Federal court, citing First Amendment, dismisses priest’s suit for reinstatement
February 16, 2022
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CWN Editor's Note: In 2018, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Services suspended Father Azuka Iwuchukwu after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her while she was hospitalized for mental illness in 2007. Police declined to investigate because of the statute of limitations had expired; the priest maintained his innocence and passed a polygraph test.
Archbishop Broglio declined to restore the priest’s faculties because of the “gravity of the accusations” and because civil authorities “have not declared that [Iwuchukwu is] innocent.”
Dismissing the suit, a federal district court ruled that “the First Amendment’s two clauses concerning religion provide dual protections to ensure that churches can freely determine the composition of their clergy.”
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