Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 25, 2025 / 18:16 pm
A Maryland district court judge this week ordered Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to pay a former employee $60,000 for its refusal to provide spousal health care benefits to the man’s civilly married “husband.”
The union is recognized under Maryland state law and federal law but is not recognized by the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman and does not recognize homosexual civil “marriages” between two men or between two women.
In an April 21 ruling, U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ruled that CRS violated state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on a person’s sex and his or her sexual orientation. The judge rejected CRS’ argument that the organization was covered under state and federal religious exemptions to the discrimination laws.
Rubin also rejected CRS’ argument that enforcing the antidiscrimination laws against the religious charity in this instance would violate the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion.
The dispute came down to the court’s interpretation of the “ministerial exception,” which is a legal doctrine in the United States that exempts religious entities from some antidiscrimination laws.
It allows exemptions when an employee works in a position that furthers the religious mission of the entity in cases when the antidiscrimination provision would hamper its religious mission.
According to the ruling, the former...
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