Tomic v. Catholic Diocese of Peoria

• Decision Date: 04 April 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-4219.,04-4219.
• Citation: 442 F.3d 1036
• Parties: Richard TOMIC, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF PEORIA, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

442 F.3d 1036

Richard TOMIC, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF PEORIA, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 04-4219.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued December 5, 2005.

Decided April 4, 2006.

Stephen J. Thomas (argued), Peoria, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Karen L. Kendall, Craig L. Unrath (argued), Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, Peoria, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before POSNER, KANNE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

This age-discrimination suit by the former music director and organist of a Catholic diocese, dismissed on a motion to dismiss, requires us to consider the scope of the rule that federal courts may not exercise jurisdiction over the internal affairs of religious associations.

Richard Tomic was employed as the music director and organist both of a Roman Catholic church in Peoria (St. Mary's Cathedral) and of the Peoria diocese itself. The job description for the diocesan position required him "to assist the Office of Divine Worship in preparing and celebrating various diocesan liturgies" and "in planning and celebrating liturgical events as requested." The description of his church job required him to play the organ for masses and other events, including weddings and funerals, and, in his capacity as music director, to "prepare music for all Parish masses and liturgies... in consultation with the Rector/Pastor where necessary," as well as to recruit, train, direct, and rehearse the members of the chorus.

A dispute with the bishop's assistant concerning the scheduling of Easter music culminated in Tomic's dismissal from both positions; he was 50 years old and was replaced by a much younger person. The diocesan employment handbook describes the diocese as "an Equal Opportunity Employer" that does not discriminate on account of race, sex, etc.—including age—with certain exceptions (such as that employees "shall conform to the moral standards of the Catholic faith") that are not claimed to be applicable to Tomic. In dismissing the suit, the district judge did not explore the dispute between Tomic and the bishop's assistant or decide whether age had played any role in Tomic's dismissal.

Federal courts are secular agencies. They therefore do not exercise jurisdiction over the internal affairs of religious organizations. E.g., Jones v. Wolf, 443 U.S. 595, 602, 99 S.Ct. 3020, 61 L.Ed.2d 775 (1979); Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, 426 U.S. 696, 709-10, 713-15, 96 S.Ct. 2372, 49 L.Ed.2d 151 (1976); Presbyterian Church in the United States v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church, 393 U.S. 440, 449-50, 89 S.Ct. 601, 21 L.Ed.2d 658 (1969); Commack Self-Service Kosher Meats, Inc. v. Weiss, 294 F.3d 415, 427-28 (2d Cir.2002); Dixon v. Edwards, 290 F.3d 699, 714-15 (4th Cir.2002); Note, "Judicial Intervention in Disputes over the Use of Church Property," 75 Harv. L.Rev. 1142 (1962). When Article III of the Constitution created the federal judicial power, England had, as part of its established church, ecclesiastical courts (with curious names, such as the "Court of Arches" and the "Court of Peculiars"). 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, ch. 5 (1768). Since the United States was not to have a national church, the federal judicial power was not envisaged as extending to the resolution of ecclesiastical controversies. In contrasting our situation with that of England, the Supreme Court remarked:

In this country the full and free right to entertain any religious belief, to practice any religious principle, and to teach any religious doctrine which does not violate the laws of morality and property, and which does not infringe personal rights, is conceded to all. The law knows no heresy, and is committed to the support of no dogma, the establishment of no sect. The right to organize voluntary religious associations to assist in the expression and dissemination of any religious doctrine, and to create tribunals for the decision of controverted questions of faith within the association, and for the ecclesiastical government of all the individual members, congregations, and officers within the general association, is unquestioned. All who unite themselves to such a body do so with an implied consent to this government, and are bound to submit to it. But it would be a vain consent and would lead to the total subversion of such religious bodies, if any one aggrieved by one of their decisions could appeal to the secular courts and have them reversed. It is of the essence of these religious unions, and of their right to establish tribunals for the decision of questions arising among themselves, that those decisions should be binding in all cases of ecclesiastical cognizance, subject only to such appeals as the organism itself provides for.

Watson v. Jones, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 679, 728-29, 20 L.Ed. 666 (1871); see also Note, supra, at 1155-56.

A suit to remove a priest on the ground that he is a heretic, or to reinstate a parishioner who has been excommunicated, thus has never been justiciable in the federal courts. E.g., Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, supra, 426 U.S. at 698, 96 S.Ct. 2372; Bouldin v. Alexander, 82 U.S. (15 Wall.) 131, 139-40, 21 L.Ed. 69 (1872); cf. Montano v. Hedgepeth, 120 F.3d 844, 850-51 (8th Cir.1997). Even if the suit does not involve an issue of religious doctrine, but concerns merely the governance structure of the church, the courts will not assume jurisdiction if doing so would interfere with the church's management. Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral, 344 U.S. 94, 116, 73 S.Ct. 143, 97 L.Ed. 120 (1952); Young v. Northern Illinois Conference of United Methodist Church, 21 F.3d 184, 187 (7th Cir.1994); Combs v. Central Texas Annual Conference of United Methodist Church, 173 F.3d 343, 350 (5th Cir.1999); EEOC v. Catholic University of America, 83 F.3d 455, 462-63 (D.C.Cir.1996). These cases "affirm the fundamental right of churches to `decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine'." Id. at 462, citing Kedroff; see also Gellington v. Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc., 203 F.3d 1299, 1304 (11th Cir.2000). Also pertinent is NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 440 U.S. 490, 99 S.Ct. 1313, 59 L.Ed.2d 533 (1979). The issue in that case was whether the National Labor Relations Act applied to lay teachers in Catholic schools. The Court held not, because "the resolution of [unfair labor] charges by the [National Labor Relations Board], in many instances, will necessarily involve inquiry into the good faith of the position asserted by the clergy-administrators and its relationship to the school's religious mission. It is not only the conclusions that may be reached by the Board which may impinge on rights guaranteed by the Religion Clauses, but also the very process of inquiry leading to findings and conclusions." Id. at 502, 99 S.Ct. 1313.

Thus "the First Amendment concerns [with assuming jurisdiction in ecclesiastical cases] are two-fold. The first concern is that secular authorities would be involved in evaluating or interpreting religious doctrine. The second quite independent concern is that in investigating employment discrimination claims by ministers against their church, secular authorities would necessarily intrude into church governance in a manner that would be inherently coercive, even if the alleged discrimination were purely nondoctrinal." Combs v. Central Texas Annual Conference of United Methodist Church, supra, 173 F.3d at 350 (citations omitted). This second aspect of the internal-affairs doctrine is called the "ministerial exception" to the exercise of federal jurisdiction. E.g., Alicea-Hernandez v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 320 F.3d 698, 702-03 (7th Cir.2003).

Both aspects govern decision even when—in fact most commonly when—the complaint is not based on and does not refer to religious doctrine or church management (as in most Title VII and other employment-discrimination suits) but it is apparent that a controversy over either may erupt in the course of adjudication. E.g., id.; EEOC v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, 213 F.3d 795, 801 (4th Cir.2000).

The ministerial exception, and the hands-off approach more generally, do not place the internal affairs of religious organizations wholly beyond secular jurisdiction. If a local congregation of a hierarchical sect seized the local church, changed the locks, and declared itself an independent religious organization, a court would, upon suit by the hierarchy, enjoin the seizure. Jones v. Wolf, supra, 443 U.S. at 602-03, 99 S.Ct. 3020; Watson v. Jones, supra, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) at 726-29; Maryland & Virginia Eldership of Churches of God v. Church of God at Sharpsburg, Inc., 396 U.S. 367, 367-68, 90 S.Ct. 499, 24 L.Ed.2d 582 (1970) (per curiam); Church of God in Christ, Inc. v. Graham, 54 F.3d 522, 525-26 (8th Cir.1995); cf. Presbyterian Church in the United States v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church, supra, 393 U.S. at 449-50, 89 S.Ct. 601. Or if to avoid having to pay the minimum wage to its janitor a church designated all its employees "ministers," the court would treat the designation as a subterfuge, see Dole v. Shenandoah Baptist Church, 899 F.2d 1389, 1396-97 (4th Cir.1990); cf. EEOC v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, supra, 213 F.3d at 801; Bollard v. California Province of the Society of Jesus, 196 F.3d 940, 947 (9th Cir.1999), just as the Internal Revenue Service denies tax exemptions to religious associations that are not bona fide. Living Faith, Inc. v. Commissioner, 950 F.2d 365, 372-73 (7th Cir.1991); United States v. Jeffries, 854 F.2d 254, 257 (7th Cir.1988); Spiritual Outreach Society v. Commissioner, 927 F.2d 335, 339 (8th Cir.1991).

These examples show that federal courts cannot always avoid taking a stand on a religious question. In the seizure case, there might be a dispute...