Michigan Catholic parishes ask court to protect their right to uphold religious beliefs
Attorneys representing Catholic parishes in Michigan were in federal court Tuesday seeking to conduct business according to their faith, which they believe the new interpretation of a state civil rights law imperils.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit heard oral arguments in the case of St. Joseph Parish vs. Nessel Tuesday. The case dates back to 2022, when St. Joseph’s Catholic Parish in St. Johns, Michigan, filed a complaint over the state’s new interpretation of civil rights law to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity under the umbrella of sex discrimination, which is banned under state law.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, names Michigan’s Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel and Michigan Department of Civil Rights Executive Director John E. Johnson Jr. and members of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission as defendants. Lori Windham, an attorney at the religious liberty law firm Becket that is representing the church in ongoing litigation, expounded on the implications of the law and the arguments the church was making in an X thread posted Tuesday.
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“St. Joseph opened an elementary school in 1924 to provide local families with a Catholic education rooted in the teachings of the church. Like many religious schools, St. Joseph hires teachers and staff who support and advance the Catholic faith,” she explained. “St. Joseph also asks all staff — from kindergarten teachers to part-time bookkeepers — to be practicing Catholics and to uphold the faith. St. Joseph also follows Catholic teaching on issues like pronouns and separate girls’ and boys’ bathrooms and locker rooms.”
Windham lamented that “Michigan recently revised its civil rights laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity, without any protection for religious organizations like St. Joseph.” She noted that “Michigan doesn’t deny that it could punish St. Joseph simply for following its faith,” adding, “Michigan told St. Joseph it now must ask permission from the State’s Civil Rights Commission whenever it wants to ask Catholic employees to follow Catholic teaching.”
“Meanwhile, St. Joseph risks being sued in all its public activities — at the parish, the school, and its services to the community — simply for upholding Catholic teaching,” she warned. “Michiganders don’t need a permission slip from bureaucrats in Lansing to practice their religious beliefs. The court should reject this irresponsible law and let institutions like St. Joseph get back to freely serving their schools, churches, and communities.”
William Haun, senior counsel at Becket, who defended the church before the court on Tuesday, released a statement maintaining that “Michigan politicians are chilling St. Joseph and hundreds of other religious ministries out of staying true to their faith. That is irresponsible — the First Amendment prohibits scaring religious institutions into abandoning their religious ways of life.”
St. Joseph isn't the only Catholic parish in Michigan to file a complaint against the state’s new interpretation of civil rights law. Lawyers with Alliance Defending Freedom, representing Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Sacred Heart Academy that it operates, were also in federal court Tuesday.
In a statement released ahead of oral arguments Tuesday, ADF Legal Counsel Cody Barnett declared, “The Constitution is clear: Religious schools are free to operate according to their beliefs.”
Noting that “a federal district court — as well as the U.S. Supreme Court — have concluded that government officials can’t target faith-based organizations simply for adhering to their religious beliefs,” Barnett expressed concern that “Michigan is forcing Sacred Heart to make an impossible choice between teaching and practicing the Catholic faith or closing their doors forever — all while denying parents the right to direct the upbringing and education of their children.”
“The parish has faithfully served Grand Rapids families for more than a century, and its school provides a rich academic and spiritual environment for hundreds of children,” he added. “We are urging the 6th Circuit to allow their lawsuit to continue so they can take steps toward serving their community without fear of government punishment.”
Both St. Joseph and Sacred Heart have taken their cases to appellate court after the same judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan dismissed their complaints last year. Judge Jane Beckering, appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden, asserted in an August 2023 order that Sacred Heart and six parents whose children attended the school that joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs “have failed to supply some indication of imminent enforcement.”
“Mere allegations of a ‘subjective chill’ are alone insufficient to establish an injury-in-fact for standing purposes,” she wrote. “Plaintiffs opine that Sacred Heart is ‘in the crosshairs of both the law and enforcement officials’ … but the Court concludes that the allegations in their Verified Complaint do not make either proposition plausible.”
Beckering used similar language when issuing an opinion dismissing St. Joseph’s case on the same day, reaching the same conclusion that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the lawsuit in the first place.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
