Defendants initially request this Court to dismiss Plaintiff's Petition with prejudice for lack of jurisdiction. Defendants allege that this Court cannot review Defendants' decision to close St. John the Baptist School without violating the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

The First Amendment requires judicial deference to matters of church doctrine, church government and church administration. Friel v. Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, et al, A.D. No. 00-10874, Court of Common Pleas of Butler County, PA, Decided July 7, 2004 (FONT COLOR="red">webmaster note: date must be mistake). Moreover, the Commonwealth Court noted in Poesnecker, et al v. Ricchio, et al, 631 A. 2d 1097, 158 Pa. Commw. 459 (1993), that "...the courts must apply a rule of deference with regard to the internal workings of a religious organization." The deference rule provides that civil courts are bound to accept the decisions of the highest judicatories of a religious organization of hierarchical policy on matters of discipline, faith, internal organization or eccleslastical rule, custom or law. Watson v. Jones, 80 U.S. 679, 20 L. Ed. 666 (13 Wall. 1871). Specifically, the United States Supreme Court has stated that "...the First and Fourteenth Amendments permit hierarchical religious organizations to establish their own rules and regulations for internal government and to create tribunals for adjudicating disputes over these matters." Serbia Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, 426 U.S. 696, 906 S. Ct. 2372, 2382,49 L. Ed.2d 151 (1976).

In the Instant Injunction matter, this Court is being asked initially to determine whether the closure of a Catholic school under the control of the Diocese of Scranton was proper. As stated in Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the United States & Canada v. Milivojevich, 426 U.SA. 696, 708-709, 96 S.Ct. 2372, 2380, 49 L.Ed.2d 151 (1976), to inquire into an alleged promise by the Bishop to keep a parish open or refrain from merging it with another parish was an impermissible intrusion into the Bishop's ecclesiastical authority. Accordingly, this Court cannot decide any issue which would have the effect of deciding whether a Bishop of the Diocese must provide religious and academic training without violating the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Also see Fortin v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland, 436 A.2d 888, 890-891, 625 N.E. 2d 1355 (ME 1981).

Defendants Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' request for an injunction for Lack of Jurisdiction is granted.

AND NOW, this 15th day of June, 2004, after hearing regarding Plaintiffs' Petition for Temporary Injunction and upon consideration fo Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jusisdiction, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Defendants' Motion is granted.