State’s high court won’t review priest’s case
The Florida Supreme Court last weeksaid it won’t review the case of a disgruntled priest who wanted to bring a defamation lawsuit against the Diocese of Palm Beach. The court didn’t elaborate.
In the now-blocked claim, the Rev. John Gallagher had accused the Catholic Church of slandering him on Facebook and in the media because he accused church leaders of trying to cover up another priest’s sexual misconduct.
But the diocese has insisted it never hesiincident tated to fully cooperate with the Sheriff's Office in an investigation of the offending priest, who was arrested and later deported.
And lawyers for the church argued that Gallagher’s lawsuit shouldn’t be allowed because it involved religious matters that must be kept out of the courts.
The church said the litigation amounted to a challenge of a “ministerial decision” that Gallagher, 51, is unfit to become a pastor. The diocese’s legal counsel pointed out that Florida law “holds that matters of internal clergy discipline are off-limits to civil courts.”
The genesis of the controversy was an from 2015 when Gallagher was serving as temporary pastor at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in West Palm Beach.
One night Gallagher got a text message from the church’s music minister that a 14-year old boy had complained that a visiting priest, the Rev. Jose Palimattom of India, showed him child pornography on a cellphone.
The priest later pleaded guilty to a charge of showing obscene material to a minor.
According to Gallagher, he was passed up
for a promotion to pastor and transferred out of the church as punishment for not aiding in a cover-up of the Palimattom episode.
Gallagher claimed he was told not to tell detectives about a security camera video showing the incident with the teen. He also alleged that a diocese representative told him “the normal way the diocese handled a matter like this was to send the offending priest on an airplane back home.”
Gallagher said he complained to Catholic Church officials about what happened and was rebuffed. In
The diocese accused Gallagher of alienating Hispanic congregants by harassing a Cuban priest.
an interview with a reporter in Ireland, he blasted the Vatican for “their lack of transparency in complying with policies and procedures in exposing pedophiles,” court records show.
In response, the diocese accused Gallagher of alienating Hispanic congregants
by harassing a Cuban priest, and also criticized his decision to add a bar and piano in his former living room at the church rectory.
The diocese said Gallagher was “blatantly lying” about the Palimattom case and said the priest was “in need of serious professional help.” The attorneys explained the criticism was necessary to “correct the record” and chastise “its priest for his untruthfulness.”
But Gallagher’s lawyers said those remarks were the basis for his defamation lawsuit, which also alleged his ability to serve as a priest had been greatly diminished or eliminated.
While a Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge permitted the litigation, the diocese persuaded a state appeals court to put a stop to it.
In a May 9 opinion, the appellate judges pointed to a longstanding practice of avoiding theological-based controversies, ruling the courts can’t interfere with church law.
“Father Gallagher’s defamation claim ... cannot be resolved without the courts excessively entangling themselves in what is essentially a religious dispute,” the appeals court said.
In the recent petition to the Supreme Court, Gallagher’s lawyer argued that the case should be allowed because it involves slander claims that have nothing to do with the private, inner workings of the church.
But the high court Thursday refused to get involved, and noted the decision was final.