Dupage Policy Journal

Parents at St. Isaac Jogues Parish School in Hinsdale are asking the Diocese of Joliet to respect a Sangamon County Judge's court order that declared Gov. J.B. Pritzker's school mask mandate "null and void."

"While St. Issac and the Diocese of Joliet are not a defendants in this specific lawsuit, the court order does say that if a school official forces a mask, test, vaccine or quarantine on my child without my consent, they are knowingly breaking the law and thus open to liability," said parent Dr. Colleen Malloy, a Hinsdale physician. "The Diocese claimed Pritzker's executive order was the only reason we had a mask mandate. Now that it has been found to be unlawful, it is unlawful for St. Isaac to continue to enforce it."

"We firmly object to our children being forced to mask," she said. "Our children have suffered irreparable harm from these unconstitutional and unscientific policies for far too long. Parents should not be forced to mask healthy children."

"On the other hand, if a parent wants to mask his or her child, that choice should be respected as well," Dr. Malloy said.

Malloy and a group of St. Isaac parents including Michelle Ptak, Sara Johnson, Denise Pacioni, Peggy Salvino and Dr. Michael Salvino are asking Joliet Diocese Schools Superintendent Michael Boyle to declare St. Isaac "mask optional," as many suburban public and Downstate Catholic schools have since the order.

Boyle's wife, Anna Marie, is a teacher at St. Isaac.

In downstate Glen Carbon, in Madison County near St. Louis, Father McGivney Catholic High School declared Sunday it would go mask-optional. Timothy Christian Schools in Elmhurst announced the same on Saturday, as did large public school districts in Lombard, Arlington Heights, Lake Forest and Channahon.

The schools superintendent of the Chicago Archdiocese, however, said all Catholic schools in Cook and Lake Counties will still require masks as he will not recognize Judge Grischow's order, while Joliet's Boyle signaled he would also refuse to follow the court.

In a 30-page ruling, Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow declared Pritzker's blanket state emergency school rules on masks and tests through the Illinois Department of Public Health "null and void." She said the governor and his agencies have been mandating rules upon students illegally.

“Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain," she wrote.

In an email to parents Saturday, Boyle said he believed the state court decision "has no jurisdiction over Catholic schools."

"At this time, there are no changes in our (mask mandate)," he wrote. "Rather than making a knee-jerk response, we will be taking a thoughtful approach. The (order) does not affect the diocese."

He then cancelled school championship basketball games for the weekend.