Federal Clergy & Their Church

[Gregory Matthews]

It’s the law:  In October of 2013, the Endorsing Agency for the Roman Catholic Church formally notified the Department of Veterans’ affairs that they had withdrawn the ecclesiastical endorsement for a Roman Catholic Priest, Thomas Michael Dieter (the appellant). This quickly resulted in the termination of his employment at the VA hospital where he had worked.  The Appellant filed a series motions with administrative law judges in which he alleged that he had not been given “due process” and that his rights had been violated.  This process came to an end on September 16, 2022, when the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that he had been given all rights to which he was entitled and that the Board could not review that decision of the Endorsing Agency due to restriction found in the 1stAmmendment to the Constitution.  This has validated my position that the denominational endorsing agencies have an absolute right to terminate the employment of their clergy in Federal positions as clergy.  The agency decision is “2022MPSB 32, Docket # AT-0752-14-0475-1-1 and a detailed summary of this decision may be found at:

https://www.mspb.gov/decisions/case_reports/Case_Report_September_16_2022_1961714.pdf