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  Fargo Diocese: Attorney in Diocese Lawsuit Seeks to Introduce Priest Allegations
Woman Seeks Lost Wages, Compensation for Distress, Lawyer's Fees

Associated Press, carried in Grand Forks Herald [Fargo ND]
August 31, 2005

FARGO - The attorney for a woman accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese here of discrimination is seeking to introduce the issue of priest misconduct during the trial in her case.

Robert Schultz, the lawyer for Melissa Enebo, a former secretary for the diocese, said he wants to include evidence of misconduct by priests to show the diocese treated them differently from Enebo.

In her gender discrimination lawsuit, Enebo says she was fired in 1999 for getting pregnant outside of marriage.

Benjamin Thomas, the diocese attorney, told East Central District Judge John Irby at a pretrial hearing Monday that allowing allegations of priest misconduct as evidence would confuse jurors and "invite a media circus."

Thomas said priests are not considered employees of the diocese and are not subject to state labor laws. Only the Vatican can appoint and remove priests, so they are not a fair comparison in Enebo's case, he said.

Schultz said some priests are considered employees of the diocese and are under the bishop's oversight.

Irby said he would review any evidence of priest misconduct in private and then decide whether to allow the evidence in the trial. He ordered the diocese to provide records of lawsuits going back to 1985.

The diocese has said it warned Enebo that she was violating church policy by living with the father of her child even though they were not married.

Enebo's civil lawsuit seeks lost wages, compensation for distress and lawyer's fees.

The trial, starting Tuesday, is expected to last the rest of the week.