Aaron Pulsifer v. Westshore Christian Academy

RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
Pursuant to Sixth Circuit I.O.P. 32.1(b)
File Name: 25a0181p.06
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
AARON PULSIFER,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
WESTSHORE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY,
Defendant-Appellee.
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No. 24-2092
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids.
No. 1:24-cv-00158—Jane M. Beckering, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: July 9, 2025
Before: SILER, KETHLEDGE, and BUSH, Circuit Judges.
_________________
COUNSEL
ON BRIEF: Carla D. Aikens, Rejanae M. Thurman, CARLA D. AIKENS, P.LC., Detroit,
Michigan, for Appellant. Robert M. Howard, CUNNINGHAM DALMAN, PC, Holland,
Michigan, for Appellee.
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OPINION
_________________
BUSH, Circuit Judge. Aaron Pulsifer was fired from his job as the Dean of Students and
Assistant Principal at Westshore Christian Academy. He then sued the Academy under a variety
of state and federal laws that prohibit discriminatory employment practices. The district court
granted summary judgment to the Academy, holding that the federal Constitution precludes
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review of the Academy’s employment decisions vis-à-vis Pulsifer because he performed
important religious functions at the school. We agree with the district court and AFFIRM.
I.
A.
Westshore Christian Academy is a private elementary school in Muskegon Heights,
Michigan. The Academy exists to “equip students to grow in their relationship with Christ,
become life-long learners, to actively serve their community, and pursue Christian leadership.”
Academy Mission Statement, Ex. 2, R. 8, PageID 48. According to its founder, the school was
created “to bring affordable Christian education to inner city youth in the Muskegon area.”
Borgeson Decl., Ex. 1, R. 8, PageID 44. The Academy sees its educational role as central to
ensuring its students’ religious development.
In 2019, Pulsifer (an African American male) became the Academy’s “Dean of
Students/Assistant Principal.” That role required Pulsifer to perform a number of routine
administrative and educational tasks familiar to school principals nationwide. Pulsifer played a
role in student discipline, scheduling, record keeping, and oversight of staff.
But Pulsifer was also required to perform a number of religious functions. According to
the school’s founder and administrator, the person holding Pulsifer’s position “was expected to
be a spiritual leader to students at” the Academy and “express Christian values to students.”
Borgeson Decl., Ex. 1, R. 8, PageID 44–45. This spiritual leadership extended beyond normal
school hours. Pulsifer helped implement and lead two religious youth programs, one held after
school and one on Sunday evenings. And his religious responsibilities also extended beyond his
relationship with the students. Pulsifer was asked to do a devotion with Academy staff each
morning, and he frequently prayed over staff. He also prayed and led devotions at each meeting
of the school’s board.
At some point, Pulsifer’s relationship with the school’s administrator began to sour. He
claims that the Academy often withheld his paychecks while regularly paying his white, female
coworkers, and further alleges that the school treated those coworkers “better” than him.

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Compl., R. 1, PageID 3–4. At some stage, Pulsifer also raised concerns with the administrator
that the school’s apparent main funder—who frequented school grounds—was allegedly a sex
offender.
The Academy terminated Pulsifer’s employment sometime around August 2022. Pulsifer
claims his termination was retaliation for his complaints about his treatment and reports
regarding the school’s funder. He also claims his position was subsequently filled by a female
who has been paid consistently.
B.
Following the termination of his employment, Pulsifer filed this lawsuit. His complaint
raises a number of employment discrimination claims under state and federal law, claiming the
Academy discriminated against him because of his race and sex. The Academy moved to
dismiss Pulsifer’s complaint. It argued that Pulsifer’s position carried certain religious functions
that, under the doctrine of ecclesiastical abstention and the “ministerial exception,” precluded
federal and state courts from adjudicating his claims.
Because the Academy’s motion relied on evidence outside of the pleadings, the district
court converted it to a motion for summary judgment and gave Pulsifer fourteen days to
supplement the record or otherwise respond to the motion. After Pulsifer failed to respond or
introduce any evidence rebutting the school’s submissions, the court granted the Academy’s
motion. The court held that, based on the undisputed facts in the record, both the nature of
Pulsifer’s position and his job functions placed him within the category of employees covered by
the ministerial exception. Pulsifer timely appealed.
II.
We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, Hyman v. Lewis, 27
F.4th 1233, 1237 (6th Cir. 2022), and will affirm if “there is no genuine dispute as to any
material fact” and the Academy is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).
In undertaking our review, we view the facts in the light most favorable to Pulsifer and draw all
reasonable inferences in his favor. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S.

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574, 587 (1986). That said, after the Academy presented evidence regarding his employment,
Pulsifer was required to put forward evidence disputing the Academy’s claims or explain why
the Academy’s materials did not “establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute.” Fed.
R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1).
III.
Pulsifer raises two arguments on appeal, one procedural and one substantive. First, he
claims the district court deprived him of a meaningful opportunity to respond to the Academy’s
motion when it converted the motion into a motion for summary judgment. Second, he
maintains the district court erred in concluding his role at the Academy placed him within the
ministerial exception. Neither argument persuades.
A.
Start with procedure. Recall that the district court, after notifying the parties, converted
the Academy’s motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment. Though he did not
object to the move at the time, Pulsifer now claims the district court’s actions deprived him of a
meaningful opportunity to respond to the Academy’s motion. We disagree.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(d) provides that a court “must” convert a motion to
dismiss into a motion for summary judgment if the motion relies on “matters outside the
pleadings.” Before ruling on the converted motion, the court must give all parties “a reasonable
opportunity” to supplement the record and “present all the material that is pertinent to the
motion.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(d).
Here, the district court complied with its obligations under Rule 12(d) and properly
converted the Academy’s motion into a motion for summary judgment. The Academy’s motion
attached numerous exhibits that sought to demonstrate Pulsifer held a position falling within the
ministerial exception. So, Rule 12(d) required the court to treat the motion as a motion for
summary judgment.
The court also gave Pulsifer “a reasonable opportunity” to supplement the record and
“present all the material that is pertinent to the motion.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(d). The district

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court’s conversion order gave Pulsifer fourteen days to supplement his response to the
Academy’s motion. That time period is sufficient to satisfy the commands of Rule 12(d),
particularly where, as here, Pulsifer did not object to the timeline or request an extension. See
Tackett v. M & G Polymers, USA, LLC, 561 F.3d 478, 487 (6th Cir. 2009) (“[B]efore a district
court may convert the motion sua sponte, the ‘district court must afford the party against whom
sua sponte summary judgment is to be entered ten-days notice and an adequate opportunity to
respond.’” (quoting Yashon v. Gregory, 737 F.2d 547, 552 (6th Cir. 1984))). Pulsifer was, of
course, free to ask the district court to delay consideration of the motion to gather evidence or
permit a period of discovery if he felt such actions were necessary to “present facts essential to
justify [his] opposition” to the motion. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(d)(1)–(2). Because he failed to
do so, the district court did not err by deciding the Academy’s motion based on the existing
record.
B.
Next, consider substance. The doctrine now “dubbed” the “ministerial exception” stands
for the longstanding proposition that the First and Fourteenth Amendments preclude application
of state and federal “laws governing the employment relationship between a religious institution
and certain key employees.” Our Lady of Guadalupe Sch. v. Morrissey-Berru, 591 U.S. 732,
737 (2020). Though society’s interests “in the enforcement of employment discrimination
statutes [are] undoubtedly important,” the Amendments elevate above those interests the
“interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry
out their mission.” Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & Sch. v. EEOC, 565 U.S.
171, 196 (2012). So, when the exception applies, a court may not adjudicate a covered
employee’s claims.
No one disputes that the Academy is the type of religious entity that can avail itself of the
exception. See, e.g., Our Lady of Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 738 (applying the exception to
Catholic primary schools whose missions involved the “religious education and formation of
students”). The Academy sees its role in inculcating the Christian faith as essential to its
students’ salvation, and its “mission of Christian ministry and teaching” marks the school with

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“clear [and] obvious religious characteristics.” Conlon v. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, 777
F.3d 829, 834 (6th Cir. 2015) (citation omitted).
The question, then, is whether Pulsifer was the type of employee covered by the
exception. We hold that he was. Pulsifer played an important role in furthering the school’s
mission to provide for the religious education and formation of students. Judicial review of the
way in which the Academy chooses who should fill that type of role “would undermine the
independence of religious institutions in a way that the First Amendment does not tolerate.” Our
Lady of Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 738.
1.
The “ministerial exception” incorporates a principle deeply rooted in the Nation’s
constitutional tradition. See Conlon, 777 F.3d at 835–36 (“[T]he historical practice has always
been that the government cannot dictate to a religious organization who its spiritual leaders
would be.”). It is the product of one of the most significant controversies in eighteenth-century
America. Prior to independence, government involvement in the appointment and removal of
religious officials was significant. In England, where the established Church of England was
significantly entangled with the Crown and Parliament, “the appointment of the ecclesiastical
hierarchy became exceptionally political.” Michael W. McConnell, Establishment and
Disestablishment at the Founding, Part I: Establishment of Religion, 44 Wm. & Mary L. Rev.
2105, 2136 (2003); see also Our Lady of Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 747–49. Likewise, in the
colonies, there were “continual conflicts between clergymen, royal governors, local gentry,
towns, and congregants over the qualifications and discipline” of religious officials. McConnell,
Establishment and Disestablishment at the Founding, supra, at 2137. These forms of
government entanglement in religious affairs became widely understood as central features of
religious establishments. See id. at 2131, 2136–44
By the time of independence, “almost all religious factions shared the
disestablishmentarian drive to end government control over” the selection of religious officials.
NATHAN S. CHAPMAN & MICHAEL W. MCCONNELL, AGREEING TO DISAGREE: HOW THE
ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE PROTECTS RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AND FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE 174

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(2023). Signifying this trend, several early state constitutions explicitly recognized the right of
religious institutions to select their own religious leaders. See, e.g., Mass. Const. of 1780, pt. I,
art. III (“That the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic, or religious
societies, shall at all times have the exclusive right [of] electing their public teachers and of
contracting with them for their support and maintenance.”); N.H. Const. of 1784, pt. I, art. VI
(“Religious societies, shall at all times have the exclusive right of electing their own public
teachers. . . .”). It was against this backdrop that Congress proposed and the people ratified the
First Amendment, whose Religion Clauses guarantee the “free exercise” of religion and forbid
laws “respecting an establishment of religion.” U.S. Const. amend. I.
Matching modern doctrine, early federal actors understood the Constitution to entrust
religious institutions with the exclusive power to select and remove certain religious officials.
Take one example. Following the Louisiana Purchase, Roman Catholic Bishop John Carroll
wrote to then-Secretary of State James Madison seeking his views on whether Carroll’s choice
for church leaders in the new territory was “satisfactory to the Executive of the U.S.” Letter
from John Carroll to James Madison, Nov. 17, 1806, in 13 THE PAPERS OF JAMES MADISON 57–
59 (Tyson Reeder, et al., eds., Univ. Va. Press 2024). Madison refused to weigh in on the
question. He explained to Carroll that the selection of religious “functionaries” and
“ecclesiastical individuals” is an “entirely ecclesiastical” matter committed to the church, and
that “the scrupulous policy of the Constitution” is to “guard[] against a political interference with
[such] religious affairs.” Letter from James Madison to John Carroll, Nov. 20, 1806, in 13 THE
PAPERS OF JAMES MADISON 70; see Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 184 (discussing this episode).
This trend continued throughout the nineteenth century. See CHAPMAN & MCCONNELL, supra, at
174–77.
2.
Modern doctrine tracks early practice. The Supreme Court has long held that the First
Amendment’s Religion Clauses, along with the Fourteenth Amendment, protect the right of
churches and other religious institutions to decide matters of faith, doctrine, and internal
governance without government intrusion. Our Lady of Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 746; see also
Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church in N. Am., 344 U.S. 94, 116

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(1952); Cath. Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wis. Lab. & Indus. Rev. Comm’n, 145 S. Ct. 1583, 1595–
97 (2025) (Thomas, J., concurring). That means such institutions have “autonomy with respect
to internal management decisions that are essential to the institution’s central [religious]
mission.” Our Lady of Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 746. The modern ministerial exception merely
recognizes that “a component of this autonomy is the selection of individuals who play certain
key roles.” Id. Otherwise, the religious institution risks losing control over its religious function
and purpose. See id. at 747; McConnell, Establishment and Disestablishment at the Founding,
supra, at 2136 (“The power to appoint and remove ministers and other church officials is the
power to control the church.”).
The key question under modern doctrine, then, is how far that autonomy goes: which
employees are so key to the institution’s religious function so as to place the employee within the
ministerial exception? The Supreme Court has eschewed any “rigid formula” for answering this
question, Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 190, and has instead instructed that “a variety of factors
may be important” depending on the context of the employee’s role, Our Lady of Guadalupe,
591 U.S. at 751–52. See, e.g., Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 191–92 (considering the employee’s
job duties, title, religious training, appointment process, and how they held themselves out to the
public). But precedent nonetheless provides a few key rules.
First, the category includes more than just “ministers,” or those with similar titles, and
instead extends to other employees who play an important role in advancing the institution’s
religious mission. See Our Lady of Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 752–53 (including elementary school
teachers who are involved in religious development). Second, though an employee’s title or
training may sometimes be relevant, “[w]hat matters, at bottom, is what an employee does.” Id.
at 753. In other words, an employee’s categorization turns on whether he or she is involved in
certain religious functions, like leading a religious organization, conducting worship services or
important religious ceremonies, or serving as a messenger or teacher of the faith. See id. at 754
(quoting Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 199 (Alito, J., concurring)).
The modern approach is helpfully illustrated by Our Lady of Guadalupe School v.
Morrissey-Berru, the Court’s most recent venture into the ministerial exception. That case
involved two former Catholic school primary teachers who brought a variety of employment

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discrimination claims against their former employers. 591 U.S. at 738–45. The teachers did not
carry any formal ministerial title, and the majority of the subjects they taught were secular. See
id. But each performed important religious functions to further the schools’ mission, including
teaching religion classes, praying with students, participating in religious services, molding their
students’ religious development, and otherwise integrating religious values into their daily
activities. See id.
Despite the teachers’ secular functions and lack of ministerial title, the Court held that
both were covered by the ministerial exception. Id. at 756–62. Focusing on “what [the]
employee[s] d[id],” the Court emphasized the “close connection” many religious groups “draw
between their central purpose and educating the young in the faith.” Id. at 753, 756; see also id.
at 754–56 (“Religious education is vital to many faiths practiced in the United States.”). That
meant many employees within such schools fall comfortably within the ministerial exception
because “educating young people in their faith, inculcating [a religion’s] teachings, and training
[students] to live their faith are responsibilities that lie at the very core of the mission of a private
religious school.” Id. at 753–54. Ultimately, the Court concluded that “abundant record
evidence” demonstrated that the teachers “performed vital religious duties” that triggered the
exception. Id. at 756. Those duties included the teachers’ roles in educating and forming
students in the Catholic faith, providing religious instruction, praying with students, attending
and participating in religious gatherings, and otherwise guiding students, “by word and deed,
toward the goal of living their lives in accordance with the faith.” Id. at 756–57.
3.
Applying these principles, we agree with the district court that the Constitution precludes
review of the Academy’s employment actions vis-à-vis Pulsifer. Abundant record evidence
demonstrates that Pulsifer performed vital religious duties that place his position within the
ministerial exception.
To start, the Academy “expressly saw [Pulsifer’s position] as playing a vital part in
carrying out” the school’s religious mission. Our Lady of Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 757. Recall
that the school’s core mission is to use education to further students’ faith by equipping them “to

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grow in their relationship with Christ, become life-long learners, to actively serve their
community, and pursue Christian leadership.” Academy Mission Statement, Ex. 2, R. 8, PageID
48. The Academy saw Pulsifer’s Dean of Students/Assistant Principal position as essential to
that role. Like the teachers in Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pulsifer was expected to guide his
students’ spiritual formation by “express[ing] Christian values to students” and being their
“spiritual leader.” Borgeson Decl., Ex. 1, R. 8, PageID 44–45.
Pulsifer also performed a number of important religious functions. Like the teachers in
Hosanna-Tabor and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pulsifer played a role in teaching the faith. He was
tasked with leading the staff in religious devotions each morning and also led devotions at each
meeting of the school’s board. Pulsifer also played an important role in conducting communal
prayer with staff and board members. Cf. Our Lady of Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 757, 760;
Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 192; Conlon, 777 F.3d at 831. And by implementing and leading
two religious youth programs, he played a public-facing “role in conveying” the school’s
religious “message,” Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 192, by leading religious services and
ceremonies, Our Lady of Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 754. These functions place his position within
the ministerial exception.
Pulsifer’s arguments to the contrary are unconvincing. He relies almost exclusively on
the fact that his duties were not exclusively religious and involved other administrative tasks
“typical of secular administrators.” Opening Br. at 13. But the same was true for the teachers in
Our Lady of Guadalupe, who performed a number of the same educational functions as secular
primary school teachers. See 591 U.S. at 739, 743; see also Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 193
(cautioning courts to not place “too much emphasis on [the employee’s] performance of secular
duties”). Pulsifer’s argument, therefore, sounds more like the approach adopted by the Our Lady
of Guadalupe dissent than it does the majority’s approach. See 591 U.S. at 781–82 (Sotomayor,
J., dissenting). Put simply, an employee can fall within the ministerial exception even when
“[m]ost” of their “work [is] secular in nature,” Conlon, 777 F.3d at 835 (citing Hosanna-Tabor,
565 U.S. at 191–92), so long as the employee, like Pulsifer, also performs the types of religious
duties we outline above. Accordingly, the district court properly granted the Academy’s motion
for summary judgment.

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IV.
“The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of
most private religious schools, and therefore the selection and supervision of [the employees]
upon whom the schools rely to do this work lie at the core of their mission.” Our Lady of
Guadalupe, 591 U.S. at 738. Because the genuinely undisputed facts demonstrate Pulsifer
performed vital religious duties to support the Academy’s religious mission, we affirm the
district court’s judgment.

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