I have a federal lawsuit against the Catholic Bishop of Chicago for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act against my disability during the “COVID-19 pandemic.”

All of my former school-age students know me as Mr. Cruz, and the image you see for my campaign header is a chalkboard drawing I made during my second year of full-time teaching as a Waldorf educator in 2001, a composite of derivations of some of William Wallace Denslow’s famous illustrations from L. Frank Baum’s first edition of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” in 1900.

A native Chicagoan, I was issued my Illinois Professional Educator License in 2013. Although I had a rewarding experience teaching high-school Mathematics in a Chicago Public High School, I sought out a slower, and less hectic, change of pace in the role of substitute-teacher at Francis W. Parker School, New Trier Township High School, and within the Archdiocese of Chicago. Having been brought up within the Roman Catholic faith during childhood, I, as a teacher, enjoyed both the smaller class-sizes and student-to-teacher ratio common among the six Catholic schools at which I taught.

Throughout my years as a student, I often wondered what it would be like if I was to someday become a schoolteacher, myself, as there were some teachers of mine who were memorable role models. Things obviously manifested in my favor; and many years later as a substitute-teacher in the Archdiocese of Chicago, I was at a place of contentment. Because I possessed a lot of youthful energy and endurance, I knew I could easily commit to the field of education for many more years. I patiently waited for the right opportunity to enable me a return to full-time teaching, and was confident that it would present itself sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, my dreams and expectations got derailed when the so-called “pandemic” was propagated just before the spring of 2020. The ensuing COVID-19 restrictions halted my aspirations to continue substitute-teaching. My last substitute-teaching gig before the “global pandemic” was in February, 2020, at St. Celestine School. About a year-and-a-half later in 2021, when the school principal invited me to substitute-teach again at her school and I agreed, she asked me to wear a mask. When I disclosed to her that my diagnosed mental disability (anxiety) precludes wearing any type of face-covering, she promised she would first consult with her Regional Director and then follow-up with me. However, neither she nor any agent of the Archdiocese of Chicago (The Catholic Bishop Of Chicago is the proper legal name of the Defendant) engaged me in any meaningful and lawful interactive process regarding my requested accommodation not to wear a mask.

23 days after the first occurrence of discrimination, an administrator of another Chicago Archdiocese school (St. Hilary School) asked me to substitute-teach on a specific date in October. Upon accepting her invitation, I was told two weeks prior my appointed teaching assignment that I must wear a mask while inside the school. A few days after I informed the school about my disability, I received a phone call from the principal, and informed her of my medical exemption. I received an email the following day stating that my teaching assignment had been rescinded.

To date, it’s been little more than four-and-a-half years after these occurrences of employment discrimination, I filed my “Third Amended Complaint” last October, 2025, in the U.S. Northern District Court of Illinois. This court has supplemental jurisdiction over my state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1367(a) because those claims arise from the same nucleus of operative facts as my federal claims.

The fact-discovery close-date will be June 22, 2026. Though indigent, I would still need to pay out-of-pocket fees for deposition transcripts, which could cost approximately $500 to $1,200 or more. I wish I did not have to pay such out-of-pocket expenses given my “in forma pauperis” status granted to me by the court; but ironically, that is how the judicial system is structured. It is my hope that you can afford to support me by contributing to my legal costs during my case’s discovery phase.

If you wish to follow my legal progress, you can view my case’s docket entries by way of the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (“PACER”) service. You may also contact me via email, prayer-email or donation-comments, and I can direct you to both court case numbers. In the meantime, I will revise my Campaign Story with any notable updates.

Thank you for reading about, and keeping an open mind to, my campaign. Feel free to share my appeal to whomever you believe might wish to contribute to my cause.