BishopAccountability.org
	Former Nun Asks Supreme Court to Hear Appeal Associated Press, carried in PennLive [Erie PA] January 22, 2007 http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-45/1169474346277680.xml&storylist=penn A former nun is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her appeal in a civil rights case against Gannon University. Lynette Petruska claims she was forced to resign after helping to expose a priest's alleged misconduct. But in September, a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled that the "ministerial exception" barred it from considering her claims. Under the exception, courts avoid deciding legal disputes between religious institutions and clergy to protect the rights of denominations to govern their affairs according to their beliefs. Petruska claims ministers should not have to give up protection from other kinds of discrimination, such as race or gender. Petruska now works as an attorney in St. Louis.
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