He claims that while employed at a Catholic school on the outskirts of Kansas City, Missouri, he was unfairly treated on the basis of his male gender, which included expectations that would not have been applied to female staff, reports local media KCTV 5.
US District Court for the District of Kansas records show that on 20 September, Michael Pateidl, a former teacher at St. Ann Catholic School located in Prairie Village, a town of about 21,000 people in the Kansas City metropolitan area, filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas that levies claims of discrimination and retaliation against the Church.
Pateidl argues that the archdiocese and the Church violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act and also his contract.
KCTV 5 reports that Pateidl claims his instant popularity with students and families led to him becoming the target of rumors, none of which, he argues, would have been made against the female teachers in the school.
When the rumours were discussed at a staff meeting, Pateidl says he was told that he had to “do extra” because he was a man. He was then suspended and placed on administrative leave.
In February 2023, Pateidl was allowed to return to the school and classroom after an investigation revealed he had done nothing wrong. But that same day, according to court records, another investigation was launched following further claims and he was suspended again.
There followed another exoneration and he was allowed to return to school the next month.
According to court records, when Pateidl reported these repeated investigations as discriminatory and harassing, he was informed by Bob Roper, the Archdiocese’s Vice President of Human Resources and also the St. Ann Principal, that his contract would not be renewed.
As a result, Pateidl then signed a contract of employment for the 2023-24 year at Ascension Catholic School in nearby Overland Park, and which is another school under the authority of the Archdiocese. But before the school year started, he received a letter from Ascension stating that his contract had been rescinded, without providing an explanation.
“It feels like the Church I love is closing its doors to me and my family and I don’t understand why,” Pateidl wrote in an email to Father Gary Pennings, the pastor for Ascension. “And nobody will talk to me or explain anything to me. This is shaking my faith and I need someone to talk to.”
Pennings never responded, according to court documents.
In October 2023, Pateidl filed his Charge of Discrimination to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was accepted. In June 2024, he was notified of his right to sue.
In addition to alleging disparate treatment on the basis of gender, KCTV 5 reports that court records indicate that Pateidl is suing the Church over “a hostile work environment on the basis of gender, retaliation of opposing gender discrimination, disparate treatment on the basis of disability, breach of contract and tortious interference with contract”.
In 2019, St. Ann Catholic School found itself garnering national attention after its decision not to enroll a child with same-sex parents, according to the New York Times.
More than 1,200 people signed a petition presented to the school, urging administrators to allow the child into the school’s kindergarten. Many of those who signed were parish members or had children enrolled in the school, or belonged to different parishes.
One parent that signed the petition, who had a child at another Catholic school, explained that he did so because of, in the words of the New York Times, “the hypocrisy of Catholic institutions that take action against gay parents while the religious hierarchy has protected and promoted priests who have abused children”.
In a statement
released on its website at the time, the archdiocese responded by
explaining its admissions policy in relation to same-sex couples:
“The
Church teaches that individuals with same sex attraction should be
treated with dignity. The challenge regarding same sex couples and our
Catholic schools is that same sex parents cannot model behaviours and
attitudes regarding marriage and sexual morality consistent with
essential components of the Church’s teachings.
“This creates a conflict for their children between what they are taught in school and what is experienced at home. It also becomes a source of confusion for the other schoolchildren.”