Vatican Office Rebuffs St. Louis Catholic Teachers

Elementary School Teachers Appeal Ruling From Rome in Dispute Over Forming Union

The Vatican has dismissed on a technicality a complaint that the St. Louis-based Association of Catholic Elementary Educators filed in August charging that the head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis was violating church law by not permitting teachers in Roman Catholic elementary schools to unionize.

The association had argued that Archbishop Raymond L. Burke broke church law by writing in a June 9, 2004, letter that “neither the archdiocese nor individual parishes will recognize or bargain collectively with any organization as a representative of teachers.” ( "St. Louis Catholic School Teachers Seek Union," ...