The Josephites, the religious order that runs the Catholic boys' school, is suing six renegade members of St. Augustine's 12-member board of directors. The suit says the men usurped their power and staged "an attempted coup" last month by replacing the school's bylaws and by adding 14 members from the St. Augustine community to the seven-member Board of Trustees, an organization heretofore made up only of Josephites that wields power over the board of directors....
The suit represents the latest act in the escalating battle between St. Augustine faculty, parents and alumni and the Baltimore-based order. It started over the school's history of discipline through paddling, but it has morphed into a fight over who will control the 60-year-old school, which has turned out many community leaders.The complaint (full text) in St. Joseph Society of the Sacred Heart, Inc. v. Henry, (ED LA, filed 7/11/2011), asks the court to declare that a June by-law amendment was invalid. Last Monday, the Times-Picayune reported that a mediator who was appointed in the case was making good progress.
Now, according to yesterday's New Orleans Times-Picayune, defendants are seeking to have federal district judge Jay Zainey recuse himself in the case because of "biased" and "insulting" remarks in court and because a Catholic non-profit home for adults with developmental disabilities with which the judge has close ties is connected to the Archdiocese of New Orleans that supports the Josephites. Defendants were planning to file a formal resucal motion with the 5th Circuit yesterday.
Meanwhile, Josephites are trying to deliver an "important letter" to school president Rev. John Raphael who was removed by the Josephites, but who continues to serve as president and is contesting his removal both in a state court breach of contract lawsuit and through Church channels.
