Tiny Catholic School Sues City to Protect Civil Rights and Religious Freedom

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Hard to decide whether this belongs in News section or Traditional Catholicism. In any case it may be of particular interest to those who favor traditional values and the great books in education.

"When I founded The Lyceum in 2003, along with a couple of other teachers, a handful of adventurous students and their daring parents, none of us ever envisioned that our small school would ever be involved in a serious battle to “protect civil rights” and “religious freedom.”

Back in 2003, we thought that the only battle we would have to wage was with the intellectual customs of the day that frowned upon teaching things like Latin and Greek, Euclid and Homer, the Great Books of the Western World, and the Catholic Faith.

We knew it would be a hard sell to persuade parents and students to attend a school which prized the teachings of ancient authors like Aeschylus, Aristotle and Aquinas and simultaneously proposed to make singing sacred polyphony mandatory.

But now, sixteen years later, confronted with a local law masquerading as an “anti-discrimination ordinance,” our little school is fighting for the simple right to exist. Now, the school has a bigger challenge than simply recruiting students who want a classical liberal education."

 
It should be noted that the Lyceum is not a diocesan school. It leases a building from a local parish, but it’s operating independently of the Diocese of Cleveland. Nor does it appear to be operated by a religious order like several of the local Catholic high schools. And its headmaster is a layman with a law degree. So it’s not clear to me whether a court would recognize it as a religious school.

I’m sure South Euclid, which is essentially Podunk, didn’t want a big court case over this, but it will be interesting to see what happens. To my knowledge there has been no issue with the actual Catholic schools in the area being hassled over hiring policies.
 
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Yes, I think that is right. The city ordnance originally added a religious exemption, but it was removed. Now the city refuses to say whether or not the Lyceum will be allowed to act on its religious principles. The school’s suit is attempting to clarify the matter.
 
I don’t doubt they fear it if their headmaster is an attorney. He’s worried about risk. No doubt he also sees the opportunity to send a message and get publicity for his school.
 
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