Bollard

We must decide in this case whether the so-called “ministerial exception” to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars plaintiff John Bollard’s claim of sexual harassment against the Jesuit order. Simply stated, the ministerial exception insulates a religious organization’s employment decisions regarding its ministers from judicial scrutiny under Title VII. The Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment compel this exception to the otherwise fully applicable commands of Title VII when the disputed employment practices involve a church’s freedom to choose its ministers or to practice its beliefs. Because Title VII applies without a constitutionally compelled exception where, as here, the defendant church is neither exercising its constitutionally protected prerogative to choose its ministers nor embracing the behavior at issue as a constitutionally protected religious practice, we find that plaintiff Bollard has stated a claim sufficient to overcome a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).

I. Background

In August 1988, plaintiff John Bollard became a novice of the Society of Jesus, an order of Roman Catholic priests more…