In citing the “ministerial exception” that allows religious organizations to determine who can be employed in a religious function, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals again said that clause allowed Roncalli High School, owned by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, to not renew the employment contract of Michelle Fitzgerald, a co-director of guidance at the school.
Both Ms. Starkey and Ms. Fitzgerald claimed the school and archdiocese were in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans sex discrimination. But the school’s attorneys argued the ministerial exception — a provision safeguarding the free exercise rights of religious groups — allowed them to hold employees to their doctrinal standards.
Judge St. Eve said that Ms. Fitzgerald’s admission that she sat on the school’s administrative council — which planned some religious activities for students — buttressed the school’s claim that her position fell under the “ministerial” category.former employee Ms. Starkey was “a minister under the First Amendment’s ministerial exception” and dismissed her claims against Roncalli and the archdiocese.