Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-267_1an2.pdf
Page Number: 22.0

18 

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE SCHOOL v. 
MORRISSEY-BERRU 
Opinion of the Court 

of such requirements is to make sure that the person hold-
ing  the  position  understands  the  faith  and  can  explain  it
accurately  and  effectively.    But  insisting  in  every  case  on 
rigid academic requirements could have a distorting effect.
This  is  certainly  true  with  respect  to  teachers.    Teaching
children in an elementary school does not demand the same 
formal religious education as teaching theology to divinity 
students.  Elementary school teachers often teach secular
subjects in which they have little if any special training.  In 
addition, religious traditions may differ in the degree of for-
mal  religious  training  thought  to  be  needed  in  order  to 
teach.  See, e.g., Brief for Ethics and Religious Liberty Com-
mission of the Southern Baptist Convention et al. as Amici 
Curiae  12  (“many  Protestant  groups  have  historically  re-
jected any requirement of formal theological training”).  In 
short,  these  circumstances,  while  instructive  in Hosanna-
Tabor,  are  not  inflexible  requirements  and  may  have  far
less significance in some cases.

What matters, at bottom, is what an employee does.  And 
implicit in our decision in Hosanna-Tabor was a recognition
that educating young people in their faith, inculcating its
teachings, and training them to live their faith are respon-
sibilities that lie at the very core of the mission of a private 
religious school.  As we put it, Perich had been entrusted
with the responsibility of “transmitting the Lutheran faith 
to the next generation.”  565 U. S., at 192.  One of the con-
currences made the same point, concluding that the excep-
tion  should  include  “any  ‘employee’  who  leads  a  religious
organization, conducts worship services or important reli-
gious  ceremonies  or  rituals,  or  serves  as  a  messenger  or 
teacher of its faith.”  Id., at 199 (opinion of ALITO, J.) (em-
phasis added).

Religious  education  is  vital  to  many  faiths  practiced  in
the United States.  This point is stressed by briefs filed in
support of OLG and St. James by groups affiliated with a