The U.S. Supreme Court will decide two religious freedom cases concerning Catholic schools during its upcoming term, the court announced on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
The court consolidated the cases Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James Catholic School v. Biel, and will consider them together.
Both lawsuits concern teachers at Catholic schools who did not have their contracts renewed, apparently after poor performance. In one case, a teacher sued, claiming age discrimination, and in the other, sued claiming that she was discriminated against rights established by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Parents trust Catholic schools to assist them in one of their most important duties: forming the faith of their children,” Montserrat Alvarado, vice president and executive director at Becket, the law firm providing counsel in both cases, said in a statement to Catholic News Agency.
In the cases in question, courts disagreed that the teachers were in “ministerial” roles at the school. In the Our Lady of Guadalupe School case, Agnes Morrissey-Berru, a teacher at the school in Hermosa Beach, taught religion and led students in prayer. In 2015, her teaching contract expired and was not renewed. She claimed her contract was not renewed because of her age; the school says that she was not a good teacher and received complaints. The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Morrissey-Berru.
Kristin Biel was a fifth-grade teacher at St. James Catholic School in Torrance. Her contract was not renewed. She claims that the school opted not to renew her contract after she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. As with Our Lady of Guadalupe School, the Ninth Circuit also ruled in favor of Biel and against the school.
Biel was the only fifth-grade teacher at the Catholic school, yet was judged by the court not to have a “ministerial” role in the faith formation of her students….
The following comes from a Dec. 18 story on website of the Catholic News Agency.
Its gotten to the point where I think everything about the Church and its bureaucracy and bishops and clergy and schools is corrupt. Hope these teachers win and get large judgments. The church is just a business.
I’m siding with the Becket Law Fund and what they said: “Do we really want judges, juries, or bureaucrats deciding who ought to teach Catholicism at a parish school, or Judaism at a Jewish day school? Of course not.
The Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, will rule in favor of the diocese…not the teachers. The current majority on the Court has consistently ruled against workers and for the business/corporations.
I believe the conservative majority is finally saying enough is enough and ruling against the fascist tactics of the Left, by supporting religious liberty and the free speech rights of everyone, not just the select few who think their values or lack of, should take priority.
Unless these two whiners have something in their contract, they’re rebels without a clause.
May the Supremes strike a blow for Freedom and rule the Americans with Disabilities Act unconstitutional which it manifestly is.