Federal judge dismisses suit against Ursuline-run school, diocese

Published: 2004-11-30

WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) -- A federal judge has dismissed a suit claiming that Ursuline Academy in Wilmington and the Diocese of Wilmington discriminated against a teacher by firing her after she signed an advertisement supporting legal abortion. Judge Kent A. Jordan said Michele Curay-Cramer chose to challenge Catholic teaching against abortion and said the case essentially boiled down to a dispute over church doctrine. "It is not the place of this or any other court to say what system of beliefs constitutes 'true' Catholicism or makes for a 'good' Catholic," Jordan wrote in his 20-page decision, issued Nov. 16. He disregarded Curay-Cramer's contention that a pregnancy-disability amendment to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protected her public dissension from church teaching. Her suit, filed in federal court in November 2003, contended that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act protects individuals from being fired if they speak out in favor of abortion, even if they work for an organization that opposes abortion.

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