Ministerial Exception Applies To Connecticut Discrimination Statutes

Yesterday the Connecticut Appellate Court released its opinion in Rweyemamu v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, (CT App., official release date Dec. 12, 2006), holding that the ministerial exception applies to preclude the state's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, as well as state courts, from exercising jurisdiction over a priest's racial discrimination claim against his diocese. The plaintiff, a black African ordained Catholic priest from Tanzania argued that he was passed over in favor of a less qualified white deacon for the position of parish administrator. Deciding an issue of first impression, the court held that the "ministerial exception" applies to Connecticut's employment discrimination statutes. In order to preserve First Amendment protections, secular institutions must defer to the decisions of religious institutions in their employment relations with their religious employees. The court also concluded that the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act did not displace the ministerial exception. Yesterday's Stamford (CT) Advocate reported on the decision.