Patsakis v. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Civil Action No. 03-1851.

Decision Date06 October 2004
Docket NumberCivil Action No. 03-1851.
Citation339 F.Supp.2d 689
PartiesPatricia A. PATSAKIS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA, et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania

Samuel J. Cordes, Colleen Ramage Johnston, OGG, Cordes, Murphy & Ignelzi, Pittsburgh, PA, for Plaintiffs.

OPINION

HARDIMAN, District Judge.

In this Title VII action, plaintiffs Patricia A. Patsakis and Angela Sklavos allege gender discrimination and hostile work environment against the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (Archdiocese) and Greek Orthodox Diocese of Pittsburgh (Diocese of Pittsburgh). Although defendants answered Sklavos' claims, they seek dismissal of Patsakis' claims, arguing lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the "ministerial exception" to Title VII. The court held an evidentiary hearing on May 6, 2004 and the parties submitted proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. After careful consideration of the evidence presented at the hearing and the submissions of counsel, the court finds that subject matter jurisdiction exists over Patsakis' claims.

I. Findings of Fact

The Greek Orthodox Church (Church), like most religious organizations, is hierarchical in structure. The Archdiocese of the United States is governed by an archbishop and eight metropolitan bishops who oversee their respective metropolises, of which Pittsburgh is one. The Pittsburgh metropolis includes fifty-two parishes in most of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and parts of Ohio. In addition, a Greek women's philanthropic organization known as the Philoptochos Society is usually present at each parish. The Metropolitan of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Maximos Aghiorgousis (Bishop), has served in that role for the past twenty-five years. He has ultimate authority over the Pittsburgh Diocese, and his staff acts on his behalf. From time to time the Bishop delegates his authority to members of his staff, such as the registrar and chancellor.

The position of registrar largely involves the administrative review and record-keeping of sacramental documents submitted to the Bishop by priests within the Diocese. The registrar ensures that baptisms, chrismations, weddings, divorces, and funerals are conducted, reported, processed, and recorded correctly. The registrar also reviews and organizes files for parish council ratifications. While the registrar position is administrative, the position of chancellor involves both administrative and pastoral responsibilities. Consequently, a chancellor is normally a priest and is never a layperson. When the position of chancellor is vacant, a layperson may fill it as administrative assistant, but a layperson cannot hold the title of chancellor. Accordingly, women cannot hold the title of chancellor and are not allowed to perform divine liturgies, masses, weddings, baptisms, or funerals in the Greek Orthodox Church.

Patsakis was hired on December 1, 2001 as Registrar of the Pittsburgh Diocese (Registrar). At this time, Father John Panagiotou was serving as Chancellor of the Pittsburgh Diocese (Chancellor). As Registrar, Patsakis received sacramental documents, read them, and then reported to the Bishop if anything was missing or incorrect. Also, all materials for parish council ratifications were sent to Patsakis and she was required to review them, organize the files numerically, and enter the information into a spreadsheet. Patsakis did not complete church sacramental documents; instead, she issued blank documents to priests, who completed the information and returned them. Upon their return, she reviewed the documents on their face to ensure that the information was completed as required based on a checklist that was given to her. If the sacramental documents contained all the requisite information, Patsakis catalogued and filed them without submitting them to the Bishop. If a priest made a mistake, however — for example, by failing to include a birth certificate on a marriage application or by allowing a proposed best man at a wedding to be of a faith other than Greek Orthodox — Patsakis notified that priest and/or the Bishop that the document was missing or incorrect. She never exercised her discretion to determine if any documents were correct under Church doctrine.

Some three months after Patsakis became Registrar, in March of 2002, Father Panagiotou left his position as Chancellor. Faced with a vacancy in the Chancellor's position with no one immediately available to fill it, the Bishop devised a solution. He temporarily split the Chancellor position into two separate positions: a "Pastoral Vicar," who would perform the spiritual functions formerly performed by the Chancellor, and an "Administrative Vicar," who would perform the administrative functions. Deacon Euripides Christiludes was appointed Pastoral Vicar and Patsakis was appointed Administrative Vicar. Neither of these positions, nor even the title "Vicar" itself, is formally recognized in the Greek Orthodox faith, however. The Bishop split the position out of necessity; he wanted Patsakis to fulfill the administrative duties of Chancellor but, consistent with the teachings of the Church, Patsakis could not perform the position's spiritual functions because she is not ordained. Thus, as Pastoral Vicar, Deacon Euripides handled questions from priests regarding religious matters, and Patsakis, as Administrative Vicar, was, in the Bishop's words, his "administrative helper." Furthermore, the Bishop periodically referred to Patsakis as his "Chancellorette," though that title is not officially recognized by the Church.

As Administrative Vicar, Patsakis reviewed the mail with the Bishop on a daily basis, and drafted letters for his signature. Some letters were signed by the Bishop, his signature stamp was affixed to others, and Patsakis signed some letters under her own name. For example, she prepared letters to judges regarding the inability of the Bishop and parish priests to sit as jurors in civil or criminal matters and she wrote thank you letters to donors. Generally, these were form letters found in the computer and she gave them to the Bishop for his approval. The Bishop normally reviewed and approved all correspondence sent from the Diocese, but on at least one occasion, Patsakis prepared a letter to the parish council in York, Pennsylvania on behalf of the Bishop, which the Bishop directed but did not review before it was sent.

Patsakis also liaised between the Bishop on the one hand and clergy and laity on the other hand. Patsakis corresponded with parish priests regarding the Bishop's schedule and the clergy-laity assemblies. Similarly, she received complaints and repeated them to the Bishop, who then decided how to handle them. Patsakis also corresponded with parishes regarding their annual monetary commitments/assessments under the Total Commitment Program, though there is no indication that she had authority to set the amounts of such commitments. Finally she handled the finances for the youth ministry.

In an Archdiocese "Employee Profile," Patsakis listed her job as Administrator/Registrar and listed her responsibilities as follows: overseeing administrative operations, working with His Eminence (the Bishop), registry, coordinating office resources, and working on parish assessments. For most of Patsakis' time at the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Bishop was her immediate and only supervisor.

Worried that some within the Diocese felt she was not performing all the tasks she was given, Patsakis composed a memorandum in June 2002 in which she documented her concerns and frustrations. Patsakis noted that she was hired ostensibly as Registrar but was advised that she would also serve informally as "Camp Coordinator for the Camp at Mount Tabor." She also stated that after Father Panagiotou's departure, she had been called upon to assume the duties of Chancellor in addition to her duties as Registrar and Mount Tabor Camp Coordinator. The Bishop called her his "Chancellorette" and announced on many occasions that she had become "Diocesan Administrator." Patsakis lamented that, in addition to her duties as Registrar, "[b]udget and assessment tasks were heaped upon [her] from the Archdiocese" and that she had been called upon to "mediate parochial problems" at parishes in Youngstown, Cleveland, and York. She also complained that taking the Bishop to doctors' appointments and arranging his health insurance coverage had distracted her from her many other duties.

II. Standard of Review

Under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the movant may make a facial or a factual challenge to subject matter jurisdiction. Mortensen v. First Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n, 549 F.2d 884, 891 (3d Cir.1977). A factual challenge, like the one defendants make here, challenges the court's power to hear the case. In Mortensen, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit articulated the standard of review as follows:

[I]n a factual 12(b)(1) motion ... there is substantial authority that the trial court is free to weigh the evidence and satisfy itself as to the existence of its power to hear the case. In short, no presumptive truthfulness attaches to plaintiff's allegations, and the existence of disputed material facts will not preclude the trial court from evaluating for itself the merits of jurisdictional claims. Moreover, the plaintiff will have the burden of proof that jurisdiction does in fact exist.

Id. The propriety of asserting the "ministerial exception" defense through a 12(b)(1) motion, as defendants have done here, is well-established. See Alicea-Hernandez v. Catholic Bishop of Chi., 320 F.3d 698 (7th Cir.2003); Bollard v. Cal. Province of the Soc'y of Jesus, 196 F.3d 940 (9th Cir.1999); Combs v. Cent. Tex. Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, 173 F.3d 343 (5th Cir.1999); Bryce v. Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Colo., 121 F.Supp.2d 1327 (D.Colo.2000); Smith v. Raleigh Dist. of the...

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