Embattled Priest Prays U.S. Supreme Court Allows Libel Claim against Catholic Church
By Marc Freeman
A priest from South Florida says he has faith the U.S. Supreme Court will allow him to do the unthinkable for a member of the clergy — sue the Catholic Church. It might be a longshot, but the Rev. John Gallagher of West Palm Beach is used to people telling him, “You’re crazy for going up against the Catholic Church.” This is how it’s been since he first went public three years ago with accusations that the Diocese of Palm Beach tried to cover up another priest’s sexual misconduct. Church officials, in turn, shot back with a statement: “Father Gallagher is blatantly lying and is in need of professional assistance as well as our prayers and mercy.” They said Gallagher made his allegations after a “ministerial decision” that he’s unfit to become a pastor. The diocese has insisted it immediately and fully cooperated with a law enforcement investigation that led to the offending priest’s arrest and deportation. At its core, Gallagher’s defamation lawsuit poses the big legal question of whether the freedom of religion protections under the First Amendment shields the church from such claims. But Gallagher told the South Florida Sun Sentinel he views his legal effort as part of a larger “public conversation” about the sexual abuse of children within the church’s walls. “It regards the nation’s obligation to protect children, that’s the question on the table,” he said. “It so happens that I’m the one bringing it at this moment in time.” How it began The root of the controversy was a 2015 incident when Gallagher was serving as temporary pastor at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in West Palm Beach. One night Gallagher got a text message from the church's music minister that a 14-year-old boy had complained that a visiting priest, the Rev. Jose Palimattom of India, showed him child pornography on a cellphone. The priest later pleaded guilty to a charge of showing obscene material to a minor. According to Gallagher, he was passed up for a promotion to pastor and transferred out of the church as punishment for not aiding in a cover-up of the Palimattom episode. Gallagher claimed he was told not to tell detectives about a security camera video showing the incident with the teen. He also alleged that a diocese representative told him "the normal way the diocese handled a matter like this was to send the offending priest on an airplane back home." Gallagher said his complaints to Catholic Church officials about what happened went unanswered. In an interview with a reporter in his native Ireland, he blasted the Vatican for “their lack of transparency in complying with policies and procedures in exposing pedophiles,” records show. In response, the diocese accused Gallagher of alienating Hispanic congregants by harassing a Cuban priest, and also criticized his decision to add a bar and piano in his former living room at the church rectory. Suing the church With the feud out in the open, Gallagher in early 2017 took the unusual step of suing the diocese in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. After a few more rounds in Florida courts, the libel claim got tossed. Suing the church isn’t easy for anyone, let alone an embattled minister. The courts typically take a hands-off approach with church affairs. An exception would be that you can still bring a personal injury lawsuit if you get run over by a church bus. Civil courts can get involved in a priest-church dispute as long as it covers “neutral” areas of the law and not religious matters, the state’s 4th District Court of Appeal explained last year.
In its opinion favoring the diocese, the court said Gallagher’s claim stems from an employment squabble and could not be addressed “without the courts excessively entangling themselves in what is essentially a religious dispute.” Citing the longstanding practice of courts to steer clear of theological-based controversies, the appeals court said it was forbidden from looking at the “diocese’s ministerial staffing decisions and church discipline.” The Florida Supreme Court last August declined to review the case, without detailing its reasons. High-court challenge So last month, Gallagher’s attorneys, Ted Babbitt and Philip M. Burlington, filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. It asks the justices to consider one question: “Whether the priest is barred by the First Amendment from bringing a defamation action against a church when the defamatory statements are published outside the church, are not related to church doctrine, and implicate matters of public safety.” Lawyers for the diocese have until March 15 to file a response that will urge the high court not to review the case. The diocese has said it will not comment on the Gallagher litigation, pointing to the 4th District Court of Appeal’s opinion that “speaks for itself.” Previously, the diocese’s counsel have argued that its handling of Gallagher was an internal matter “off limits to civil courts.” The diocese lawyers also noted that the church’s comments on Facebook and in the news media about Gallagher’s mental health were about correcting “the record” and chastising “its priest for his untruthfulness.” But Babbitt said in an interview that the case “has nothing to do with religious doctrine” and should be open to examination by the courts. “This is a civil matter, wherein he is claiming that the church libeled him and ruined his ability to be a priest because nobody else will hire him after what they said about him, which is basically that he’s a liar and needs psychological help,” the attorney said. Babbitt agrees that churches must be immune from religious-based lawsuits. “The line that can’t be crossed are cases that come up all the time where a minister has a fight with the church over who’s going to be the headmaster, for example, or whether something can or can’t be taught in the church,” he said. “Those kinds of cases involve questions of religious doctrine and universally the courts have said [legal challenges are] prohibited by the First Amendment,” Babbitt said. Support for the priest While Gallagher said he is “persona non grata” in the priesthood, he says he has no regrets and hopes parishioners and others see he has integrity. Currently on sick leave from the church, Gallagher now has a new ally in a national organization called CHILD USA. The Philadelphia-based nonprofit, which calls itself a “think tank for child protection,” on Thursday asked the Supreme Court for permission to file a brief in support of Gallagher. “This case is not a religious dispute,” CHILD USA leaders Marci A. Hamilton and Leslie C. Griffin wrote. “It is a neutral legal dispute between religious actors. It is a case about the protection of children.” They argued that Gallagher became a victim, too. “Instead of celebrating this heroic act of child protection, Gallagher’s diocese punished him, publishing numerous defamatory statements about him,” Hamilton and Griffin wrote. Gallagher, 51, faces long odds in getting the high court to take the case. According to the United State Courts official website, the Supreme Court agrees to hear 100 to 150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review each year. “We think we have a shot because it is a [unique] case,” Babbitt said. If Gallagher ultimately prevails in the Supreme Court, the lawsuit would be returned to trial court where it could wind up before a jury.
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