Written by Don Byrd
Christa Dias received a jury verdict of $170,000 earlier this month in her suit against the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for wrongful termination. Ms. Dias was a computer teacher, a role which the trial court found was not “ministerial” and thus did not allow the defendants to argue an exemption from employment discrimination laws.
Now, the Archdiocese has filed a notice of appeal in the case. The Huffington Post Religion blog suggests the appeal’s will implicitly argue, among other things, for an expansion of the scope of the ministerial exception.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati, however, argued that Dias is a minister despite the fact that the schools hired her to teach computers, with full knowledge that she is not even Catholic. It claimed that Dias is a minister of the Catholic Church because she is a “role model.” On this theory, every employee of a Catholic school is a minister.
Should all “role models” be allowed to count as ministerial positions? In a school setting, what job would not be a role model occupation?
