CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- A federal court ruled Friday that the Archdiocese of New York had the right not to hire a diocesan school principal in a First Amendment religious freedom decision.<\/p>\n\u201cThe court saw right through this blatantly anti-Catholic lawsuit, agreeing with the Supreme Court that the church, not the state, should pick religious leaders,\u201d Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel at Becket, which represented the archdiocese in court, stated July 14 in reaction to the decision.<\/p>\n
The case before the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals involved St. Anthony\u2019s school in Nanuet, N.Y., 35 miles north of New York City.<\/p>\n
The school had decided in 2011 not to renew the contract of its then-principal Joanne Fratello because of her alleged \u201cinsubordination\u201d shown to the pastor of St. Anthony\u2019s parish.<\/p>\n
Fratello later alleged that the contract decision was a case of sex-based discrimination, and she filed a lawsuit against the school and the archdiocese. She said that she had been hired in a lay capacity, and thus the archdiocese would not be exempt from a discrimination lawsuit under the \u201cministerial exception.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cministerial exception\u201d forbids the government from intervening in the employment of a minister by a church, as part of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n
The exception was upheld in 2012 in the Supreme Court\u2019s Hosanna-Tabor decision, which clarified that the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School\u2019s decision to fire a teacher who had the title of \u201cminister\u201d and who worked in a ministerial capacity could not merit an employment discrimination claim.<\/p>\n
Regarding Fratello\u2019s claim, the archdiocese argued in court that she had indeed been hired on a ministerial basis and that their decision not to renew her contract was protected under the ministerial exemption.<\/p>\n
Becket clarified that Fratello was given a \u201clay\u201d contract for her job as a principal not because her job was a secular position, but because she was not a religious who had taken a vow of poverty. A diocesan priest would have received a similar contract for the job, Rassbach explained.<\/p>\n
On Friday, two judges for the Second Circuit and one district court judge upheld a district court decision that favored the archdiocese.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe conclude that the plaintiff?s claims are barred because she is a minister within the meaning of the exception,\u201d the opinion said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough her formal title was not inherently religious, the record reflects that, as part of her job responsibilities, she held herself out as a spiritual leader of the school and performed many religious functions to advance its religious mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judges cannot ultimately determine whether ministerial cases constitute true discrimination, the opinion stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cJudges are not well positioned to determine whether ministerial employment decisions rest on practical and secular considerations or fundamentally different ones that may lead to results that, though perhaps difficult for a person not intimately familiar with the religion to understand, are perfectly sensible \u2013 and perhaps even necessary \u2013 in the eyes of the faithful,\u201d the opinion said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Abrahamic religious traditions, for instance, a stammering Moses was chosen to lead the people, and a scrawny David to slay a giant.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hosanna-Tabor case presented several standards to determine one\u2019s ministerial capacity, the judges said, including the \u201cformal title\u201d of their job, the use of that title by both the subject and employer, and the \u201creligious functions\u201d of the job.<\/p>\n
Fratello met these conditions as a minister, they wrote, as she performed a myriad of religious duties as a principal and had even touted her own \u201cstrong Catholic faith\u201d when she applied for the position.<\/p>\n
Her religious duties included organizing and leading public prayer over the school loudspeaker, helping plan school Masses and religious assemblies, and encouraging students to attend Mass and grow in their spiritual lives.<\/p>\n
In her evaluation by the parish pastor at the end of her first term as principal, Fratello was reviewed on her ability to establish a \u201cChristian atmosphere\u201d at the school, how well she had fostered a \u201ccomprehensive religious education program,\u201d and whether she had promoted \u201ca strong program of evangelization.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the archdiocese\u2019s administrative manual for the archdiocesan schools, a cover letter written by the late Cardinal Edward Egan of New York stated that the school principals had \u201caccepted the vocation and challenge of leadership in Catholic education.\u201d<\/p>\n
In conclusion, the judges stated that \u201calthough Fratello?s formal title was not inherently religious, the record makes clear that she held herself out as a spiritual leader of the School and performed many important religious functions to advance its Roman Catholic mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ministerial exception thus bars her employment?discrimination claims because she was a minister within the meaning of the exception,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Fratello\u2019s lawyer had drawn controversy for a scathing reply he had authored in response to an amicus brief filed on behalf of the archdiocese by the Orthodox Church of America.<\/p>\n
He wrote that \u201corganized religion\u201d is a threat to \u201cenlightened rationality,\u201d and called the Roman Catholic Church \u201cthe most powerful church on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American founders, he said, were \u201cpeople of the Age of Enlightenment\u201d and believed that \u201cthat organized religion and religious dogma are dangerous to a society, and what a society needs is enlightened rationality.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that \u201cour American democracy\u201d could be \u201cundermined if religious groups religious groups can propagandize and indoctrinate school children without the constraint of a loyal American citizen and educator (e.g., a lay school teacher or principal) insisting that secular curriculum be properly taught.\u201d<\/p>\n
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New York City, N.Y., Jul 14, 2017 \/ 05:00 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A federal court ruled Friday that the Archdiocese of New York had the right not to hire a diocesan school principal in a First Amendment religious freedom decision.<\/p>\n
“The court saw ri…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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