult not to be bitter.”

When it comes to church matters, the archbishop holds all the authority, according to Waterloo attorney Tim Luce, a former Cedar Valley board president.

“The archbishop is the president of every corporation in the church. It’s a tough deal,” he said. “This would have been easier if Tom hadn’t been such a good teacher.”