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Page Number: 6.0

2 

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

Cheryl  Perich,  against  the  religious  school  where  she 
taught.    Our  decision  built  on  a  line  of  lower  court  cases 
adopting  what  was  dubbed  the  “ministerial  exception”  to
laws governing the employment relationship between a re-
ligious institution and certain key employees.  We did not 
announce “a rigid formula” for determining whether an em-
ployee falls within this exception, but we identified circum-
stances  that  we  found  relevant  in  that  case,  including 
Perich’s title as a “Minister of Religion, Commissioned,” her
educational  training,  and  her  responsibility  to  teach  reli-
gion  and  participate  with  students  in  religious  activities. 
Id., at 190–191. 

In the cases now before us, we consider employment dis-
crimination claims brought by two elementary school teach-
ers at Catholic schools whose teaching responsibilities are
similar to Perich’s.  Although these teachers were not given 
the title of “minister” and have less religious training than
Perich, we hold that their cases fall within the same rule 
that dictated our decision in Hosanna-Tabor.  The religious
education and formation of students is the very reason for 
the existence of most private religious schools, and there-
fore  the  selection  and  supervision  of  the  teachers  upon 
whom the schools rely to do this work lie at the core of their
mission.  Judicial  review  of  the  way  in  which  religious
schools  discharge  those  responsibilities  would  undermine 
the independence of religious institutions in a way that the 
First Amendment does not tolerate. 

I 
A 
1 
The first of the two cases we now decide involves Agnes
Morrissey-Berru, who was employed at Our Lady of Guada-
lupe School (OLG), a Roman Catholic primary school in the 
Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  Excerpts of Record (ER) 58 in