N.J. Teacher Placed on Leave Over Surrogacy

Jadira Bonilla, a 35-year-old kindergarten teacher at St. Mary School in Vineland, N.J., was placed on paid administrative leave on Sept. 12 after notifying school and diocesan officials that she is serving as a gestational surrogate and is about 25 weeks pregnant. The Diocese of Camden says the surrogacy may violate her employment contract and Catholic teaching and is investigating; the principal called her a “valued teacher” and a meeting with church and school officials has been scheduled. Bonilla says her contract does not explicitly ban surrogacy, that she previously served as a surrogate while employed at another Catholic school, and that she has received no written explanation for the leave. Her faculty webpage has been removed, and her future employment is uncertain while the diocese completes its review. The case highlights broader church opposition to surrogacy — including Pope Francis’s 2024 call for a worldwide ban — and intersects with New Jersey legal precedent that gives religious institutions leeway to make employment decisions based on faith tenets.