Question:
"Karen" < wrote .. Case may open door for priests to sue church http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/02/13/clergy.lawsuit.ap/index.html BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) — The state’s highest court is considering a case that could put a crack in the wall between church and state by allowing an Episcopal priest to sue the church for slander.
+ Karen should read these anti-Catholic bashings before posting them. + This time, it is an Episcopalian priest. + Oh well, it is a priest, and karen can’t tell the difference.
Response:
Case may open door for priests to sue church http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/02/13/clergy.lawsuit.ap/index.html BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) — The state’s highest court is considering a case that could put a crack in the wall between church and state by allowing an Episcopal priest to sue the church for slander. Internal church discipline has traditionally been protected from civil court scrutiny by the First Amendment’s freedom of religion clause. But defrocked priest James Hiles argues the courts should be allowed to intervene when the disputes aren’t centered around religious issues. If the Supreme Judicial Court agrees, it could open the door to suits by priests named in the unfolding sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Hiles said his dispute started when a parishioner bequeathed $2 million to the Church of Our Saviour, in Milton, where he was rector. He argued that the money should go to the church, while the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts claimed a right to the donation. Hiles accused Episcopal Bishop Thomas Shaw of using a false charge of adultery to suspend him and force him to relinquish control of the funds. He said he was slandered when the diocese issued a press release announcing his suspension. A trial court judge threw out several counts in Hiles’ subsequent suit, ruling on First Amendment grounds that the court didn’t have jurisdiction in the case. Last year, a state appeals court overturned parts of the ruling, saying slander and conspiracy, if committed, were "secular acts" that aren’t shielded from the court by the First Amendment. The diocese appealed the case to the Supreme Judicial Court. The diocese’s lawyer, William Looney Jr., is on vacation and did not return a call for comment. In a statement, the diocese said Hiles’ guilt was established in a thorough hearing. "The Episcopal Church is defending its right, protected by the First Amendment, to discipline any cleric found guilty of such misconduct," it said. Experts say the case may have a profound effect on the sexual abuse scandal involving Catholic priests. To rectify claims that it has protected pedophiles, the archdiocese in Boston recently sent prosecutors the names of 80 current and former priests accused of child sex abuse. During arguments in Hiles’ case on February 4, Justice John Greany asked Hiles’ attorney, Stephen Hoctor, whether he felt wrongly accused Catholic priests who were disciplined by the church should be able to sue the church. Hoctor said he answered that he felt they should. Attorney David Yas, publisher of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, pointed to another case argued before the Supreme Judicial Court in which a female Episcopal minister appealed after her gender discrimination suit was dismissed on First Amendment grounds. "This looks like an issue the SJC wants to decide once and for all now," Yas said. — Karen + I don’t know if you are aware of it, but someone using Karen’s name has been sending e-mails to my parish, my parish priest, and Mr Hickey (I think) with copies of those e-mails coming to me. I have copies of these e-mails. P Barker 02/01/2002
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