A plan by the City of Quincy, Massachusetts, to incorporate two large Catholic statues into the façade of its new $175 million public safety building has been temporarily halted by a state court.
Massachusetts Superior Court Justice William F. Sullivan issued a preliminary injunction this week, preventing city officials from moving forward with the installation of two 10-foot-tall bronze statues of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian, patron saints traditionally associated with police and firefighters.
The injunction comes in response to a lawsuit filed by an interfaith group of local residents, who argue that placing overtly religious figures on a government facility violates constitutional protections.
Sullivan agreed that the plaintiffs had “demonstrated that they are likely to succeed at proving that the permanent display of the oversized overtly religious-looking statues have a primary effect of advancing religion.”
He continued, warning that the statues could be reasonably viewed by the public as state-sponsored religious endorsement: “Plaintiffs will likely be able to show that the statues convey to the public observing them the implicit government support for the religious doctrine and adherents of Catholic / Christian faith, and as a result, the subordination of other religions.”
City officials had argued that blocking the statues would itself amount to religious discrimination, but Sullivan firmly dismissed that defense.
“This argument has no merit and would turn constitutional jurisprudence on its head,” he wrote. “Plaintiffs are not government actors; Defendants are. Plaintiffs do not seek to exclude, burden, or target Catholic beliefs.”
The plaintiffs are represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, alongside the ACLU, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Cloherty & Steinberg LLP.
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, praised the ruling, calling it “a win for religious freedom and church-state separation.” She accused Quincy officials of “violating the constitutional promise of church-state separation and sending a message to all who rely on city services that one faith is favored over all others.”
Despite mounting criticism, Mayor Thomas Koch has remained steadfast in his defense of the project. Speaking in a February interview with AM Quincy, he described the statues as “beautiful public art” rather than religious symbols.
“It’s not like Tom Koch is imparting an image, trying to put on the fire, police. That image has been related to both of those services for decades across the world, not just here in Quincy,” Koch said. “I think people in the end will understand that it’s beautiful public art, and it connects with both the fire service and the police service.”
The statues were expected to cost approximately $850,000, a small fraction of the overall construction budget — but the legal and cultural debate they have sparked is now poised to grow far larger.
With the injunction in place, the city must now decide whether to appeal, relocate the statues, or redesign the façade of the building altogether. Civil liberties groups say the case could set an important precedent for how far local governments can go in incorporating faith-based imagery in taxpayer-funded spaces.
Originally reported by Michael Gryboski, Editor in The Christian Post.
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