Supreme Court Defers to Canon Law in Catholic School Decision, by Patrick Reilly

The Court’s ruling rests on whether an employee is a ‘teacher of religion’ and therefore a minister of the faith.

By Patrick Reilly, EWTN News, 7/8/20

There is an admirable concession to Catholic Church authority in the Supreme Court’s July 8 ruling on the “ministerial exception” for Catholic schools.

Justice Samuel Alito, in his majority opinion for Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Agnes Morrissey-Berru, defers to the authority of the Catechism and the Church’s canon law with regard to Catholic education.

In Guadalupe, the Court ruled that two Catholic school teachers, despite teaching secular subjects in addition to religion, are “ministers” of the Catholic faith whose employment is a religious matter that lies outside the jurisdiction of secular courts.

To justify this finding, Alito turns to the Catholic Church’s own requirements for Catholic school teachers:  ….

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