Cert. Denied In Massachusetts Church Closing Case

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Maffei v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, (Docket No. 07-558) (order list). In the case, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court had dismissed a challenge to the Archdiocese of Boston's closing of St. James Church in Wellesley, holding that the major claim involved matters of internal church governance that the First Amendment precludes civil courts from deciding. (See prior posting).