In a ruling that has ignited strong concerns about religious liberty and the rights of faith-based organizations, a federal judge in Maryland has ordered Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to pay $60,000 to a former employee after the Catholic charity refused to provide spousal health benefits to the employee’s same-sex partner.
U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ruled on April 21 that CRS violated state and federal anti-discrimination laws by not extending benefits to the civilly married “husband” of the male employee, known as “John Doe” in court documents. The judge rejected CRS’s appeal for protection under religious exemptions, stating that such protections did not apply in this case.
Rubin concluded that the employee’s five different roles at CRS — including positions such as “program data adviser”and “global monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning adviser” — did not qualify as religious in nature. “Doe did not directly further a CRS core mission in any of his five positions held during his employment by CRS,” the ruling stated.
The court dismissed the argument that CRS’s religious mission exempted it from anti-discrimination laws, claiming the employee’s roles were “one or more steps removed from taking the actions that affect CRS goals.”
Despite CRS’s adherence to Catholic doctrine—which defines marriage strictly as a union between one man and one woman—Judge Rubin rejected the claim that enforcing the law in this case violated CRS’s First Amendment rights.
A spokesperson for CRS told CNA that the organization is still “reviewing the judge’s ruling” and had no further comment at this time.
The former employee celebrated the decision, calling it “a precedent-setting case that has helped clarify, for employers and employees alike, the legal protections Maryland law provides, especially for LGBTQ+ workers.”
However, legal experts and faith-based advocates have voiced alarm. Ryan Tucker of Alliance Defending Freedom criticized the ruling, saying: “The government should never penalize a religious nonprofit just because it’s religious. This ruling… is deeply concerning due to the implications it may have for the First Amendment rights of religious organizations and employers.”
Catholic Relief Services, a humanitarian arm of the U.S. Catholic Church, holds as its mission to “embody Catholic social and moral teaching,” a vision now under legal threat as courts increasingly sideline religious exemptions in favor of progressive interpretations of anti-discrimination law.
