St. Mary’s Parish v. Roy: Colorado’s Disdain for Freedom of Religious Expression

Question: Should Colorado’s universal preschool program include Catholic schools that impart religious instruction?
 
Answer: From a practical (and moral) standpoint, the answer must be “yes.”
 
Catholic schools fulfill a vital charitable role within their communities that includes notably effective education. Many of the families Catholic schools serve are of limited means. Twenty percent of families who send their children to preschools in the Archdiocese of Denver qualify for the free and reduced-price school meals program. At Denver’s St. Bernadette’s parish preschool, that number of low-income needy is 85 percent of the congregation. At St. Mary’s preschool, more than one-quarter of families receive scholarships or discounts.
 
Yet a Colorado federal district court endorsed Colorado’s exclusion of these preschools.
 
This controversy is essentially political. The Archdiocese of Denver does not wish to allow same-sex couples to join their congregation. Colorado does not like that – and many of us feel the same. But traditional marriage – whatever you think of it – is a central tenet of the Catholic faith.
 
Protect The 1st stands firmly against discrimination in all its forms. We see no contradiction in supporting the Supreme Court’s Obergefell acceptance of same-sex marriage and supporting the Roman Catholic Church’s right to define its faith. The Church’s dogmas are a constitutionally protected prerogative.
 
Yet Colorado categorically denied the Archdiocese of Denver’s request to access public funding while trying to rhetorically maintain their First Amendment right to cultivate their own congregation. In an amicus brief before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Protect The 1st explains what’s wrong with the lower-court ruling.
 
We told the Tenth Circuit:
 
“… Colorado has violated Plaintiffs’ expressive association rights … Whatever one may think about same-sex relationships or gender transitions – and PT1st does not oppose them – a religious institution has a constitutional right to decide whom to admit into its communities, and cannot be excluded from a publicly-available benefit program for making those religion-based choices.”
 
When this case is heard by the Tenth Circuit, that court will have ample precedent to stand for the full expression of the First Amendment.