FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post
Jane Musgrave Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
WEST PALM BEACH
A priest will be allowed to sue the Diocese of Palm Beach for defamation after a judge this week rejected claims that the constitutional separation of church and state prevents the lawsuit from being decided in a secular court.
In a four-page order, Palm Beach County Circuit Meenu Sasser on Tusday said Rev. John Gallagher’s claims that the diocese defamed him by calling him a liar who needed “professional assistance” can be decided without getting involved in the policies of the Catholic church.
Further, she said, the diocese made many of its claims about Gallagher publicly. The diocese posted three comments on its website vehemently disputing Gallagher’s allegations that it tried to cover up sexual abuse by a visiting priest. It repeated its dim view of Gallagher’s veracity in a letter Bishop Gerald Barbarito ordered by read at all Masses in the five-county diocese in January 2016.
“This court also notes the public nature of these statements,” Sasser wrote. While attorneys representing the diocese claimed the lawsuit was barred by the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which prevents secular courts from becoming involved in religious affairs, Sasser disagreed.
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