Federal court questions township's rejection of Catholic shrine over pro-life message

A Pennsylvania Catholic parish is pursuing a federal lawsuit after its request to build a Marian shrine was denied, with an appeals court raising concerns that the decision may have been influenced by the shrine's pro-life message.

Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church, located outside Pittsburgh, sought to build a pilgrimage destination honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary and the sanctity of life on property it has owned for more than 70 years.

In an Oct. 21 article, Reason examined an Oct. 19 federal appeals court ruling concerning the township's rejection of the shrine proposal.

According to the ruling, the parish planned to build a 13,000-square-foot chapel with gold domes, a museum, and other facilities on its 41-acre property, which currently houses a cemetery and mausoleum, the outlet noted.

Holy Trinity asked Collier Township officials to amend the zoning code to allow the shrine as a planned cultural center and rezone part of its residential land for the project, Reason reported. The township's Board of Commissioners denied the application following a public hearing, citing concerns about traffic and fundraising, despite a study submitted by the parish indicating minimal traffic impact.

Residents also raised concerns about the shrine's pro-life message. One described the project as a celebration of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, while others warned it could attract protests and impose costs on the community, the outlet reported.

A township commissioner later acknowledged in her deposition that the shrine's pro-life purpose was “one of the reasons” the board denied the application, according to Reason.

The day after the hearing, she forwarded an email about the shrine's pro-life purpose to other board members, writing, “Looks like we might have dodged a bullet last night.”

“This could have been a disaster,” she added.

Following the rejection, Holy Trinity proposed a smaller chapel on its residentially zoned land. The township approved the application but imposed restrictions on bell ringing, the chapel's height, and who could be remembered at memorial services, according to the outlet.

Holy Trinity withdrew its state-court appeal and filed a federal lawsuit alleging violations of the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which protects religious exercise against certain land-use restrictions.

The federal lawsuit reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit after a district court denied Holy Trinity's request for a preliminary injunction. On Oct. 19, the appeals court upheld that decision, finding that the parish had not shown why immediate relief was necessary and that an injunction would alter the property's existing use.

However, the appeals court also raised concerns about the role objections to the shrine's pro-life message played in the township's decision.

“These objections hint at unconstitutional religious hostility and content-based discrimination, concerns that would be better addressed on a more developed factual record,” the court wrote.

“But at the very least, they strongly suggest that the Board resists ever approving the shrine project,” the court continued.

The appeals court also found Holy Trinity “very likely to prevail” on its claim that the township had substantially burdened its religious exercise under RLUIPA, citing evidence that officials might continue rejecting the shrine project.