NEWS RELEASE
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CONDEMNS DECISION IN
BARRETT V. FONTBONNE ACADEMY
The
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today condemned the decision of
Norfolk County Superior Court Justice Douglas H. Wilkins in Barrett v. Fontbonne Academy, which
granted summary judgment to a homosexual man who sued the Catholic
school---administered by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph
of Boston---after it reversed a decision to hire him upon learning that
he had contracted a civilly recognized marriage with another man.
In June, 2013, Michael Barrett of Dorchester applied for the position of Food Services Director at Fontbonne
Academy in Milton. On July 9, 2013, following an interview during which
Barrett responded affirmatively to a question about his support for the
principle that all employees of the Catholic school should be
"ministers of the mission," Barrett was offered and accepted the
position for which he had applied.
Later
that same day, Barrett completed a new hire form in which he listed his
civil husband as an emergency contact. On July 12, 2013, Barrett was
informed that he could not be hired because his homosexual relationship
was incompatible with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
Barrett, represented by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, (GLAAD), brought suit against Fontbonne Academy, alleging discrimination in employment.
In finding for Barrett, Judge Wilkins---a Governor Deval Patrick appointee who served as First Assistant Attorney General under Attorney General L. Scott Harshbarger---ruled
that the Catholic school violated Massachusetts anti-discrimination
law, was not exempt as a religious institution from that law, and
enjoyed no constitutional protections in this matter.
The
Catholic Action League called Judge Wilkins decision "a frontal assault
on religious freedom, an appalling subordination of the First Amendment
to the Massachusetts gay rights law, and a victory by homosexual
activists in their campaign to coerce Christians into compliance with
same sex marriage."
Catholic
Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following
comment: "Religious liberty is guaranteed not only by the Free Exercise
clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but even more
broadly, by Article II of the Declaration of Rights of the Massachusetts
Constitution. Religious freedom consists not merely of the right to
worship, but of the right of religious institutions to govern their
internal affairs free of state interference."
"Judge
Wilkins's decision would compel Catholic institutions to hire those who
reject and despise Catholic teaching, fatally impairing the
constitutionally protected right of those institutions to carry on their
mission. This is precisely the sort of 'excessive entanglement' of
government with religion decried and prohibited by the U.S. Supreme
Court in Lemon v. Kurtzman."
"The
judge's ruling does underscore two facts---the charade-like character
of the religious exemption to the 1989 Bay State gay rights law, which
we warned against at the time, and the prophetic nature of the
dissenting opinion of Justice Clarence Thomas in Obergefell, which held that same gender marriage will have 'potentially ruinous consequences for religious liberty.'"
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