A clash of rights has provoked St. Joseph’s Catholic Church of St. Johns, Michigan, to pick a legal fight with the state.
In a complaint filed with the United States District Court of Western Michigan on Dec. 5, the parish asserts that in light of the redefining of the phrase “biological sex” in the state’s civil rights statute it is impossible for it to remain true to the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage, transgenderism, and homosexuality, without breaking state law.
The suit seeks to head off possible discrimination complaints, investigations, fines, and other legal actions by state civil rights authorities over the church and school’s hiring practices, admission criteria, and code of conduct for both students and staff.
The plaintiff asked a federal judge for a series of injunctions to preemptively block the state from interfering with the mission and operations of its church and school.
Since the 1920s, the church has operated an elementary school to provide children with what it calls “a Catholic education.”
To advance its mission, the school requires all students, teachers, and staff to adhere to “religiously-motivated” standards of conduct and to “uphold Catholic teachings,” the pleading said.
The complaint reads in part, “Michigan’s new understanding of ‘sex’ discrimination deems it unlawful for St. Josephs to follow the 2,000-year-old teachings of the Catholic Church, including its teaching that marriage is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman, that sexual relations are limited to marriage, and that human beings are created as either male or female.”
In recent years, Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, the defendants in the case, have broadened discrimination prohibitions on the basis of biological sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Their reinterpretation of Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1977 (ELCRA) was allowed to stand by a decision of the state Supreme Court in July of 2022.
The plaintiff’s attorney, Will Haun, senior counsel at The Becket Fund of Washington, a nonprofit, public interest, legal foundation specializing in religious liberty cases, told The Epoch Times, “Michigan is a national outlier because most non-discrimination laws contain broad exemptions for religious employers. Michigan does not.”
Haun said that when the Michigan Supreme Court changed the definition of sex discrimination, it did not give any protections for religious groups.
“That happened because Michigan officials had already started investigating people based on this new understanding of ”sex” discrimination years before the court ruled—before it was ever the law.
“Michigan’s zeal only underscores the threat to St. Joseph’s religious freedom and why it needs relief now,” he said.
With no applicable religious exemption under the statute, the parish says it was forced to sue to affirm its constitutional rights in order to ward off state prosecution and severe penalties.
If a liability is found, under the law, substantial damages can be awarded to a complainant for mental and emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, anguish, and outrage.
All that is required for evidence of discrimination is the complainant’s testimony.
St. Joseph’s pleadings cited potential scenarios where the civil rights of individuals from protected groups will come in direct conflict with church and school policies that affirm that “men and women, boys and girls, should be treated according to their biological sex, including in dress, personal pronouns, participation in sports teams, and use of bathrooms, locker rooms, or other single-sex spaces.”
Under ELCRA, the liability affects not only the school, but also extends to the athletic field, gymnasium, church building, and the nearby Knights of Columbus Hall; because the facilities host activities or are rented for events that are open to the public.
Michigan law also bans the church from advertising its views involving human sexuality because such business postings deny visitors, as well as prospective students and employees, the full and equal enjoyment of its goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations.
For example, the church requiring an altar server to agree with Catholic teachings is sufficient cause under ELCRA to trigger a discrimination lawsuit because the policy made the volunteer feel “unwelcome.”
Refusal by the church to approve a biological male as a Godmother or a biological female as a Godfather could cause certain individuals to feel uncomfortable, which is enough to provoke a sex discrimination action, according to the complaint.
Management decisions involving the church’s retention of current employees who do not continue to adhere to the code of conduct will also be affected.
The Becket Fund said in a statement, “The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of religious groups—including churches and their schools—to operate in accordance with their religious mission, free from government interference.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently articulated this principle … that religious institutions must have the freedom to make internal management decisions like deciding who will teach and lead the religious community.”
The 45-page complaint alleges that Michigan’s civil rights law infringes on St. Joseph’s church autonomy as defined in the First Amendment and its equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
The parish asked the court to declare that the U.S. Constitution protects its ability to maintain religious policies and codes of conduct for employees, students, and families.
Plaintiff requested temporary and permanent injunctions to prevent Attorney General Nessel and the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from enforcing the state’s civil rights laws in a manner that would require St. Joseph Parish to hire employees and admit students who do not share its beliefs.
“For almost a century, Saint Joseph School has quietly and faithfully taught successive generations of children in the town of St. Johns to become good, saintly, and virtuous citizens who are formed by the teaching of Jesus Christ and His Holy Church on all matters of faith and morals,” said Bishop Earl Boyea of the Lansing Diocese in a press release.
Boyea stated that he supported the efforts of St. Joseph Parish to protect the First Amendment rights of itself and other churches to carry on their mission.
St. Joseph Catholic Church is also represented in the case by attorney William Bloomfield of Lansing.
Spokespersons for the attorney general’s office and the Michigan Civil Rights Commission could not be reached for comment.
