(INDIANAPOLIS) – The firing of a Cathedral High School teacher who married his same-sex partner is now before the Indiana Supreme Court.
Joshua Payne-Elliott has already settled a lawsuit against Cathedral, but a second lawsuit charges the Indianapolis Archdiocese ordered the school to fire him. That case is stalled by a legal dispute over whether the archdiocese can be sued at all.
Archdiocese attorney Luke Goodrich told the Supreme Court the church has the exclusive right to handle internal church affairs related to religious teachings, unless criminal activity is involved. He says the Vatican is currently reviewing whether it was appropriate under church canon law to fire Payne-Elliott after his marriage became publicly known.
Attorney Matthew Gutwein argues the church is effectively telling the courts to take its word for it that Payne-Elliott’s firing was based on a doctrinal dispute. He says the church has refused to turn over documentation of when the directive was issued to the school, what it said, and whether it came directly from Archbishop Charles Thompson or someone else.
Gutwein argues the case is a straightforward breach of contract case: Payne-Elliott had a contract, and the archdiocese ordered the school to break it and fire him. He contends the church’s First Amendment protections don’t exempt it from contract law, any more than churches have been exempted from child labor or minimum wage laws in other cases.
The Supreme Court isn’t deciding whether Payne-Elliott was wrongfully fired, but whether the church’s authority over religious affairs means the case should be dismissed outright, or if Payne-Elliott can demand documentation of the firing directive and other evidence. Goodrich, the archdiocese attorney, says the other evidence at issue includes disciplinary records of other employees accused of violating church doctrines on issues from contraception to adultery, and how those cases were handled. He argues allowing the case to go forward would both interfere in the church’s internal affairs and invade those staffers’ privacy.
A Marion Superior Court judge sided with the archdiocese, but the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed that decision, saying the pretrial process should go forward.
Chief Justice Loretta Rush did not participate in the case, meaning it’ll be decided by the remaining four justices. A 2-2 tie vote would let stand the Court of Appeals ruling.
