On August 6, 2024, the Nebraska Supreme Court relied on the Ministerial Exception to decide a case between a priest and his employer (See Syring v. Archdiocese of Omaha, 317 Neb. 195).
In 2013, an allegation was made against Catholic priest Andrew J. Syring of the Archdiocese of Omaha that Syring had taken part in sexual misconduct with a minor. After a thorough investigation by law enforcement and a retired federal agent, “no wrongdoing was identified.” Many evaluations were done on Syring in two different treatment facilities, which all concluded that Syring had a “normal” profile and that there was “no indication that he would want to hurt anyone.” It was also determined through testing that he was not a pedophile.
Syring kept his job as a priest for some time regardless of the 2013 allegations. However, in October 2018, the Archdiocese effectively fired Syring by removing him from public ministry. The church had been facing criticisms that spurned it to make personnel changes and to place a public list on the church’s website of those who had claims against them of conducting sexual abuse/misconduct. Syring attempted to get a new job as a chaplain for a private hospital that was religiously associated with the Archdiocese, but he failed. He was forbidden by the Archdiocese to work at the hospital due to the reasonable chance that he would interact with minors. Syring sued the Archdiocese in 2020 and alleged that it was liable for defamation, tortious interference with prospective employment opportunity, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and other claims.
The district court dismissed each of Syring’s claims. Syring appealed, and his primary contention to the Nebraska Supreme Court was that it was wrong to dismiss his claims under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine. The Supreme Court considered this along with the ministerial exception. The ministerial exception is a law developed by and deeply rooted in the US Supreme Court's jurisprudence on the First Amendment. That amendment, of course, protects churches' rights to select their own minister without government interference. The ministerial exception limits courts from interfering in the employment relationship between a religious institution and its ministers. If it were to force the church to hire Syring as a priest or force the church and hospital to hire Syring as a chaplain, the Supreme Court would be intruding upon the internal governance of the church. Therefore, the Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of Syring’s claims. To do otherwise would interfere with the church's religious operations, thereby violating part of the First Amendment.
This article was prepared by ES Law Administrative Clerk John Boryca.