ST. JOHNS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Saint Joseph Parish in Clinton County filed a lawsuit on December 5th against Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General, Dana Nessel, the Director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, John E. Johnson, and eight other people on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.

The suit was filed in response to a recent ruling made by the Michigan Supreme Court that re-defined the term “sex discrimination” in Michigan’s 1976 Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity-based discrimination.

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Lori Windham, VP and Senior Counsel of the non-profit Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the firm representing the church, says, “Saint Joseph parish exists to pass on the Catholic faith to the next generation and to accomplish that mission, it asks all its staff to uphold the Catholic faith in word and deed, both at the parish and its elementary school.”

She continues, “Michigan’s recent redefinition of sex under state law threatens to undermine this religious mission by making it illegal for Saint Joseph to follow the 2,000-year-old teachings of the Catholic Church on sex, gender and marriage.”

On the Facebook page for the Diocese of Lansing, which the church operates within, they stated, “The lawsuit filed by Becket highlights various scenarios where the new interpretation of the state civil rights act could undermine Saint Joseph’s constitutional right to religious liberty as enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. For example, it notes that Saint Joseph may be held liable for “sex” discrimination whenever biologically male students desire to use the female locker room or play on a female sports team, or whenever a biological male attendee at Holy Mass wants to use the female restroom.”

Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing said in support of the parish, “For almost a century Saint Joseph School has quietly and faithfully taught successive generations of children in the town of Saint Johns to become good, saintly and virtuous citizens who are formed by the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Holy Church on all matters of faith and morals. I therefore fully support the parish community of Saint Joseph in seeking this important legal ruling to ensure that they – and all Catholic schools and institutions in Michigan – remain protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution in order to continue their God-given mission into the next century and beyond.”

The church has served the local Catholic community of St. Johns, Michigan since 1857 and is the only Catholic parish in town. In 1924, they opened the elementary school to provide children in the area with a Catholic education rooted in the teachings of the Church. They ask all staff, from kindergarten teachers to part-time bookkeepers, to be practicing Catholics and to uphold the tenets of the Catholic faith.

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The families who send their children to the school are also expected to support the faith and mission of the school and its Catholic values.

According to the lawsuit, families seeking to send their children to the school agree to a “Family-School Agreement” that requires, among other things, that parents and students agree to “live their lives in a way that supports, rather than opposes, the mission of or school and our faith beliefs” and pledges full cooperation with the school to prepare the children to be disciple(s) of Jesus Christ.

However, the case summary on Becket’s website says that the Michigan Supreme Court’s July 2022 interpretation of a state civil rights statue’s definition of sex to include gender identity without exemption for religious organizations would make it illegal for St. Joseph to operate in accordance with the 2,000-year-old teachings of the Catholic Church on marriage and sexuality. They say that it threatens the school’s right to hire staff who will faithfully pass on the tenets of the faith to the next generation and because St. Joseph welcomes the public to its facilities, it faces the risk of being held liable for discrimination because of its sincere religious beliefs about gender and marriage.

Becket goes on to say, “The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of religious groups – including churches and their schools – to operate in accordance with their religious mission, free from government interference.” The law firm explains that the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently articulated this principle, most recently in “Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru” where the Court held that religious institutions must have the freedom to make internal management decisions free from government interference.