Michele Curay-Cramer v. Ursuline Academy, et al.

Location:  Wilmington, Delaware 
Issue:  Schools, Employment, Associations 
Status:  Closed (Victory!)

Ursuline Academy is a Catholic independent school in Wilmington, Delaware. It was founded in 1893, and is sponsored by the Roman Catholic Order of St. Ursula, begun by St. Angela Merici in Italy 450 years ago. A number of nuns from the order reside in a convent on the school grounds. It is primarily a girls' school, although boys from age three to third grade also attend the school. Classes for girls run through the 12th grade.

On January 22, 2003, the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision legalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade, the Wilmington News Journal ran a full-page ad endorsing abortion rights, including the signatures of hundreds of people supporting that message. Among the signatures was that of Michele Curay-Cramer, a religion teacher at Ursuline. The ad, and Curay-Cramer's very public disagreement with fundamental Catholic teaching on abortion, ran on the very day that some 40 Ursuline students went on a school-sponsored trip to Washington, D.C. for the annual March for Life.

The principal of Ursuline Academy, Barbara Griffin, confronted Curay-Cramer with the ad the day it appeared, and the teacher not only affirmed her pro-choice position on abortion, but added that she'd been doing work for Planned Parenthood on the issue. Griffin said she'd have to consult with others about Curay-Cramer's continued employment at the school. Two days later, she informed Curay-Cramer that she'd either have to resign or be fired. Curay-Cramer asked for the weekend to think about it. On Monday, she refused again to recant her position on abortion and was fired.

On February 23, 2003 Curay-Cramer filed a charge with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charging Ursuline with violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). On August 27, 2003 the EEOC dismissed the case, saying it was "unable to conclude that the information obtained establishes violations of the statutes."

On November 7, 2003 Curay-Cramer filed suit in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, adding as defendants several Ursuline employees and the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and its Bishop.

The federal lawsuit reasserted the EEOC charges, and added state law claims for defamation, invasion of privacy, and (against the Diocese only) a claim of interference with her employment contract. Among other things, Curay-Cramer argued that other teachers at Ursuline disagreed with Catholic teaching on certain issues, such as capital punishment, but had not been similarly punished.

On December 15, 2003, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit (PDF format, 53K), and The Becket Fund joined the case in an "of counsel" role.

On February 3, briefs in support of the motion to dismiss were filed by Ursuline Academy and its employees (PDF format, 142K), and by the Wilmington Diocese and Bishop Michael Saltarelli (PDF format, 130K)

First and foremost, the briefs argue that "The First Amendment prohibits the government from second-guessing any decision . . . to discharge Ms. Curay-Cramer (whose primary duties unmistakably include teaching the Catholic faith) for publicizing in a newspaper her advocacy of abortion rights (unmistakably in conflict with core Catholic teachings).

At least two constitutional provisions apply: "First, the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment guarantee that the government not interfere with a religious group's choice of its ministers, including its teachers. Second, the Free Speech Clause protects the decisions of expressive associations—religious and nonreligious alike—to hire or fire employees based on their agreement or disagreement with the association's message."

The brief for the Diocese notes that the Supreme Court has held that religious institutions retain the "power to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine."

"The right to discharge Curay-Cramer clearly qualifies as a matter of church governance and protects the institution's ability to maintain control over the formulation and expression of its doctrines. A religious institution must retain the ability to apply the sanctions of its choosing when confronted with an employee who renounces in a newspaper of general circulation a core doctrine of that institution."

On November 16, 2004, the United States District Court in Delaware dismissed all claims against Ursuline Academy. The ruling was made by Judge Kent Jordan, Civil Action No. 03-1014-KAJ.

In an unequivocal decision, Judge Jordan called Curay-Cramer's argument that the Catholic school was not a religious institution “patently absurd” and “illogical.”

Asking the court to apply federal employment law in this case would raise “substantial constitutional questions,” Judge Jordan wrote: “Short of a declaration that the Pope should pass draft encyclicals through the courts for approval, it is hard to conceive of a more obvious violation of the free exercise rights of the Catholic Church or a clearer case of inappropriate entanglement of church and state.”

He concluded, “It is not the place of this or any other court to say what system of beliefs constitutes ‘true’ Catholicism or makes for a ‘good’ Catholic. Ours is a system which, wonderfully, forbids any intrusion of the sort.”

Victory for Ursuline!

News Media Coverage:

Judge asked to discard teacher's suit (The News-Journal, by Mary Allen, December 16, 2003) [Links to Delaware News Journal archive]
 

Articles & News Items

• "First Amendment bars teacher's suit against Catholic school, diocese," February 3, 2004
• "Federal court upholds Catholic school’s right to dismiss religion teacher," November 16, 2004
• ""Catholic school has right to reject teacher," Wilmington News Journal, Nov. 19, 2004," November 19, 2004
• "Brief defends freedom of religious schools to choose religion teachers based on religion," March 25, 2005
• "Victory for Ursuline Academy in the Third Circuit," June 7, 2006