General
USCCB Amici Curiae brief in support of Fulton v City of Philadelphia (2020)
USCCB Amici Curiae brief in support of Fulton v City of Philadelphia, June 3, 2020
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is an assembly of the hierarchy of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands who jointly exercise certain pastoral functions on behalf of the Christian faithful of the United States. The purpose of the Conference is to promote the greater good which the Church offers humankind, especially through forms and programs of the apostolate fittingly adapted to the circumstances of time and place. This purpose is drawn from the universal law of the Church and applies to the episcopal conferences which are established all over the world for the same purpose.
The bishops themselves constitute the membership of the Conference. The Conference is organized as a corporation in the District of Columbia. Its purposes under civil law are: “To unify, coordinate, encourage, promote and carry on Catholic activities in the United States; to organize and conduct religious, charitable and social welfare work at home and abroad; to aid in education; to care for immigrants; and generally to enter into and promote by education, publication and direction the objects of its being.”
The Conference advocates and promotes the pastoral teaching of the U.S. Catholic Bishops in such diverse areas of the nation’s life as the free expression of ideas, fair employment and equal opportunity for the underprivileged, protection of the rights of parents and children, the sanctity of life, and the nature of marriage. The Conference’s interest in religious freedom and the rights of faith-based organizations and their adherents often motivates its participation as amicus in this Court.
The Conference submits this brief because it raises the important question whether churches and other religious organizations can continue to provide critical human services, as organized communities of religious adherents have done for centuries, without surrendering their religious beliefs. The Conference is also motivated by its awareness that the conflicts at issue here are not unique to this case but similar to those playing out between Catholic apostolates and civil authorities across the country.
The USCCB and the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference offer this brief to shed light on one of the underlying issues in this case: Is placing abused and neglected children with foster families still an important religious activity in Philadelphia, or was it reduced to just another secular government function as the result of the City’s oversight? Catholic Social Services has testified that it understands its work with foster children as “an important religious ministry” and that the City of Philadelphia’s efforts to block it from serving in this manner burden its religious liberty. Pet.Br. 32. But the Third Circuit dismissed this claim in the decision below, framing foster care as “essentially a public service.” Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, 922 F. 3d 140, 160 (3d Cir. 2019)
Across the centuries and up to today, across the world and in the United States, the Catholic Church has been at the forefront of caring for orphans by placing them in loving homes. This history, and the theological basis that animates it, together make clear that providing foster care represents a core religious exercise for Catholics. Although this ministry also serves the common good, and is often carried out in cooperation with government, these considerations do not reduce this ministry to a “public function” like picking up garbage or paving roads. To the extent that the decision below or the arguments of Respondents rely on so deeply flawed a premise, they should be rejected.
The USCCB and PCC urge the Court to keep the Catholic Church’s religious obligation to care for orphans in mind as it resolves the issues in this case.