Supreme Court Shields Religious Schools From Employment Lawsuits

[Trader]

In my hometown, if you graph the ACT/SAT scores of the Catholic high schools and public HS, the Catholic and public shools fall into line exactly based on the socio-economic status of the students. That is to say that the Catholic schools aren’t providing a better education, they just attract more affluent students which make them look better.

Benet is in an affluent area, and it outperforms public schools in the area, largely because it is selective in accepting students. Thy are selective because even with a recent building program, they could not possibly accomodate all the applicants. No one disputes that.

My high regard for authentically Catholic schools is that if the students buy in to what they are taught, they will not be falling into poverty. They will not be dropping out, using drugs, spending time in jail, and fighing child support orders. These things are not taught in public schools, and there is more than enough evidence to show that the children of parents who did drop out, use drugs, commit serious crimes, and have children outside of marriage are at a significant disadvantage in school.

Catholic schools really only work when they are teaching the same values that are honored in the home. This is why Catholic schools should never be forced to accept the standards of those who reject the teachings of the Church.

 

[cloistered]

My guess is that the students at Benet come from more affluent families than those of the local public school(s). I have challenged many people to find a Catholic school where that is not true, so far none have found one. That is not to say they don’t exist, but I would venture to say it is rare if it does exist.

Public schools don’t teach dropping out, drug use, spending time in jail, and fighting child support either This is completely anecdotal and based only on one Catholic shool and one public school, but the public school that my children now attends totally trounces the Catholic school they left on teaching Catholic values (not using the Catholic vocabulary that goes along with it, but the spirit of it only).

I agree that Catholic schools should never be forced to teach against Catholic values. I also think that public tax money should never go to Catholic schools.

 

[Padres1969]

It’s not a hypothetical. Look at the cases brought. One was a woman who was diagnosed with cancer and fired from her job whose husband had to continue the case in her stead after she died. The other was fired due to her advanced age. Both were deemed to have been acceptable now by virtue of the expansion of the ministerial exception. It’s obscene.

 

[stpurl]

That is NOT the reason given for the firing; that is what the people’s lawyers claimed was the ‘real reason’. Seriously, this is a standard procedure from any halfway competent lawyer; if a case is brought for termination due to something like classroom management, find something else that you can accuse the school of ‘really doing’.

 

[Padres1969]

lawyers claimed was the ‘real reason’. Seriously, this is a standard procedure from any halfway competent lawyer; if a case is brought for termination due to something like classroom management, find something else that you can accuse the school of ‘really doing’.

Yes that was the reason given, it was also the reason accepted by the court for the firing. They ruled that despite it being a discriminatory firing, it didn’t matter due to the ministerial exception.

 

[stpurl]

I don’t believe that is quite accurate although I may have missed it in all the verbiage; a llink to the actual summation would help.

That being said, is there a reason that you would believe that a religious school (this does not apply simply to Catholic schools) would be looking out to fire people based on ageism and to fire sick people? You really believe then that the reasons the school gave —improper/poor classroom management etc—were not true? You really believe that religious schools are chafing at the bit not to ensure the welfare of their students in not being exposed to scandal from teachers who deliberately and publicly defy teachings, or whose teaching in the classroom is not in accordance with Catholic doctrine despite the teachers agreeing to teach same, but is rather aimed at doing something directly contrary to Christian teaching, which is aimed toward justice, toward helping the sick and caring for the aged, and that instead they’re out to target the old and ill?